Elusive coyote escapes police gunfire after biting 5-year-old at L.A. college

On a break from class Wednesday night, Erik Olvera Perez happened across a startling sight at California State University, Los Angeles.

A campus police officer had cornered a coyote near the television, film and media parking garage on campus at 8 p.m., Perez told the CSULA University Times.

“I was standing on the TVF balcony and the cop had the light aiming toward the coyote, who was on the hill,” he said. “The cop was walking closer to the coyote on the hill. When he was halfway to the coyote, he shot one time. Then the coyote starting to whine and was twitching. Then three or four cops got close to the coyote and there were three more shots.”

The elusive coyote escaped police, however, and remains at large.

Earlier in the evening, the coyote bit a 5-year-old boy, on the campus in the University Hills neighborhood east of downtown Los Angeles with his family, university officials told KTLA. The boy, who was bitten on the leg about 6:40 p.m., was taken to a health facility by his family, spokesman Robert Lopez said.

He’s expected to recover, reported KCBS. After biting the boy, the coyote aggressively approached another woman walking on campus, who flagged down police, according to KCBS. Officers found the coyote on a hillside near the parking garage and opened fire, hitting it at least once.

Students on campus reported hearing several gunshots, according to KTLA. Some thought there had been a campus shooting.

“Thank God that’s not what happened tonight,” one told KTLA. A tweet from the university reported a heavy police presence on campus Wednesday night following the incident, which included Los Angeles Police Department officers responding to the shooting.

This story was originally published March 15, 2018 at 8:52 AM with the headline "Elusive coyote escapes police gunfire after biting 5-year-old at L.A. college."