(Matt Tinoco/LAist)

Two Los Angeles County sheriff's deputies are in the hospital Thursday morning after they were injured in a shooting that left a male suspect dead at a park in East L.A.



It happened around 6:30 p.m. Wednesday night at Ruben F. Salazar Park after deputies responded to a call of an assault with a deadly weapon. According to sheriff's department officials, responding deputies located the vehicle described in the crime report and followed the suspects into the park.

The suspects' vehicle stopped and at least one man got out and opened fire on the deputies, who were "hit by gun fire and went down," authorities said. More deputies responded to the scene and opened fire on the suspects, striking two.

Authorities say one suspect was killed at the scene. Another suspect was wounded and taken to a hospital and a third suspect was arrested.

Preliminary info @EastLALASD Deputy Involved Shooting. 2 Deputies struck by gunfire and transported to a local hospital. 1 Suspect deceased at scene. @LASDHQ Homicide investigating. More info later — LA County Sheriff's (@LASDHQ) September 20, 2018

At a press conference late Wednesday, Sheriff Jim McDonnell said the two wounded deputies were hit in the upper body and taken to the hospital by patrol cars, not paramedics.



"Do you wait or do you just get them off and get them as quickly as you can into the emergency room and the trauma center?" McDonnell said. "That's what they did in this case."



The injured deputies, who McDonnell said were both in their thirties and "very seasoned," were listed in serious but stable condition.

At the scene Thursday morning, sheriff's investigators continued to work the scene and a mobile command center was up and running.

A woman, who gave her name as Giselle, said she is a homeless resident in the area and witnessed the shootout.

"It was a bunch of gunshots," she recounted. "Pop, pop, pop, pop, pop, pop."

LAist news editor Ryan Fonseca and reporter Matt Tinoco contributed to this report.

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