$100K reward offered for arrest in shooting of Los Angeles County deputies

Los Angeles is offering a $100,000 reward for information leading to the arrest and conviction of the gunman who shot two Los Angeles County sheriff’s deputies, officials announced Sunday. 

The Los Angeles County Board of Supervisors authorized the $100,000 reward for information on the suspect, who shot and left two deputies in critical condition in Compton, Calif., on Saturday. Officials announced the reward over Facebook and Twitter.

“We at @LASDHQ would like to offer our sincerest appreciation for the overwhelming support being offered from all over the Nation,” Los Angeles County Sheriff Alex Villanueva posted. “We also wish to thank @LACountyBOS for sponsoring the $100K reward for the arrest and conviction of this coward.”

We at @LASDHQ would like to offer our sincerest appreciation for the overwhelming support being offered from all over the Nation.

We also wish to thank @LACountyBOS for sponsoring the $100K reward for the arrest and conviction of this coward.https://t.co/6NJPRJ0r4w pic.twitter.com/w3WxdDNz31

— Alex Villanueva (@LACoSheriff) September 13, 2020

Police said the suspect is a Black man between 28 and 30 years old and was wearing dark clothes. The suspected gunman was last seen heading northbound on Willowbrook Avenue in a four-door black sedan. 

On Sunday night, the sheriff’s department countered a social media post that identifies a man as the suspect in the shooting, saying it is “ERRONEOUS information and there are no named or wanted suspects at this time.”

Police said one male deputy and one female deputy were “ambushed” while sitting in a patrol car Saturday after a lone gunman shot at them. The sheriff’s department posted a video of the incident, which shows a gunman walking up to a police car and shooting into it before running away.

During a Saturday press conference, Capt. Kent Wegner said the gunman came from behind the patrol vehicle and walked along the passenger side, acting like he would walk past the car. But the suspect raised a pistol and shot multiple times in the car, he said. 

Villanueva said during a conversation with religious leaders on Sunday that “it looks like they’re going to be able to recover,” according to The Associated Press. 

President Trump and Democratic presidential nominee Joe Biden both publicly condemned the attack against the deputies. 

The president retweeted a video of the Saturday shooting adding “Animals that must be hit hard!” In another tweet, he said if the deputies died, the gunman deserved the death penalty through a “fast trial.”

Biden labeled the shooting and the killing of a deputy in North Carolina as “absolutely unconscionable” and said such actions “bring only greater violence, injustice, and grief to a nation in desperate need of healing.”