At least one gunman armed with a semiautomatic weapon opened fire on Los Angeles police Wednesday evening, authorities said.

No officers were injured in the shooting, which occurred about 6 p.m. near 42nd and Main streets, the Los Angeles Police Department said.

Patrol cars swarmed the scene as officers searched for suspects. Officers were investigating a report that someone was barricaded in a home.

No additional details were available.

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--Andrew Blankstein (Twitter: @anblanx) and Robert J. Lopez (Twitter: @LAJourno)

Two people were found dead in a Huntington Beach home Wednesday in an apparent murder-suicide  after an eight-hour standoff with police, authorities said.

Neighbors of the couple in the 8600 block of Garfield Avenue heard arguing and gunshots Wednesday morning. Huntington Beach Police Lt. Russell Reinhart said it was unclear whether the bodies were those of the homeowners, whom he described as a couple in their 50s with no previous brushes with the law.

A SWAT team used explosive charges to enter the residence. The first charge was set off about 2:30 p.m. to open an iron security gate, which had prevented police from entering the property. More security gates were found inside the house. Additional charges were used before police entered the home shortly before 4, Reinhart said.

The person who called police about 8:30 a.m. described hearing arguments followed by gunshots, then someone shouting, “Oh, my God,” before another gunshot, Reinhart said. The same account was given to police by residents who spoke to officers on the scene.

Four nearby streets were blocked off and six homes were evacuated, Reinhart said.

Scott Osterhout, who lives around the corner, said he heard what turned out to be shots about 8:30 a.m. before leaving for work, but didn’t think much of it at the time.

“It was loud. I thought it was a car,” he said.

Osterhout said he heard three shots before a pause and then a fourth shot.

The investigation is ongoing.

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-- Mona Shadia in Huntington Beach

Photo: Huntington Beach SWAT officers prepare to enter the home. Credit: Glenn Koenig / Los Angeles Times

Los Angeles’ efforts to speed up the expansion of its public transit system received a boost in Washington on Wednesday, as a bipartisan group of senators backed a hefty increase in a federal loan program seen as a potential source of funding for projects.

Democratic and Republican leaders on the Senate Environment and Public Works Committee endorsed spending $1 billion a year, up from the current $110 million, for the Transportation Infrastructure Finance and Innovation Act. L.A. officials have eyed the program as a possible funding source for their efforts to build about a dozen rail projects in one decade instead of three, including the Westside subway extension.

Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa called the announcement exciting but added, "The game’s not over yet."
 
The increase was included in an agreement reached between Sen. Barbara Boxer (D-Calif.), who chairs the committee; Sen. James Inhofe of Oklahoma, the committee’s top Republican; and other senators on nearly $55 billion a year overall for the next big transportation bill.

The Los Angeles City Council has issued a $75,000 reward for information leading to the arrest of the person or people responsible for a shooting that killed a toddler and left his uncle in critical condition.

Shortly after nightfall Monday, gunfire broke out in the South Los Angeles neighborhood where 22-month-old Joshua Montes lived with his family. Minutes before, Joshua's uncle, Josefat Canchola, had carried the boy out the back door to play.

Both were struck in the head by the spray of bullets that investigators believe may have been intended for someone else. There were taken to a hospital, where Joshua died soon afterward. Canchola remains in critical condition, his family said.
  
Councilwoman Jan Perry said she hoped the reward would help police find whoever is responsible for this "unimaginable crime."

"These people obviously have no regard for human life, and we need to do everything in our power to find them before they hurt someone else," she said.

Anyone with information related to the shooting is asked to contact Newton Area detectives at (323) 846-6556. 

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Photo: Joshua Montes

A San Pedro man charged with using Facebook to threaten a Villa Park councilwoman who made controversial comments outside a Muslim community event pleaded guilty Wednesday to a felony count of threatening a public official.

The case stemmed from remarks made in February by Councilwoman Deborah Pauly, who addressed protesters outside the Islamic Circle of America event and said, "What's going on over there right now … that is pure, unadulterated evil."

"I know quite a few Marines who will be very happy to help these terrorists to an early meeting in paradise," Pauly said in footage captured by a video camera at the Yorba Linda community center.

The footage showed families with small children entering the event as protesters waved American flags and chanted, "Go back home!"

Paul Dean Andrews, 28, was sentenced to 97 days in jail and three years' probation and is barred from having any contact with Pauly, according to the Orange County district attorney's office.

Angered by Pauly's comments, Andrews used Facebook to send the councilwoman a message in which he threatened to use weapons to commit violence, according to prosecutors.

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Photo: Paul Dean Andrews. Credit: Orange County district attorney's office

Another person's treasure: Objects for sale are scattered on the ground at a flea market in Torrance in this photo taken May 20 by Francisco Arcaute.

Every day of 2011, we're featuring reader-submitted photos of Southern California Moments. Follow us on Twitter and visit the Southern California Moments homepage for more on this series.

A gunman fired into the campus of San Pedro High School on Wednesday afternoon, wounding one person.

[Updated at 3:35 p.m.: Los Angeles Unified School District spokeswoman Monica Carazo said the shooting occurred near the campus. One of the bullets apparently ricocheted off a wall and grazed a female student in the leg, Carazo said.

Police confirmed the report, adding that it apparently stemmed from an argument across the street. They said it's possible that shards from the stucco wall caused the girl's injury. It's unclear if she was in class.

Two young men have been detained, police said.

The high school remains on a partial lockdown.]

The Los Angeles Police Department was on the scene, and it was unclear if the victim was a student.

Sources told The Times that the gunman was off campus but fired into the campus. It was unclear if the gunman was targeting a certain person or how many shots were fired.

The condition of the victim was unknown.

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Photo: Scene at San Pedro High School. Credit: KTLA News

Government, community and cultural leaders gathered in Leimert Park on Wednesday to declare a “unified front” in their quest for additions to the planned Crenshaw/Los Angeles International Airport rail line that will run through South L.A. and Inglewood.

Construction of the $1.7-billion line is expected to begin next year, but to the dismay of many in South Los Angeles, it is not scheduled to include a stop in historic Leimert Park Village.

The Board of the Metropolitan Transportation Authority will vote Thursday on whether to add a station there -- at a cost of about $148 million -- and whether to put underground a one-mile section at Park Mesa Heights. That would cost an additional $269 million, officials estimate.

“We declare that building this project, moving a rail line along the Crenshaw corridor and not having a station at Leimert Park ... just doesn't work,” said MTA board member and Los Angeles County Supervisor Mark Ridley-Thomas, who has formally called for the two additions. To not place a station there would be "essentially to overlook the significance of this iconic destination for not only this community, not only the county of Los Angeles ... but for the entirety of the nation,” he said.

Some MTA officials are dubious, saying a station at Leimert Park Village would serve only an estimated 840 riders a day and that it would involve shifting money from other projects.

This post has been corrected. See the note at the bottom for details.

A lawyer representing the 10-year-old daughter of the man arrested in connection with the beating of paramedic Bryan Stow outside Dodger Stadium said Wednesday that at least eight people -- including the daughter -- could corroborate his alibi that he was at an East Hollywood apartment the entire day.

Attorney Chip Matthews said that the daughter of Giovanni Ramirez was on a school vacation March 31, the day of the attack, and said she was "positive she was with her father, other family members and friends throughout the entire day and evening."

"I've spent hours interviewing Giovanni's daughter, his girlfriend and other friends that were present and saw him on the day of the incident in East Hollywood," Matthews said. "All of them are adamant he was not at Dodger Stadium."

Matthews noted that Ramirez's daughter's grandmother, who normally watched the child during the day, had had knee surgery March 30, leaving the daughter in the care of her father.