Five killed in fiery Los Angeles standoff
Police say five people, including one SWAT officer and the gunman, are dead after a nightlong standoff at a Los Angeles home.Los Angeles police killed a man who had shot two officers and barricaded himself in a house after telling police he had killed three relatives. Ten hours after he initially called police, the house caught fire.
After the man and police exchanged gunfire just after midnight, he apparently remained in the house.
Flames shot out of the windows and smoke was coming out on several sides of the house.
Firefighters sprayed the house with water, but did not go into the home. It was unclear how the fire started, although tear gas had been used.
The standoff began at 9 p.m. Wednesday and continued into Thursday morning as the home was surrounded by more than 200 officers. Watch police cars swarm around home
The officers were shot inside the home shortly after they arrived, Assistant Chief Jim McDonnell said at a news conference.
Authorities had not been able to determine whether the man had killed his family members.
Shortly before 6 a.m., police lobbed tear gas into the home. Wind blew the gas back toward some officers, who retreated from the cloud.
Police could be seen in footage from a television helicopter using a battering ram to break into the home.
Both officers were taken to Northridge Medical Center, where one of them, 51-year-old Randal Simmons, died just after 1 a.m., McDonnell said.
Randal Simmons
The other, 51-year-old James Veenstra, was undergoing surgery, and was expected to survive, McDonnell said.
James Veenstra
James VeenstraSeveral blocks of the San Fernando Valley neighborhood were sealed off with yellow crime tape. A police helicopter circled overhead, its searchlight on.
Los Angeles Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa said he had visited with the family of the officer who was killed. Simmons leaves a wife and two children. Veenstra's wife is a captain on the force.
"This is a very horrible tragedy and our hearts go out to all the members of the LAPD who also are grieving at this time," Villaraigosa said.
