»Police bullet killed baby used as shield by gunman«

A 19-month-old girl who was used by her gun-toting father as human shield during a shootout in Los Angeles was killed by a policeman's bullet, officials said.

An autopsy has revealed that the girl died after being hit in the head with a shot from a police rifle during the gun battle that followed a siege on Sunday.

Los Angeles police chief William Bratton held firm that, no matter what the autopsy results, it was the girl's father who got her and himself shot dead.

The father, identified as 34-year-old Jose Raul Pena, appeared to use the girl as "a shield" as he opened fire on officers after he barricaded himself in a house.

Pena and his daughter were killed and a special tactics officer wounded, police said.

"It's just a very sad day in a country where a child is killed at the hands of a police bullet," said Luis Carrillo, a lawyer representing the girl's family.

"This was an innocent child who had nothing to do with any of the events surrounding her."

The girl's mother and Pena's brother held a press conference to condemn the way police handled the confrontation and said officers ignored pleas to be patient for the child's sake.

Police rebuffed requests to be allowed to reason with the gunman and Pena was "a good person," family members said.

The police chief defended his officers, saying he refused to allow his department to "be maligned" by people "trying to portray an individual who held his own daughter as a human shield as somehow a hero."

"This guy is not a hero," police chief Bratton said of Pena. "This father is not a father of the year, as the family is now attempting to portray him."

Los Angeles Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa called for patience from the community while the investigation continues.

Police called Pena a "cold-blooded killer," and said the girl's mother, Lorena Lopez, filed a police report just hours before the shooting, claiming Pena had threatened to kill her and her family.

Pena ended a two and a half hour standoff by stepping from an apartment building holding a pistol and his daughter and opening fire, according to police.

Officers returned fire an estimated 90 shots and Pena squeezed off up to 40 rounds in the lethal exchange, according to officials.

"It's clear that this is a tragedy. There's nobody that refutes that," Mr Villaraigosa told reporters. "But, what we need to do is get to the bottom of it. Right now what we need is to calm the waters."