Ten Los Angeles County sheriff’s deputies opened fire early Monday on an SUV they were chasing, discharging 120 rounds in a frenzied crossfire that injured a deputy and the unarmed suspect while sending bullets into nearby homes.
The shooting on a narrow residential street in Compton sent residents diving for cover as bullets zipped over their heads and through their windows. In the aftermath, bullet holes pocked the walls of at least five homes.
“This is crazy, really, really crazy,” said Trina Hays, 42, who dove onto her lawn when the shooting erupted 20 feet away. “They didn’t have any concern for anybody’s life, including their own. That’s why their own police officer got hit…. They could have just sat there and waited it out, but they opened fire.”
See the video
Even their boss is appalled. Sheriff questions tactics used by deputies in Compton shooting.
Would this have happened had the deputies been in an upscale Anglo part of L.A. rather than in Compton, which is primarily lower-income African-American and Latino? Not a chance. What a bunch of cowboy thugs.