Los Angeles

Armed Man Escaped Winnetka Home as SWAT Stood Outside for Hours

An armed man escaped through the back door of a Winnetka home and remained at large after members of a Los Angeles Police Department SWAT team held positions outside of it for hours Friday morning.

The man was holed up in a vacant home near Oso Avenue and Leadwell Street, said Officer Sal Lopez of the Los Angeles Police Department's Metropolitan Division. Lopez said the man pointed a gun at police officers who attempted to stop him in that area at 10:48 p.m. Thursday, but the man did not shoot.

The man ran from police and went into the home, where he had been living illegally with his girlfriend, said Capt. Paul Vernon of the LAPD.

Police said SWAT shot rounds of tear gas into the home to get the suspect to surrender. Around 5:20 a.m., SWAT went and searched the house and found he was no longer inside.

"It appears that the suspect went in the front door and out the back door pretty quickly," Vernon said.

The suspect is a 40-year-old black male with a long criminal history, Vernon said.

Members of the public were advised to avoid the area.

Winnetka was preciously the scene of a tragedy for the LAPD SWAT team, which suffered one officer killed and one wounded on Feb. 7, 2008, in the 19800 block of Welby Way. Killed was 51-year-old Officer Randal Simmons, the only member of the LAPD SWAT team, which came into being in 1967, ever killed on duty, while 51-year-old Officer James Veenstra was wounded by shots in the face and jaw. Two other officers suffered minor injuries.

Edwin Rivera, 20, who earlier had killed his father and two older brothers, was identified as the shooter and killed by a sniper.

Toni Guinyard contributed to this report.

Copyright CNS - City News Service
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