An LAPD officer was hospitalized after being shot and wounded near 51st Street and Long Beach Avenue in South Los Angeles Saturday night.
The Newton division gang enforcement officer is in stable condition and is with his family at LA County-USC hospital, according to LAPD spokesman Josh Rubenstein.
The incident began when just before 9 p.m. officers attempted a traffic stop and the the driver got out of the car and ran.
The officer chased the driver on foot for over 100 yards when another man appeared with a firearm and a shooting occurred.
Both the suspect and the officer were wounded and are in the hospital.
"[The officer] was transported here. I spoke to the head of surgery here who said if we had not transported him here he would not have survived. The nature of his injuries and number of shots he sustained placed him in a huge amount of jeopardy," said Los Angeles Chief of Police Michel Moore.
One gun was recovered by police.
Officers initially searched for a second suspect, but suspended the search for the driver after evidence suggested he was not involved in the shooting.
Andrew Blankstein, Jane Yamamoto, Gene Kang and Kim Tobin contributed to this report.
