(January 5, 2003, updated 8:15 a.m. from initial 2:00 a.m. post) -- Gunfire flew just north of downtown LB on Saturday afternoon Jan. 4 after a silent alarm brought LBPD officers to a pawnshop in the 1000 block of LB Blvd. where they confronted armed suspects leaving the store and exchanged gunfire with the suspects.
Details are sketchy as we post. In a written release issued at 1:15 a.m., LBPD indicates officers learned moments before their arrival that the suspects had allegedly robbed the pawnshop. After the gunfire was exchanged, an unknown number of suspects fled from the officers on foot.
LBPD set up a perimeter from 8th-10th Sts. and LB Blvd. to Linden Ave. The SWAT team was also activated.
[update] Officers doggedly searched through the night for additional suspects. Police had three suspects in custody by roughly 1:15 a.m., pursued the search...and successfully located and detained a fourth suspect overnight.
At one point, tear gas was fired into an apartment. It was feared there might have been hostages, but fortunately, there weren't.
The perimeter was being removed by about 8:00 a.m. Police do not believe there were injuries as a result of the gunfire.
