5 Dead After Calif. Shootout

Gunman, 3 victims and SWAT officer killed in overnight siege

By Caroline Zimmerman, Newser Staff

Posted Feb 7, 2008 3:12 PM CST

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5 Dead After Calif. Shootout — Smoke rises from a home in Los Angeles where Los Angeles police battled a barricaded gunman Thursday, Feb. 7, 2008. Police say five people, including one SWAT officer and the gunman, are dead after a nightlong standoff at the home. (AP Photo/Nick Ut) (Associated Press)

An overnight siege northwest of Los Angeles ended this morning when a police sniper killed a gunman responsible for wounding one SWAT officer and killing another, the Los Angeles Times reports. The man called 911 last night to report shooting three of his family members dead; SWAT officer Randal Simmons was killed when police stormed the San Fernando Valley house.

Three males the police believe are related to the gunman were killed; a woman in the house during the shootings escaped before police moved in. Simmons' death was the first in the line of fire for the SWAT team; he played football at Washington State and was drafted by the Dallas Cowboys before injury forced him into police work in 1981. (More crime stories.)

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