1 Killed and 1 Wounded in 2 Police Incidents

Police on Sunday were investigating separate officer-involved shootings -- one in Los Angeles, the other in South Gate.

A 28-year-old Los Angeles man was in critical condition after apparently shooting himself in the head after an exchange of gunfire with Los Angeles police, authorities said.

Los Angeles Police Department Sgt. Michael Mattox said officers were called to the man’s home about 8 p.m. Saturday to investigate a report of domestic violence. The man’s wife told officers he had threatened her with a gun. Several hours later, they found him in his car in the Westlake neighborhood near downtown and made a traffic stop.

Mattox said the man got out of his car in the 300 block of Occidental Boulevard and fired at least one shot at police. None of the officers was hit, he said. They then fired several shots in return as the man ran into the surrounding neighborhood. The area was cordoned off and a police helicopter called.

A short time later, officers found the man on the ground, unconscious, with an apparently self-inflicted gunshot wound to the head, Mattox said. A handgun and spent shell casing were found beside him.

Mattox said the man was in critical condition Sunday night at County-USC Medical Center.

In another incident, a man was shot and killed Sunday by South Gate police after he allegedly charged at them with a knife outside a church in the 3000 block of Liberty Boulevard.

Police were called to the church, Betel Iglesia Presbiteriana, about 11 a.m. Sunday by parishioners who said a man waving a knife had created a disturbance during a service. The officers saw the man outside the church and asked him to surrender the knife, Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Deputy Oscar Butao said.

The suspect charged the officers, who fired, hitting him several times. The man, who has not been identified, died at the scene, Butao said.