Dec 24, 2008 6:15 am US/Eastern
Boy Hurt After Hostage Ordeal In Calif.
EL MONTE, Calif. (AP) ―
-
-
A camouflaged gunman was killed and a 6-year-old hostage was shot in the leg during a two-hour standoff with police Tuesday that began when the man snatched the child off a sidewalk and barricaded himself in a restaurant east of Los Angeles.
CBS
A camouflaged gunman was killed and a 6-year-old hostage was shot in the leg during a two-hour standoff with police Tuesday that began when the man snatched the child off a sidewalk and barricaded himself in a restaurant east of Los Angeles.
The man was declared dead at the restaurant in El Monte soon after gunshots were fired, said Los Angeles County sheriff's Sgt. David Infante. He would not say who fired the shots or how the gunman died.
The gunman, wearing a camouflage jacket and blue jeans, grabbed the boy and took him into a back room of a Chinese restaurant where he held him hostage with a handgun, said El Monte police Detective Ralph Batres. He said he did not know the identities of the gunman or the boy or if anyone was with the child when he was taken.
Authorities negotiated with the man for about two hours before a flash-bang grenade exploded and gunshots were fired inside the building. Shortly afterward, authorities took the boy out on a stretcher and put him in an ambulance.
The boy suffered a gunshot wound to the thigh and was in critical but stable condition at a nearby trauma center, said county fire dispatcher Brendon Peart.
Batres said the standoff began after a police officer saw the gunman grab the boy and head into the restaurant. The man ignored the officer's orders to stop and barricaded himself inside a back room, Batres said.
Police closed nearby streets and shoppers were evacuated from neighboring stores as dozens of police officers and other emergency crews surrounded the restaurant.
(© 2009 The Associated Press. All Rights Reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.)
CBS News Interactive: Crime Beat
Click to enlarge
Stumble It!
