The Los Angeles Police Department has released video footage of a terrifying incident on July 3 in which officers were attacked while attempting to make a traffic stop.
Around 9 p.m., officers attempted to stop a white Chevrolet sedan on the corner of Broadway and Rosecrans Avenue in the Willowbrook neighborhood of South Los Angeles.
Video of the incident released by the Los Angeles Police Department on Friday shows two officers discussing a possible arrest of the suspect inside a police vehicle. The suspect, later identified as Malcolm Darnell Gass Jr., then stops the vehicle and appears to fire several shots in rapid succession into the police vehicle before the officers exit the vehicle.
One of the officers can be heard in the video saying, “Why did you hit him, dude?”
One of the officers involved, Joshua Rodney, returned fire but was unable to hit Gus.
Rodney was shot twice in the head and injured, and he and another officer, Stefan Kaltas, suffered lacerations from glass that fell from the car’s windshield.
Gass was able to flee the scene but was taken into custody on July 12. He faces the following charges:
One count of attempted murder of a police officer, two counts of assault on a police officer with a machine gun, one count of shooting at a motor vehicle while in occupancy, one count of possession of a machine gun, and two counts of possession of a firearm by a felon.
If convicted, Gus could face life in prison, according to the Los Angeles County District Attorney’s Office.
KTLA’s Josh DuBose contributed to this report.