MONTEREY PARK, Calif. — A car crash and road rage apparently triggered a stabbing and a running gun battle that ended with one man dead and four people, including a Monterey Park police officer, hospitalized, authorities said Monday.
An intense search for a second suspect was called off after Sunday's 5 p.m. shooting in Monterey Park when Los Angeles County sheriff's deputies determined there was no second shooter, Deputy Benjamin Grubb told City News Service.
Monterey Park police officer Gilbert Alvarez sustained a grazing wound to the head and was in stable condition at County-USC Medical Center, the Los Angeles Times reported. The officer was wearing a bulletproof vest, Grubb said.
Two bystanders with gunshot wounds to their legs and the stabbing victim were all hospitalized in stable condition, Deputy Jeff Gordon said in a statement early Monday.
Police were called at 5 p.m. Sunday about a possible stabbing at a busy intersection in Monterey Park, 10 miles east of Los Angeles. The stabbing apparently followed a car crash, officials told the Times.
Gunfire started almost as soon as officers arrived and the suspect started running as he fired. Alvarez was struck, the bystanders were shot and the windows were shattered in several parked cars, including police cruisers, before the suspect was killed. "It was very chaotic. There were people everywhere," police Capt. Eugene Harris said.
The name of the dead man has not been released.
Late into the night, dozens of police officers and sheriff's deputies searched the area for a possible second suspect but finally determined there was no one else involved.
In addition to Monterey Park officers and sheriff's deputies, police from Montebello and Alhambra responded to the shooting.