3 injured in Hawthorne officer-involved shooting

(FOX 11) - Looking down from SkyFOX, it was an impressive scene Saturday evening as several police officers walked along the side of a gurney carrying a six-year veteran of the Hawthorne Police Department and followed his ambulance to a local hospital.

By all accounts, the scene inside the public storage business off Rosecrans Avenue was chaotic as an irate man and two officers exchanged gunfire.

The man described as waving a semi-automatic handgun and a machete with an 18-inch blade was shot in the torso. He was taken to an area hospital and said to have non-life threatening injuries. He was not identified.

An officer, with six years on the force, was shot in the leg. Authorities said he was expected to recover. A sergeant, who has been with the department for 22 years, was injured in the arm, possibly from that machete. He was also expected to be fine.

Yolanda Becerra said her 32-year-old son was inside the building when he and two women heard what sounded like gunfire and went to see what was going on. He called her from inside the business.

"He said that he grabbed the girls and put them in the elevator and that they hid. He was scared," Becerra said.

The investigation continues.

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