Woman in Custody After Overnight Standoff at Westlake District Apartment

Residents walked the streets in their pajamas while a woman was holed up inside for seven hours

A burglary report involving a man who called police to tell them a woman had entered his Westlake District residence led to a seven-hour standoff that ended Friday morning with shots fired.

The apartment complex was evacuated early Friday when the woman barricaded in the building for opened fire from inside a unit, prompting a SWAT response, police said. Normal 0 false false false EN-US X-NONE X-NONE /* Style Definitions */ table.MsoNormalTable {mso-style-name:"Table Normal"; mso-tstyle-rowband-size:0; mso-tstyle-colband-size:0; mso-style-noshow:yes; mso-style-priority:99; mso-style-parent:""; mso-padding-alt:0in 5.4pt 0in 5.4pt; mso-para-margin:0in; mso-para-margin-bottom:.0001pt; mso-pagination:widow-orphan; font-size:11.0pt; font-family:"Calibri","sans-serif"; mso-ascii-font-family:Calibri; mso-ascii-theme-font:minor-latin; mso-hansi-font-family:Calibri; mso-hansi-theme-font:minor-latin; mso-bidi-font-family:"Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-theme-font:minor-bidi;} The male resident alerted police that he fled his apartment when he realized a woman he did not know was inside of it, said Sgt. Ricardo Acosta of the Los Angeles Police Department Rampart station.

Police responded about 11 p.m. to the burglary call in the 1700 block of James M. Wood Boulevard and knocked on the unit’s door, but the woman refused to come out and fired a couple of rounds, Acosta said.

Video from the scene showed SWAT members ascending the four-story building and entering through the window of one of the units to try to extract the woman. She was holed up until 6 a.m.

"The suspect was armed with a weapon, and when she exited the building an officer-involved shooting occurred," said Commander John Sherman.

No officers were injured, Sherman said.

The woman, about 34 years old, was being treated at a hospital. Details regarding the woman's injuries were not immediately available.

"It seems like she's going to be ok," said Sgt. Albert Gonzalez, who added that he could not confirm whether she exchanged fire with the officers.

Gonzalez said investigators have not determined how many officers discharged their weapons.

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A crowd of residents flooded the streets after officials forced them to leave. An estimated 200 residents had to leave the building, which has upwards of 40 units, police said.

Many people, including families with children and pets, could be seen walking the streets in what appeared to be their pajamas.

Some reports from the scene suggested the man knew the woman through an escort service, but Acosta said he did not know whether that was true.

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