Certainly, a movie studio lot is a place that tends to see a lot of action. Sound stages and backlots are used frequently when movie and TV productions require a significant amount of control of their environment. However, a series of events took place on the Paramount Studios lot overnight that, while they could have been from an upcoming movie, were actually quite real.
The events started on Sunday evening when officers attempted to apprehend a sexual assault suspect that had been under investigation. According to CBS Los Angeles, the suspect pulled a knife on officers, which resulted in the police pulling tasers on the suspect. This did not entirely subdue the suspect, and backup was brought in via the LAPD using beanbag rounds as well as other non-lethal force. This also failed. Outside the Melrose Ave. gate of the Paramount lot, police opened fire on the suspect, who then entered the lot and barricaded himself inside a building there.
The police then began negotiations with the suspect before eventually swarming the building just after midnight this morning. The suspect was taken into custody with some self-inflicted knife wounds, though the severity of the injuries is not clear. It's been confirmed the suspect was an employee of the Paramount lot, police later revealed the name of the suspect as Bryan Gudiel Barrios, however, the nature of Barrios' employment with Paramount has not been released. It's unclear exactly why Barrios decided to go onto the Paramount Studios lot, it may have simply been familiar territory for him since he apparently worked there. Whether he was leaving the lot when police initially approached him we don't yet know.
With the exception of the self-inflicted wounds, which did result in the suspect being taken to the hospital, it does not appear that anybody else was hurt during the altercation. It's unclear exactly who fired on the suspect or why at this point, though that information will likely all come out before too long.
It doesn't appear that there was any significant damage to the lot itself. And under the circumstances, the lot is likely seeing less use than it normally would so if there's such a thing as a good time for something like this to take place, this is probably it. Paramount has yet to make any public statement about the incident.
Needless to say, this is the sort of story that one might expect to see filmed on the Paramount lot for an episode of a police procedural television series. Who knows, since many of those shows borrow actual events to create new, fictional, stories, we could even see exactly that happen, at least at such time that police procedurals are back in front of cameras at places like Paramount Studios.
