Shots May Have Been Fired At Los Angeles Pro-Trump Caravan, Local Media Says

Late Sunday morning, officers from the Los Angeles Police Department were called to Woodland Hills as they responded to a report of shots being fired at a pro-Trump car caravan.

KNX radio reporter Emily Valdez tweeted that an apparent suspect was barricaded in an apartment.

“A woman driving past the caravan on Ventura Boulevard said she heard what sounded like gunshots around 11:30 a.m. and then noticed her tire went flat after being damaged by a projectile, possibly a bullet, the Los Angeles Police Department said,” KTLA reported, adding that someone else informed police that a suspect was in a nearby apartment building on Ventura Boulevard.

The LAPD stated that suspects were still barricaded at the location as of 3:30 p.m., and a SWAT team was summoned.

“Officer Will Cooper of the Los Angeles Police Department said officials received a report that a man was firing at a caravan as it traveled along Ventura Boulevard near Chalk Hill shortly before 11:30 a.m. The incident was initially described as someone brandishing a firearm and throwing bottles at the vehicles but was later updated to include a report of shots fired, he said,” the Los Angeles Times wrote.

Jorge Rodriguez, deputy chief of the LAPD Valley bureau, told the Times that the LAPD got a photo of a man with a rifle on the balcony of an apartment unit. “The alleged shooter and two others barricaded themselves inside the property in the 20500 block of Ventura Boulevard, Cooper said,” the Times added.

The Times quoted a woman whose apartment complex was next door to the building with the barricaded apartment who said, “It’s kind of surreal,” acknowledging that she had “never met a Trump supporter” in California. She concluded, “We wouldn’t have ever imagined it would happen in California.”

In July, the Los Angeles City Council voted to slash the budget for the Los Angeles Police Department. USA Today reported:

City leaders voted Wednesday to slash the Los Angeles Police Department budget by $150 million, reducing the number of officers to a level not seen for more than a decade amid nationwide demands to shift money away from law enforcement agencies during America’s reckoning over police brutality and racial injustice.

About two-thirds of the funding was earmarked for police overtime and will be used to provide services and programs for communities of color, including a youth summer jobs program. The City Council’s 12-2 vote will drop the number of officers from 9,988 as of last month to 9,757 by next summer, abandoning a goal of 10,000 officers touted by political leaders and only reached in 2013.

“The $150-million cut to the LAPD fell far short of demands from Black Lives Matter-Los Angeles and its allies, who had pushed for a ‘People’s Budget’ that would effectively eliminate police spending and redirect the savings to housing, mental health services and other needs,” the Los Angeles Times noted.