Mid-City motel surrounded in search for gunman; man detained

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An LAPD investigator collects a knife stuck in a tree as they look for evidence at an apartment building located at the corner of Washington Boulevard and Buckingham Road in Lafayette Square. (Al Seib / Los Angeles Times)

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Evidence is examined in a van near the shooting scene. A suspect apparently confronted a woman with her baby shortly after an early morning shooting of two LAPD detectives. (Al Seib / Los Angeles Times)

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An officer examines the crime scene. (Al Seib / Los Angeles Times)

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SWAT officers work to clear a neighborhood near West Washington and South Rimpau boulevards. (Al Seib / Los Angeles Times)

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SWAT officers and a police dog prepare to search a neighborhood for the shooter. (Al Seib / Los Angeles Times)

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Police officers guard the area surrounding the LAPD’s Wilshire Division station, where a gunman fired on two undercover detectives. (Irfan Khan / Los Angeles Times)

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Crime scene investigators examine the car that two LAPD detectives were in when a gunman fired on them outside the LAPD’s Wilshire Division station. (Irfan Khan / Los Angeles Times)

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Neighbors gather to look at the shot-up car that two LAPD detectives were in when they were ambushed outside the police department’s Wilshire Division station. The detectives suffered minor injuries and returned to duty later in the morning. (Irfan Khan / Los Angeles Times)

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A Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Department SWAT team travels on Rimpau Boulevard in the Mid-City area during the search for a gunman who fired at two LAPD detectives. (Irfan Khan / Los Angeles Times)

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LAPD SWAT officers search homes in the 4800 block of St. Elmo Drive. (Irfan Khan / Los Angeles Times)

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LAPD SWAT officers search homes in the 4800 block of St. Elmo Drive. (Irfan Khan / Los Angeles Times)

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A police officer stops traffic at a roadblock at Venice and Redondo boulevards in L.A.’s Mid-City neighborhood as the LAPD searches for a gunman who opened fire on two detectives outside the Wilshire Division station. (Al Seib / Los Angeles Times)

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The scene outside the LAPD’s Wilshire Division station, where two detectives were attacked by a gunman early Tuesday morning. (Irfan Khan / Los Angeles Times)

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LAPD officers talk to a man at a roadblock on Venice Blvd. as police search for a gunman who opened fire on two detectives outside the Wilshire Division station. (Irfan Khan / Los Angeles Times)

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LAPD vehicles dot Venice Boulevard in L.A.’s Mid-City neighborhood as officers search for a gunman who opened fire on two detectives outside the Wilshire Division station. (Irfan Khan / Los Angeles Times)

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A motorist passes LAPD officers on Venice Boulevard as they search for a gunman who opened fire on two detectives outside the Wilshire Division station. (Irfan Khan / Los Angeles Times)

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Officers check maps near the shooting scene. (Gary Friedman / Los Angeles Times)

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LAPD motorcycle officers stream through a roadblock on Venice Boulevard to join the search for a gunman who opened fire on two detectives outside the Wilshire Division station. (Irfan Khan / Los Angeles Times)

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A police officer holding a shotgun stops traffic at a roadblock as the LAPD searches for a gunman who opened fire on two detectives outside the Wilshire Division station. (Al Seib / Los Angeles Times)

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Venice Boulevard in L.A.’s Mid-City neighborhood is empty as police officers search for a gunman who opened fire on two detectives outside the Wilshire Division station. (Al Seib / Los Angeles Times)

By Andrew Blankstein and Emily Foxhall

June 25, 2013 4:45 PM PT

A man has been detained after dozens of police officers surrounded a motel and a second location in a Mid-City neighborhood in their day-long search for a gunman who shot and wounded two officers early Tuesday.

Los Angeles police released few details about the person detained and whether he matched the description of the gunman.

Officers swarmed the 1600 block of South Highland Avenue after a caller told police they had spotted a suspicious-looking man ducking out of a laundry room.

The neighborhood being searched is a mixed industrial neighborhood with an auto body shop, a storefront psychic and a motel.

The search is the latest development in a day-long hunt for the gunman who wounded two undercover detectives early Tuesday outside the Wilshire Division station. Neither officer was seriously injured.

So far, police have questioned and released 10 people but still have not apprehended a suspect.

The massive dragnet has been underway since about 4:30 a.m., when an unknown gunman attacked two undercover burglary detectives in an unmarked vehicle as they were waiting for the gate to open into the station parking lot.

The suspect fired at them from behind, shattering windows in the car and fled on foot.

Police had scaled back the manhunt until the latest reported sighting.

“This was a blatant attempt to assassinate two of the people who protect this community,” police Chief Charlie Beck said at a police commission meeting Tuesday morning.

At its height, the manhunt involved about 200 officers, a SWAT team and air and canine units from the LAPD and Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Department.

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Twitter: @anblanx

andrew.blankstein@latimes.com