LAPD Loses Its First SWAT Officer in the Line of Duty

As I write this there's a standoff in the San Fernando Valley that has already cost the LAPD one of its members, a veteran SWAT officer. In the 27 year history of LAPD SWAT they've never had an officer killed in the line of duty despite handling thousands of dangerous incidents:

One veteran SWAT officer was killed and another wounded during a shootout with a man who called police and said he had killed three members of his family, police said Thursday.

The standoff with the barricaded gunman continued at 5 a.m., assistant police Chief Jim McDonnell said at a news conference.

The conflict started at 9 p.m. Wednesday when a man called police and said he had killed three members of his family, McDonnell said. Initial officers on the scene called in the SWAT team, which entered the home in the San Fernando Valley around 12:30 a.m. and exchanged gunfire with the suspect. Two officers were shot, McDonnell said.

Both officers were taken to Northridge Medical Center, where one of them died just after 1 a.m., McDonnell said.

The other was undergoing surgery at 5 a.m., McDonnell said, and was expected to survive.

Both of the officers shot Thursday had been with the SWAT unit for more than 20 years, McDonald said. This was the first SWAT officer killed in the line of duty in the unit's 27-year-history he said.

The SWAT unit has been the subject of TV series and movies over the years and has had a remarkable safety record. Sadly, it has come to and end this morning.

UPDATE: The dead officer is identified as Randall Simmons, age 51, a 27 year veteran of the department with 20 years on the SWAT team. The injured officer is James Veenstra, also 51, a 26 year veteran also with 20 years on SWAT. Both were described as model officers and the epitome of what an LAPD officer and SWAT member should be.

The house is now burning as I write this, probably due to the tear gas cannisters that were fired into the home. The Los Angeles Fire Department is now trying to get it put out. It's apparent from the TV shots that the suspect is now dead since both firefighters and police officers are walking around the scene. At least we won't have to deal with a trial.