Community Members Pray For Injured Deputies, Reward More Than $300K To Find Shooter
LYNWOOD (CBSLA) — A prayer service was held Wednesday outside of St. Francis Medical Center where two Los Angeles County Sheriff's deputies continued to recover after being shot over the weekend.
"I would like to tell them that we are praying for them, and they gonna be alright," Watts community organizer Sweet Alice Harris said. "They gonna be alright and the daughter, that 6-year-old, she's gonna be alright because we're praying for them."
The sheriff's department has not yet released the names of the deputies injured in the shooting and will likely not do so until the shooter is caught.
"They are still recovering," Sheriff Alex Villanueva said. "One of them has been moved from the ICU to a normal level of care, but they still both face a long road to recovery. It'll be additional surgeries and specialists are going to have to figure out how to get them back together and up and running."
In the meantime, the search continues for the shooter. Villanueva said the Los Angeles County Sheriff's Department was working with the Federal Bureau of Investigation and the U.S. Marshals Service.
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Villanueva also said donations have been coming in from across the country, increasing the reward offered to find the person responsible.
"Everyone is human, everyone deserves a life," he said. "No one should be cowardly ambushed or shot and we have to work together to push hard against violence everywhere."
Groups like the African American Coalition for Change will continue to try and bring a grieving community together, praying that the deputies are able to recover from their injuries.
"We need one another," Harris said. "Instead of what can they do, what can we do to help and bring us together?"
As of Wednesday, more than $300,000 has been raised to help find the person who shot and injured the two deputies.