Two Officers Hurt In Burbank K-Mart Shooting

Two Burbank police officers responding to a shoplifting report were injured in a shooting today outside Kmart store.

According to police, one of the officers was shot in a hand and the other was shot in a leg. A suspect was also injured, but the extent of the person’s injuries was unknown, KCAL9 reported from the scene.

The shooting was reported at noon at the store near San Fernando Boulevard and Delaware Road, police said. The parking lot of the store was cordoned off while police investigated the shooting and searched vehicles to determine which one the suspect may have been driving.

It was unclear if anyone else was injured.

A customer at the store told KCAL9 that when he left the Kmart he saw that police had a suspect handcuffed.

“So I walked five feet … and as I started to walk, I heard `He’s got a gun, he’s got a gun,”‘ Joseph Hoage told Channel 9. “So I dove behind my car and heard several shots, so I looked, and so the officer (who) got shot in the hand, he went to the right to take care of himself, you know, just stunned, and the other cop emptied out a stun gun, hit the guy about six times. And it was unbelievable ‘cuz the guy was cuffed, I mean, I couldn’t see how he would get the gun, but evidently he got the officer’s gun and just unloaded on him.”

Another witness told the station he heard about six shots.

“And then I looked over there and the officer, I guess, that had shot one of the guys in the shoulder was holding him against the car, holding him down,” Steve Starleaf said. “And I guess he dropped his gun, the other guy, because the other officers came up and he said, `Don’t touch that gun, don’t touch that gun.”‘