Authorities looking for sniper who wounded Los Angeles-area deputy shot outside sheriff's station
{{#rendered}} {{/rendered}}A Los Angeles County sheriff's deputy was shot outside a sheriff's department station Wednesday by someone in a nearby apartment building that houses people being treated for mental illness, authorities said.
Authorities were searching for a possible suspect hours after Deputy Angel Reinosa, 21, a trainee who has been with the department for about a year, was wounded in the shoulder.
Mayor R. Rex Parris said the deputy was wearing a ballistic vest that deflected the bullet into his shoulder.
{{#rendered}} {{/rendered}}He was walking to his car outside the Lancaster station just before 3 p.m. when he was struck by gunfire, sheriff's Capt. Todd Weber said. Deputies evacuated him inside to get medical attention.
Reinosa was taken to a hospital with a non-life threatening wound.
Lancaster Mayor R. Rex Parris said the deputy's vest may have saved by deflecting the oncoming bullet into his shoulder.
{{#rendered}} {{/rendered}}Investigators believe the shots came from Mental Health America, a four-story building that provides mental health services and housing near the sheriff's station.
Parris raised concerns about having a mentally ill population so close to the sheriff's station.
"It's insanity to allow such a facility to exist in that particular location," he said. "Who decided to put a four-story building that looks down on a parking lot of that particular type there - it's beyond my comprehension," Parris said.
{{#rendered}} {{/rendered}}Heavily-armed deputies wearing tactical gear set up a perimeter and launched a massive search for a suspect in triple-digit temperatures.
It's not clear whether the shooter was alone what type of weapon was used. Weber could not say how many rounds were fired or whether deputies fired back.
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{{#rendered}} {{/rendered}}The incident came days after a California Highway Patrol officer was gunned down in a shootout in Riverside, a city located 60 miles east of Los Angeles.
Officer Andre Moye, Jr., 34, was filling out paperwork to impound a vehicle when Aaron Luther, 49, allegedly shot him with a rifle. Luther then died in a shootout with law enforcement.