LAPD officer injured while responding to robbery attempt in Fairfax District

LOS ANGELES - Store owners and employees along the Fairfax District are fed up and remain on high alert after gunshots once again rang out and an officer was injured during a robbery attempt Thursday night. 

The Los Angeles Police Department responded to a call near the intersection of Melrose and North Fairfax avenues just before 8 p.m. LAPD initially said it was a "police incident" before later specifying that officers were responding to an armed robbery in the area.

Witnesses said they observed a customer who was wearing a designer watch inside a store being manhandled by a group of suspects. LAPD officials said at least two of the suspects then came out of a store holding guns when gunfire rang out. One of the responding officers was grazed by a bullet on one of his legs and was taken to a hospital. He is expected to be ok. 

LAPD investigators believe at least one of the suspects may have been injured. However, the suspects fled the area in an SUV and remain at large. 

Extra patrols have been assigned to the area due to a recent crime spike.

"We just started doing it [having security] because we’ve seen what was going on with everybody else," Sebastian Dukes who works at a store in the Fairfax District told FOX 11. "The people who do it look normal, so it’s not like we can point them out before it happens. So, we just have to be on alert with everybody." 

"Somebody grabbed my chain at the store…and took off running," Water Williams, who works as a security guard in the area, told FOX 11’s Christina Gonzalez.

The shooting investigation prompted multiple street closures for several hours.

Anyone who witnessed the attempted robbery or with any information is asked to contact the LAPD.