Hours-Long Standoff With Suspect Barricaded In Hollywood Motel Room Ends

Update: [4:00 p.m.]: LAPD Sgt. Barry Montgomery has stated to reporters that the suspect is dead, and in the custody of the department. As LAPD Public Information Officer Tony Im confirmed to LAist, "'In custody' is a term we use for a suspect regardless of if they are dead or alive." Im said that the suspect was discovered dead by the SWAT team that entered the motel room. The cause of death is believed to be a gunshot wound, "but it's unknown if self-inflicted or we struck him." The department is investigating the death.

Update: [3:00 p.m.]: The hours-long standoff ended just before 3 p.m. Thursday, and the suspect is now in police custody. LAPD Officer Scott Gardner told LAist that "the situation is in hand" and "the suspect is contained." Whitley Avenue between Hollywood Boulevard and Yucca remains closed.

A potentially armed assault suspect barricaded in a Hollywood motel is in an hours-long standoff with the LAPD. A SWAT team is currently on the scene and Hollywood Boulevard remains closed in both directions between Wilcox and Cherokee avenues, snarling traffic. The Motel 6 is located at 1738 Whitley Avenue in Hollywood.

An LAPD spokesperson told LAist that a call reporting shots fired first came in just before 11 a.m. The spokesperson also said that there was an officer-involved shooting, but no further information was yet available. The motel has also been evacuated.

LAPD Sgt. Barry Montgomery told Wes Woods of the Daily News in a video interview that witnesses said they observed a suspect armed with a handgun. According to Montgomery, no officers were injured during the gunfire, and it remains unclear whether the suspect was struck.

"I woke up; there were just cops at the door, armed. They said, 'You gotta leave,'" a young man named Gabriel told KTLA. "We went to the lobby and all of sudden there were like three, four shots fired off....They said, 'you've gotta leave the entire building.'"