Andre Maurice Jones, 37

Andre Maurice Jones, a 37-year-old black man, was shot and killed by Los Angeles police Monday, Aug. 18, in the 3700 block of South Grand Avenue in Historic South-Central, according to Los Angeles County coroner’s records.

About 2:20 a.m., Los Angeles police attempted to pull over a 2001 gold-colored Chevy Tahoe, which was allegedly “driving recklessly” near West Florence Avenue and South Broadway in Florence, according to a news release from the department.

When officers tried to conduct a traffic stop, the SUV drove through surface streets and onto the northbound 110 Freeway. The person driving the SUV then took the Vernon exit, and a person inside fired multiple rounds at officers, said LAPD Cmdr. Andy Smith.

The vehicle then got back on the northbound 110 Freeway, exited at Martin Luther King Boulevard, and drove east, police said.

The driver then crashed into a curb at South Hill Street and West 37th Street, and the two people inside ran out. The passenger again fired at officers, who returned fire.

The two men then hid as police searched the neighborhood, Smith said.

Officers set up a perimeter and called in two helicopters, a SWAT team and police dogs. About two hours after the chase began, a police dog found one of the men in a dumpster in the 3700 block of South Grand Avenue. 

Officers lobbed in a flash grenade to stun the man and used pepper spray to subdue him and take him into custody. Avel Jowen Turks, 18, of Corona, is being held on $1 million bail.

The second man was found soon after, carrying a rifle about a block away on South Grand Avenue between 38th and 37th streets.

The department’s SWAT team used one of its two BearCat armored vehicles, a $150,000 rescue vehicle, bought in 2003, to shield them as they approached the gunman.

The gunman, later identified as Jones, allegedly peppered the BeatCat with bullets, striking a SWAT officer, before he was killed by return fire, Smith said. 

Jones was pronounced dead at 5:20 a.m., said Ed Winter, a coroner’s spokesman.

An assault-type rifle with a pistol grip and a drum magazine was recovered at the scene of the firefight.

The wounded officer is a 22-year veteran of the department and has been a member of the department’s SWAT team for 15 years. He suffered a shattered left leg bone when a round went through his calf, police and California Hospital Medical Center officials said.

His injures are serious but not fatal.

Northbound lanes of the Harbor Freeway leading to downtown L.A. were closed for several hours during the investigation, backing up morning commute traffic for miles.

-- Joseph Serna and Ruben Vives