2 La. officers, suspect wounded in gunfire

BATON ROUGE, La. - A Baton Rouge neighborhood was awakened before dawn Saturday by a hail of gunfire, with police saying two officers were wounded as they traded shots with a man they had been chasing.

Neighbors say dozens of shots were fired in an exchange that also wounded the suspect.

Baton Rouge Police Chief Carl Dabadie Jr. said the officers' injuries didn't appear to be life-threatening. The suspect was undergoing surgery at the same hospital.

East Baton Rouge Parish District Attorney Hillar Moore said a bullet grazed the head of one officer; the other officer was hit in the stomach but protected by his bulletproof vest. "These guys are fortunate to be alive," Moore said.

Authorities identified the suspect as Calvin Smith, 22.

Baton Rouge resident Gina Chambers said he has been living at her home since December. Chambers said Smith's mother is her godmother.

Chambers said Smith has been grappling with "mental issues" and had attempted suicide before he moved from Shreveport to his native Baton Rouge. She said Smith received mental-health treatment last year at a hospital in Shreveport, where he had been living with a sister.

Chambers said Smith has been taking medication for his condition, and she didn't see any obvious signs of distress before the shooting. "He seemed like he was fine," she said.

The officers responded to a call about 5:30 a.m. to a report of someone damaging property, which Moore described as a domestic disturbance reported by a woman who knew the suspect. When police arrived, the suspect took off in a vehicle. The officers chased him until he bailed out of his car, about two miles away.

Baton Rouge. Sgt. Don Coppola said the suspect exited his vehicle with a rifle and fired at the officers, hitting both. The officers returned fire and struck the suspect. Moore described the rifle as a semiautomatic, large caliber weapon.

The chase ended at Chambers' home. She said she didn't know where Smith had obtained the rifle police say he used.

Moore said Saturday afternoon that he had viewed dashboard-camera videos of the six-minute chase from the officers' two cars and believes their actions were "totally justified."

"Clearly the suspect initiated the firing," Moore said, calling the attack an "ambush" and adding that an investigation will "look at everything" to make an official determination.