The Associated Press
LOS ANGELES (AP) - A burglary suspect was shot and wounded by a special police unit that has been criticized for its involvement in dozens of gun battles.
Plainclothes members of the Special Investigations Unit had placed two men and a woman under surveillance and tracked them Thursday after they allegedly committed a break-in at a home in Van Nuys, police said.
After about a mile, three police cars boxed in the alleged getaway car and a detective fired a shot that hit a 25-year-old passenger in the midsection, Sgt. Catherine Plows said.
The man underwent surgery and was expected to survive, police Officer Don Cox said.
He did not have details of what prompted the shooting.
All three suspects were taken into custody. Their identities were not immediately released.
The LAPD unit had been watching the trio because they were suspected of having pulled a home invasion robbery in the San Fernando Valley about two weeks ago.
A family was tied up and weapons were taken, Plows said.
Last year, police officials ordered a review of the unit after a gun battle in which undercover detectives shot and killed two robbery suspects.
The special unit, which was formed in 1965, has been criticized for allowing suspects to commit crimes so they can be caught in the act and for its many violent confrontations.
The unit has been involved in more than 50 gun battles that resulted in the deaths of at least 37 suspects. The city has paid more than $2 million to people who claimed they or their relatives were victimized by the unit.