Three young children who were in a Watts home when their father shot and fatally wounded their mother were rescued by police on Friday.
In a poignant moment an officer in riot gear could be seen carrying a child who was cradling a baby out of the home, away from the deadly scene at dawn on Friday. (Watch the video above.)
The standoff began around 3 a.m. when officers responded to a call of shots fired near Grape Street just north of Imperial Highway.
Police found a man shot in a pickup truck and encountered a gunman, who ran into a house and started shooting from inside for up to an hour, police said.
The gunman retreated and continued to shoot at police from within a home for up to an hour, police said.
Two children eventually ran outside of the house and told police that their father had shot their mother, police said.
SWAT officers entered the home around 5 a.m. and found the gunman dead and the woman gravely wounded, police said. She died at a hospital, officials said.
Police initially said the gunman died from self-inflicted gunshot wounds, but later said they were not sure.
The man in the truck also died.
Three children, who had been inside the house, were not harmed, Deputy Chief Bob Green of the Los Angeles Police Department.
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The children, ages 8, 3 and 1, were taken into the care of children's services.
