LOS ANGELES — The man who broke into Los Angeles Mayor Karen Bass’ home on Sunday, making it to the second floor, arrived at a moment when there were no security officers on the premises, Interim Police Chief Dominic Choi said Tuesday.

Choi said the early morning break-in took place during a shift change, when “the officers that are there overnight leave to head back to their station and the oncoming shift comes on.”

“There was a short gap there, and that’s when that incident occurred,” Choi said to reporters after Tuesday’s Police Commission meeting. “That gap has been remedied. We’ve created an overlap so it doesn’t happen again.”

Police said they arrested Ephraim Hunter, 29, on Sunday on suspicion of burglary after he allegedly broke into Getty House, the official mayor’s residence in Windsor Square. At around 6:40 a.m., authorities said, Hunter smashed a window and went inside, climbing the stairs to the second floor where the bedrooms are located.

Two law enforcement sources, who were not authorized to discuss the case with the media, said that at one point, Bass was forced to hide in a safe area designed to protect against intruders.

Asked if the city’s security measures to protect the mayor fell short on Sunday, Choi said he doesn’t think so.

“I don’t know if one officer there could have physically stopped him ... or seen him. The Getty House, as you know, is a very large property,” he said.

Choi said the suspect jumped over a fence and broke in through the back of the residence.

“To my understanding, this happened so quickly that even if somebody had been there, he probably still would have been able to access inside the residence,” he said.

Hunter, who lives in Los Angeles, was convicted of assault with a deadly weapon in Massachusetts in 2015, serving several years in state prison, records show.

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