LONG BEACH -- A Long Beach police officer shot an armed man in Belmont Heights early this morning, police officials said.
Police Sgt. Dina Zapalski said that police received a phone call late Tuesday night that a man with a gun was walking through the neighborhood, which is an upscale area near the beach on the city's southeastern end. Officers responded to the call and located the man in the 200 block of Mira Mar Avenue, where a police officer shot him at 12:30 a.m., Zapalski said.
The man was taken by ambulance to an area hospital and was believed to be alive, though news of his condition wasn't available, she said.
Zapalski didn't give further details of what led to the shooting, about the suspect's identity nor about the type of gun he allegedly had been carrying, as police investigators were still working the scene at about 3 a.m. No charges had been filed yet against the suspect, she said.
Several neighbors said they had heard two gun shots. Shortly before the shooting, a police helicopter was scouring the area with its search light for several minutes, they said.
Lisa Sage was barbecuing with her boyfriend, Mikey Loza, at her apartment one block south of the shooting when they saw the helicopter and then heard the gunfire that they at first mistook for fireworks, the couple said.
Sage said the area can be noisy at night because of patrons at nearby bars, but that she had never seen an incident like this in her three years in the neighborhood.
"It creeps me out, big time," Sage said.
As many as 10 police units appeared to have responded to the scene initially, followed by police investigators and other officers who closed the 200 block of Mira Mar Avenue as well as parts of 2nd Street and Broadway.
The investigation was expected to continue until the early hours of the morning.
Paul Eakins reports on Long Beach City Hall, and local and regional
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It's 5:40 AM and the police still have the streets blocked off, even Broadway. Yeesh, why do investigations take so long?
First of all, who in the hell bbq's at midnight...second...belmont heights use to be upscale...no more...get over yourself Long Beach.
brett shepherd
former lbc resident now in atlanta
ALL THE POLICE UNITS WERE IN FRONT OF MY HOUSE TILL THIS MORNING 8:00 AM, IT WAS A SCARY SITUATION, I ALSO HEARD TWO GUN SHOTS AND THERE WERE 10 POLICE UNITS AND SOME UNMARKED CARS IN FRONT OF MY HOUSE AND DRIVEWAY, I DID NOT SLEEP ALL NIGHT!
hi
Did the police recover a gun or other weapon???
belmont heights is upscale. That is why this was so unusual.