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LOS ANGELES (AP) — A man suspected of shooting at a motorist in downtown Los Angeles on Monday was taken into custody after a nearly four-hour standoff with police that shut down part of the city's fashion district.
Los Angeles police officers were first called to 8th Street and Santee Street around noon after receiving a 911 call reporting gunshots in the area. Several streets were closed for hours as heavily-armed officers stood guard on sidewalks and police established a command post.
When officers arrived, they were told that a man had shot at a passing car, police said. Officers searched the area, but they could not find the vehicle or any victims, according to authorities.
The officers were able to get a photograph of the suspect and tracked him to a nearby apartment building, a police spokesman said. Detectives believe that after the shooting, the man ran into an apartment building and refused to surrender for hours, prompting a large police response that closed several streets.
Investigators believe the man, whose name wasn't immediately released, had fired at a passing car from a street corner, police spokeswoman Detective Meghan Aguilar said.
Police found a gun on the rooftop of an adjacent building, and sometime during the standoff investigators believe the man changed his clothing, Aguilar said.
A SWAT team had searched the building where the man was hiding, but police could not coax him into surrendering. Hours later, he called out to tell police that he "wanted to come out of the apartment and he wanted to surrender," Aguilar said.
The man was later escorted from the building by two police officers, and charges against him were pending Monday evening, police said. It wasn't immediately clear if he had an attorney who could comment on the allegations.
Detectives were continuing to interview witnesses and search for evidence after the man was taken into custody.
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