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Friday, January 31, 1997

CRIME:

No one hurt as SWAT team flushes 17-year-old out of apartment attic with tear gasBy Marie Blanchard

Daily Bruin Senior Staff

An armed youth was holed up for two hours in a West Los Angeles apartment building Thursday after fleeing a university police officer who had tried to question him.

The 17-year-old self-styled gang member was booked at the university police station yesterday afternoon on a concealed weapons charge. The youth was arrested after he ran into a residential building and hid in an attic for two hours, prompting the evacuation of three apartment buildings in the area.

University police officer Terry Duren was patrolling the area around Keystone and Menton avenues at approximately 9:20 a.m. when he noticed a young man loitering outside the UCLA university apartment complex. As Duren approached the young man, the male jumped on a bicycle and began to ride away.

According to university police Sgt. John Adams, the young man committed "numerous traffic violations" on his bicycle and refused to stop after Duren asked him to.

Duren followed the suspect down Venton Avenue for two blocks until the suspect dropped his bike and took off his jacket, revealing a steel semi-automatic pistol on his waistband, Adams said.

Once Duren saw the gun, he contacted university police for help, at which point the Los Angeles Police Department (LAPD) was also called in for reinforcements, said university police Capt. Terence Baker.

Duren continued to pursue the suspect until he lost sight of the man two blocks away from the university apartment complex. Independent witnesses told Duren that the young man had entered an apartment building at 37711 Venton Ave.

In the building, Duren discovered two holes in a ceiling on the top floor where he suspected the young man was hiding, said Bill Frio of the LAPD.

LAPD SWAT team officers were called to the scene, and after a two-hour standoff, the suspect was flushed out of the room with tear gas.

"The suspect gave up peacefully and came down," said Adams. The young man was immediately arrested and brought to the university police station for questioning. No one was hurt during the incident.

The gun reportedly seen by Duren was not on the suspect upon his arrest and had not been located as of press time.

Officers were unable to search the attic room where the suspect was hiding because of the high concentration of tear gas, but will return today to continue the investigation.

"We did not locate the gun and we are going back tomorrow with gas masks," Cueba said. "But the suspect admitted that he had one," he continued.

Although the young man's police records were not immediately available, Cueba added that university police had "contacted the youth before."

The suspect told police that he was a street gang member. He is described as 5 foot, 10 inches tall and 180 pounds, according to police reports. He was wearing blue baggy pants and a brown shirt at the time of the arrest.

He is currently in the custody of university police and will most likely be sent to Silmore Juvenile Hall in Inglewood, Cueba said.

JUSTIN WARREN/Daily Bruin

Police officers arrest a 17-year-old male in West Los Angeles around noon Thursday following a SWAT team intervention that ended with the suspect being tear-gassed out of the space he hid in. He was booked for allegedly carrying a concealed weapon.

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