Teen Arrested in Shooting of LAPD Officer

A 17-year-old male was arrested early Saturday in connection with the shooting of a Los Angeles police officer who was answering a call about gang graffiti.

The teenager, whose name was not released because of his age, was booked on suspicion of attempted murder of a police officer as the search continued for another suspect in the Friday night shooting.

Patrol Officer Rex Yap, 26, was meanwhile recovering at County-USC Medical Center, where he was in stable condition with a bullet wound in his face. Police said his injuries were not life-threatening.

Yap, a two-year veteran of the force described by his colleagues as quiet and polite, was the latest of several Southern California law enforcement officers who have recently been greeted by gunfire when answering routine calls.

In Yap’s case, he and two other officers from the Northeast station’s gang detail drove to the 600 block of Avenue 54 at 10:30 p.m. Friday to check a report of gang members either spraying graffiti or crossing out rival markings.

When the three officers, all in the same car, stopped to question two young men matching a description of the graffiti scribblers, one of the pair fired two rounds at the police vehicle, police said.

One bullet went through the windshield, striking Yap in the face.

Despite his wound, Yap got out of the car along with the driver, Officer James Edwards, 30, and they both returned fire. The third officer, Robert Becerra, 24, chased one of the suspects, who dropped his weapon.

After helping Yap, Edwards chased the other suspect, the shooter, who again fired and fled as the officer shot back.

Police said a .357 Magnum revolver and a small caliber handgun were recovered at the scene, which is in a residential neighborhood. Authorities released little information about the juvenile arrested and did not say if he was the suspected shooter.

A similar incident last month, just a few days before Christmas, was deadly for Los Angeles Police Officer Mario Navidad. When he and his partner went to investigate reports of shoplifting at a 7-Eleven in the Wilshire Division, the teenage suspect fired at them before they could get out of the car. The youth was killed by Navidad’s partner.

Earlier in December, a rookie LAPD officer was shot five times during a routine traffic stop and wounded in the face. And this month, two Riverside County sheriff’s deputies were shot to death when they responded to a report of domestic violence.

“There’s no way an officer is able to prepare or guard against an attack like this,” LAPD Officer Mike Partain said of Friday’s attack. “We cannot approach each suspect with guns out and surround the guy and take cover.”