Amid tensions with police forces, shots fired at cops in L.A., Florida
As police departments around the country remain on heightened alert in the wake of the killing of two NYPD officers, a pair of shootings in California and Florida on Sunday have local law enforcement officials in those states on edge.
In Los Angeles, police are searching for a gunman who they say opened fire on an LAPD patrol car carrying two officers as it was driving in South Central L.A. at approximately 9:30 p.m. Sunday night.
The officers, who were uninjured, returned fire, but no one was hit. One suspect was arrested and a rifle was recovered, LAPD Capt. Lillian Carranza told CNN, but a second suspect remains at large. The department declared a citywide tactical alert, sending every available officer to the area, Carranza said. About 100 officers were involved in the subsequent manhunt.
In Pasco County, Fla., three shots were fired at two sheriff's deputies as they were sitting inside their squad cars at 3:30 a.m. Sunday in Dade City, where they were conducting traffic enforcement of a nearby intersection.
"Both deputies reported hearing the whizzing sound of each projectile as they flew by," the sheriff's office said. "Deputies did not see the suspect or the vehicle from which the shots were fired."
The shootings came a day after an estimated 23,000 police officers attended the funeral for Rafael Ramos — one of two NYPD officers killed in Brooklyn on Dec. 20 by a gunman who allegedly vowed to retaliate for the chokehold death of Eric Garner, an unarmed black man, by a white NYPD officer. As Mayor Bill de Blasio addressed the crowd, hundreds of officers turned their backs on a video screen showing the mayor's eulogy.
On Sunday, New York City Police Commissioner William Bratton said the rift between the NYPD and de Blasio — laid bare in the wake of Garner's death and the subsequent slayings of two officers — will continue for the foreseeable future.
"I think it's probably a rift that is going to go on for a while longer," Bratton said on NBC's "Meet the Press" on Sunday.
Bratton refused to address comments made by Patrick Lynch, head of the Patrolmen's Benevolent Association, who said the killings of the officers left "blood on the hands" of the mayor. A separate memo purportedly circulated by the association said the mayor's actions have caused the NYPD to "become a 'wartime' police department."
"They really do feel under attack, rank-and-file officers and much of American police leadership," Bratton said. "They feel that they are under attack from the federal government at the highest levels. So, that's something we need to understand also, this sense of perception that becomes a reality."
