Video Shows Officer Pistol-Whipped With His Own Gun Inside Police Station

A surveillance video captured the moment a Los Angeles officer was knocked to the ground and repeatedly pistol-whipped with his own gun inside a police station—and had the weapon pointed at him at close range.

The footage shows the confrontation between the suspect, later identified as 29-year-old Jose Cerpa Guzman, and a veteran officer inside the Harbor Division station in San Pedro at around 10 p.m. on Saturday night.

The video, obtained by ABC7 and the Los Angeles Times, captures a man in a straw hat walking into the lobby of the station.

The desk officer is seen approaching the man by the doors and moments after a verbal confrontation, the man is seen coming at the officer and taking a swing at him. As the officer backs up, the man throws another punch.

The officer is knocked to the ground with a blow and some items appear to spill from his belt onto the lobby floor. The pair are seen locked in a struggle on the floor, but the assailant then manages to wrestle the officer's gun from him.

According to the Times, the man grabbed the officer's 9mm Beretta handgun from his holster and the officer tried to prevent him from firing the weapon by controlling his arm.

The video footage showed the man pointing the gun at the veteran officer's chest and chin as they continued to fight.

But after the assailant broke free from the officer's grasp, he is seen hitting the officer's head with the gun several times. The officer soon knocks the gun out of the man's hand, but he grabs it again.

At this point, the man aims the gun again at the officers chest and throat, but then he heads for the station's doors.

Seconds later, a watch commander comes into the lobby from behind the front desk, spots the officer on the floor and the suspect fleeing.

She rushes towards the door and stops to briefly draw her gun, but is then forced to dive for cover as the suspect appears to fire at her. A third officer is seen arriving in the lobby with his gun drawn as the video ends.

The Los Angeles Police Department (LAPD) has been contacted for comment.

Police sources told the Times that the suspect repeatedly pulled the trigger, but a safety mechanism had prevented the gun from firing. "The officer would have been dead if it had not," said one LAPD official familiar with the investigation.

The officer injured in the attack has not been identified, but LAPD Chief Michel Moore tweeted that he had not been shot, and had sustained only "bumps and bruises."

During a news conference early Sunday, Moore said a watch commander exchanged gunfire with the suspect but did not hit him.

The LAPD said on Twitter: "The Watch Commander heard the commotion and responded to the lobby, at which time an officer involved shooting occured. The suspect ran to a white pick-up truck and drove off.

"Responding officers observed the suspects vehicle and pursued the suspect to Pacific Avenue and 17th Street where he was taken into custody. The suspect sustained minor abrasions, was medically treated and was released for booking."

The LAPD has said it will address the attack in a critical incident report to be released within 45 days, ABC7 reported.

Guzman is being held in custody in lieu of $2.23 million bail, online records show.