3 Officers Injured When Shotgun Accidentally Fires

STUDIO CITY — Three officers called in to arrest an armed woman were slightly wounded Tuesday when one of their own guns accidentally went off, police said.

The officers went to an apartment in the 4200 block of Whitsett Avenue after receiving reports of a woman brandishing a gun and creating a disturbance, Los Angeles Police Lt. Anthony Alba said.

After entering the residence, officers arrested Debra Nichols, 37, who had allegedly assaulted her roommate, though police released no other details.

The officers had just finished clearing the apartment when a shotgun carried by Officer Thomas Martinez either malfunctioned or accidentally fired, Alba said.

Martinez, a rookie officer still in his 18-month probationary period, was injured in the foot, Alba said. Officer Richard Kehr, a 5 1/2-year veteran, was wounded in the left arm and Officer Jerome Theaker, a 26-year veteran, in the head.

The three men were taken by ambulance to a local hospital, where they were treated and then released, Alba said.

Alba said the officers were the only three people present in the apartment at the time and no one else was injured. As a matter of course, robbery and homicide detectives are investigating the accident to determine exactly how it occurred.

Nichols was arrested on suspicion of assault with a deadly weapon and booked at the women’s jail at the LAPD’s Van Nuys Division station.

Jaime Riff, 20, who lives in the same apartment complex as Nichols, said she awoke at 8:30 a.m. Tuesday but did not hear or see anything unusual until someone started pounding on her front door 45 minutes later.

“I opened the door and an officer said, ‘Get inside and stay inside,’ ” said Riff. “From there [I heard the sound of] the ambulance, the police cars and then a helicopter.”

Louise Vargian, another neighbor, was stunned to find nearly a dozen police cars next to her home as she returned from running errands.

“My first reaction was that somebody got murdered,” Vargian said. “It was frightening.”

Just before the incident, Riff said, Nichols had inquired about crime in the neighborhood. “She asked neighbors about safety.”