A security guard believed to be behind the shooting Monday at a Los Angeles police station that wounded an officer was rejected by the LAPD, a department spokesman said on Tuesday.
Daniel Christopher Yealu, 29, of Los Angeles, allegedly walked into the lobby of the Wilshire Division station at 8 p.m. Monday, pulled out a Glock semi-automatic pistol and opened fire, LAPD Chief Charlie Beck said.
Police returned fire, seriously wounding the suspect.
The unidentified officer was shot multiple times but survived, even though he wasn't wearing an armored vest at the time.
"He was struck twice in the shoulder, he was struck once in the side and he took a round that would have gone through his femur and maybe his femoral artery in his left front pants pocket but that round was stopped," Beck said.
The gunman entered the station during a time when civilians were gathered for an Olympic Park neighborhood council meeting.
"There was loud, loud noises which were gunshots," Council District 10 Director Sylvia Lacy recalled. "When they stopped, people started to get on cellphones. I said, 'everybody get off the phone and be quiet!'"
The officer, a seven-year veteran, was in stable condition and in good spirits.
The suspect was being held in jail with bail set at $2 million.
Yealu went into the police station with a Glock pistol and extra magazines, Beck said. The officer was lucky to have survived. A gun in the officer's pocket deflected a bullet.
A search warrant at Yealu's home turned up a large amount of ammunition, along with rifles and other weapons, police said.
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A weapon was also found in his car outside the station. After the shooting, the bomb squad did a search of the area, including the suspect's vehicle, but found no explosives.
Police displayed some of the high-powered weapons found at the suspect's home. Some of the weapons would be tough to obtain today, Beck said.
Among them were an AR-15-type assault rifle and a semi-automatic Sig Saur handgun.
“It would be rare in the extreme to be allowed to possess any of these weapons,” Beck said. “You would have had to buy them some 20-30 years ago.”
Yealu's father, Danny, told the Los Angeles Times that his son had been working as a security guard and wanted to be a police officer.
Danny Yealu said his son told him he had applied for the police academy but was making money working as a security guard.
LAPD spokesman Cmdr. Andrew Smith said Yealu was rejected by the LAPD, but did not elaborate.
Neighbors said the suspect was antisocial.
Gabriel Almodovar said that when he would say, "Hi" to the Yealu, the man wouldn't reply.
NBC4's Tena Ezzeddine contributed to this report.
