LOS ANGELES (CNS) - A woman was found dead Tuesday at the scene of a house fire where a gunman fired shots and barricaded himself before being taken into custody with what police said was an apparent self-inflicted gunshot wound.
Firefighters were sent to the 15400 block of South Orchard Avenue about 4:30 a.m. and extinguished the flames in the two-story structure in 12 minutes, the Los Angeles Fire Department reported. Four adults and a child were displaced by the fire, and the American Red Cross was sent to assist them, according to the LAFD.
"Subsequent to the structure fire being extinguished, shots were fired on scene," an LAFD statement said, turning the event into "a barricaded-suspect incident."
Firefighters took cover behind fire trucks, and they were not injured, an LAFD spokesman said.
Los Angeles Police Department officers were placed on a citywide Tactical Alert as a precaution, meaning officers could be kept on the job beyond the end of their shifts, and a SWAT team was sent to the scene.
About 6:30 a.m., the suspected shooter was taken into custody and the woman was found dead. The name of the woman, who was in her 60s, was withheld pending notification of her relatives. Information on his identity or condition was not immediately released.
According to reports from the scene, the woman was been fatally shot by her son.
