Police respond to call about suspicious vehicle, shoot driver

SHREVEPORT, LA (KSLA) - A man remains is in grave condition in a Shreveport hospital after being shot by police.

Officers were responding to a call about a suspicious vehicle when the situation escalated.

And authorities say they took another man, a passenger, into custody for questioning.

The events started unfolding with a call at 5:18 p.m. Tuesday about a suspicious vehicle at Southern at Sheridan avenues, Caddo 911 dispatch records show.

Police had close to 30 units on the call.

Twenty minutes later, Shreveport Fire Department sent five units to a medical emergency a half mile away at Line Avenue at Olive Street.

"I heard a gunshot and just rapid fire after that," Rony Shaw said of what he saw just steps from his home.

"And an officer standing beside one of the cars with his pistol pointed in the direction of the white car that the suspect was in. And it was just a cloud of smoke."

Dr. Grady Stimits said he was treating patients in his office in the 2000 block of Line Avenue when "we heard some gunfire, approximately five or six shots."

One of the workers in his front office screamed and looked out the window.

"She said that she saw a white car smoking and an officer bearing down on a gentleman in the car. He unloaded his weapon on the gentleman."

Crump later confirmed that multiple shots were fired and said that his officers took the actions necessary based on the situation.

"The driver refused all commands by our officers to bring the vehicle to a stop, to show their hands. All those things were refused."

Shortly after the shooting, Stimits said, more officers arrived.

"I got out front to watch the gentleman being pulled from the vehicle and a police officer attempted CPR. But he was apparently unresponsive."

A call taker at a nearby store said that workers there also heard gunfire and that the business now is closed.

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