A Los Angeles school police officer who said he was shot by an attacker last week, prompting a manhunt that shut down a large area,, has been arrested on suspicion of concocting the story, the Los Angeles Times reports. The startling revelation came at a hastily called news conference by Los Angeles Police Chief Charlie Beck, who said detectives became suspicious about the officer’s story as they investigated the case
Beck declined to elaborate on the arrest of officer Jeff Stenroos. The head of the Los Angeles Police Protective League called an “embarrassment to law enforcement.” Police had said Stenroos was shot in the chest Jan. 19 after he confronted a man who was attempting to break into vehicles near the eastern boundary of a high school campus. The incident sparked a massive police response that inconvenienced thousands of people as officers blocked roads, locked down schools, and refused to let people in or out of a 7-square-mile area.