Two Los Angeles police officers were injured and a suspect was taken into custody Friday night. in conflict The incident broke out in South Los Angeles while officers were investigating a possible robbery, authorities said.

According to police, the incident occurred around 9 p.m. Friday evening when two officers from the LAPD’s Southeast Division responded to a report of a robbery in the 9200 block of Central Avenue.

Police said that at one point during the confrontation, officers exchanged fire with an armed suspect, who then fled the area. It is not yet clear whether the suspect was shot.

The radio call for help prompted a major police response, including officers from neighboring departments along the Florence-Firestone border, an unincorporated neighborhood north of Watts. Officers with police K9s searched the area late into the night; The suspect was found and arrested several hours later, police said.

Two police officers, whose names were not released, were taken to hospital with non-life-threatening injuries. Police did not say where they were shot, but a law enforcement source told The Times that preliminary information indicates one officer suffered a graze wound to the leg and the other was hit with shrapnel in his hand.

Both officers were conscious and talking when they arrived at the hospital, a law enforcement source told The Times on Friday. They were discharged from the hospital on Saturday morning.

LA police records show LAPD officers have opened fire 24 times so far this year; This rate was 32 in the same period of 2023.

The Southeast precinct is one of several police departments in the city seeing an increase in robberies, according to a recent crime briefing from LAPD interim chief Dominic Choi.

In July, a Southeastern officer was injured in another police shootout in the division’s area; Meanwhile, it was claimed that a man opened fire on the police team with a machine gun. The man was later detained and faces attempted murder charges.