Three people have been detained in connection with a shooting that left two plainclothes Los Angeles police officers wounded on Sunday evening, triggering a massive overnight manhunt.



No arrests had yet been made by midday PST, a Los Angeles Police Department spokeswoman told the Guardian, and police are still trying to determine if those in custody were involved in the case. LAPD officers remain on the scene in a south Los Angeles neighborhood, and the area is no longer cordoned off.



Police said the shooting occurred just before 6pm on Sunday evening in the same south LA neighborhood where Ezell Ford, a mentally ill man, was fatally shot by LAPD officers in August. Police say the area is experiencing a rise in crime.



Gunfire broke out as two undercover officers drove by in an unmarked police car. The officers returned fire, but it was unclear if anyone had been struck, LAPD detective Meghan Aguilar told reporters. She said the shooters ran off in different directions.



Both officers suffered minor injuries and were treated by paramedics at the scene. They are both expected to be fine.



“These [officers] were in plainclothes, in an area known for gang activity, narcotics sales and distribution,” [LAPD sergeant Jack] Richter told the LA Times. “Now whether they were targeted as officers, that’ll be determined. When you’re a gangster and you’re on the corner and you’re illegally selling narcotics and a car drives up and two people get out – that’s going to cause some problems.”

The incident prompted a large-scale search for the shooters. Police set up barriers for several blocks around the intersection, and the area remained on lockdown until early Monday morning. The LA Times reported that the LAPD Swat unit was called in, along with the department’s K9 unit, which searched the area block by block.



A witness told the paper: “I heard like 20 shots, and then a bunch of police sirens.”





