An off-duty Los Angeles County sheriff's deputy shot and wounded a driver after a confrontation on the 105 Freeway in Hawthorne this morning.
The deputy was returning home from work in an unmarked, private sedan about 8 a.m. when another driver in a sedan tried to run him off the road on the eastbound 105 Freeway near Hawthorne Boulevard, according to Los Angeles County Fire Inspector Darryl Jacobs.
After both drivers pulled over to the right shoulder through morning traffic, the deputy was confronted by a Latino male, 20 to 30 years old, who came at him with a knife, Jacobs said. The deputy shot the man several times in the torso, Jacobs said. The wounded man, who was conscious at the scene, was taken to Harbor-UCLA Medical Center.
The deputy and other drivers on the freeway this morning were unhurt, Jacobs said.
Sheriff's investigators were circling an older-model Honda Prelude and a Dodge sedan at the scene this morning, but Jacobs would not specify which car the deputy was driving. More than half a dozen sheriff's vehicles were parked at the scene, and California Highway Patrol motorcycle officers monitored the freeway.
The eastbound 105 Freeway at Crenshaw Boulevard was closed shortly after 8:15 a.m. and traffic was diverted onto surface streets, said CHP Officer Francisco Villalobos.
"We received a call from the Sheriff's Department, and they requested they close the freeway down due to an investigation related to an incident in the city of Hawthorne," Villalobos said.
In addition, he said the north and south transition roads to the 105 Freeway from the 405 Freeway are closed. He said the backup stretched for at least two miles shortly after 9 a.m.
Drivers traveling in the area have been diverted north to Imperial Highway and can reenter the 105 Freeway at Hoover Street, or can travel south to El Segundo Boulevard, where they can also reenter at Hoover, he said.
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