A North Hollywood man armed with a crossbow started shooting bolts at police responding to reports of gunshots, triggering an exchange of ‘fire’ with cops and wounding one of them, Los Angeles Police Department (LAPD) reported.
The ‘firefight’ broke out at around 7pm local time Sunday, after local residents called police to report hearing what they thought might be gunshots. LAPD officers arrived at Bakman Avenue in full force, deploying a helicopter and an armored personnel carrier, and even putting snipers on roofs nearby, as captured in eyewitness photos from the scene, where tensions swiftly escalated. Residents were asked to "stay indoors" by the responding officers.
The suspect barricaded himself inside an apartment and a SWAT team on site was evacuating the building when he unexpectedly emerged and started firing his crossbow at them, hitting one officer. Police returned fire, though the suspect escaped injury.
Officers then resorted to deploying an unspecified ‘chemical agent’ to force the suspect, who appeared in eyewitness video to have been an elderly white man, out of the property and take him into custody.
The incident is still being investigated. The injured cop was taken to hospital for treatment and has since been released.
The episode in North Hollywood is just the latest in a recent series of violent encounters in the US where white men have armed themselves with medieval-type weaponry. Both a bow and a sword were drawn against the George Floyd protesters in Texas and Utah, though fortunately none was injured. The attackers themselves were set-up by the crowds, though, and beaten up.
Last week in the New York borough of Queens, a man jumped out of his vehicle to brandish a claw-shaped knife at protesters he accused of throwing something at his car. He also attempted to mow pedestrians down. He later turned himself in and is facing several charges over the incident.
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