‘Body on the floor’: Federal agents fatally shoot fugitive in Mid-City
A fugitive from Nebraska was shot and killed by federal law enforcement personnel in Mid-City on Monday, according to authorities.
The incident was reported Monday morning near Wilshire Boulevard and Capistrano Way. A deputy marshal with the U.S. Marshals Service and a special agent with Homeland Security Investigations opened fire on the man after he pulled a gun on them, a statement from the U.S. Marshals Service said.
There was a warrant out for the man’s arrest on marijuana distribution and money laundering charges, the agency said.
A call came out on the shooting in the busy neighborhood Monday around 11:20 a.m., indicating that someone was also injured by a dog at the scene.
“Two victims, one gunshot wound to the head and one dog bite,” a man can be heard saying over Los Angeles Police Department radio.
The shooting was reported by the LAPD over the radio as a “U.S. Marshal OIS,” which stands for “officer-involved shooting.” The LAPD confirmed that the fugitive was killed in the shooting. The HSI special agent was hospitalized with “non-life-threatening” injuries.
The survivors of the Monterey Park shooting who weren’t injured asked to be included in the GoFundMe donation pool. Ultimately, the nonprofits behind it said no.
Video shot from the air by local television news crews showed firefighters and police standing in front of a pharmacy that was blocked off with police tape.
Morgan Simmons, 28, said she heard the gunshots from her nearby office and later took photos of the scene, capturing an image of a body with a cloth draped over it in the lobby of the medical building, according to images viewed by The Times.
“You could see a body on the floor in there,” Simmons said. She said the gunshots were very loud and in quick succession.
A dozen U.S. Marshals Service personnel, LAPD investigators and Homeland Security investigators remained at the scene Monday afternoon. The site of the shooting was taped off.
Shattered glass was strewn across the curb from a bus stop that appeared to have been hit during the shooting.
Max Karimi, 28, a parking attendant at a private parking lot behind a Jersey Mike’s Subs, was at his attendant booth when he first heard the gunshots on Wilshire Boulevard.
As shots were being fired, he left his post to get a better look at the unfolding scene.
From his vantage point, Karimi said he saw Marshals personnel in tactical gear pursuing someone toward the medical building. After shots were fired, he said several black unmarked vehicles swarmed the streets and blocked traffic.
Jenna Filingeri, 23, and Clarke Johnson, 25, work as stylists on the third floor of the building across the street from the site of the incident. While on their computers, they heard three loud gunshots and a woman scream. As they ran to their window, they saw a Marshals Service member crouched down in the parking lot on the side of the medical building.
“It seemed serious when so many police came, and people were trying to watch and record,” Johnson said.
The LAPD declined to comment on the shooting beyond saying it was securing the scene.
The circumstances surrounding the dog bite were not immediately clear.
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