Officer suspended after firing gun during scuffle at party in Harbor area

An off-duty Los Angeles Police Department officer was hosting a birthday party at his home in the Harbor area of the city over the weekend and unintentionally fired his gun during a brief scuffle, the police chief said.

The officer was in his kitchen when he got into a “physical altercation” with a guest early Saturday morning, March 6, Chief Michel Moore said Tuesday.

During the fight, he said, the officer reached for a kitchen drawer where he kept an “un-holstered duty pistol.”

“When he reached for that weapon, the weapon discharged,” Moore said.

The round pierced the drawer, “lodging into an interior wall,” the chief said.

The guest left the house and hours later he informed the LAPD about the incident, Moore said.

No one appears to have called police immediately about the shooting — the chief said the guest’s call was when the LAPD learned about the incident. Internal investigators with the department then arrived to conduct an administrative review.

They’re also investigating whether a crime occurred, the chief said, adding the review was “just beginning.”

“I’ll get a briefing on this in the coming days,” Moore told reporters in a virtual press conference Tuesday afternoon, March 9.

Investigators will interview all of the guests who witnessed the shooting or heard the gunshot.

Moore said he had “significant concerns” about the officer’s behavior. The officer, who was not publicly identified Tuesday, has had his police powers removed and was assigned to home as LAPD internal investigators look into the incident.

An LAPD spokeswoman declined to comment beyond what the chief said. “This is a personnel complaint and we do not comment on them,” Officer Norma Eisenman said in an email.

Police haven’t said how many people were at the party, so it wasn’t clear whether the gathering complied with COVID-19 pandemic protocols. Officials also haven’t identified the location, except to say that the shooting occurred at a house in LAPD’s Harbor Division, which includes San Pedro and Wilmington.

Moore said the party began on Friday night and extended into the early morning hours of Saturday. He said the officer and the guest knew each other.

“This is a very trouble incident to me,” Moore said.

The chief said he expects off-duty officers to “exercise a great deal of responsibility” and “ensure the safe handling” of their service weapons.