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View Winners → Crime Jul 25, 2022
Neighborhood view of Peck Park in San Pedro. | Photo courtesy of Best of the South Bay
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Police were working Monday to identify an unknown number of assailants who opened fire at a crowded San Pedro Park, killing two people and injuring five others.
The shooting at Peck Park at 560 Western Ave., near Summerland Avenue, erupted around 3:50 p.m. Sunday as hundreds of people were gathered at an informal car show and softball or baseball game. The gunfire sent the crowd scrambling in all directions. Authorities indicated that the gunfire may have erupted near the baseball diamond in response to some sort of dispute, but the nature of that dispute was unclear.
It was also unclear how many people may have fired. Authorities estimated as many as 500 people were at the park at the time.
“We don’t know how many shooters we have at this point,” Los Angeles Police Department Capt. Kelly Muniz told reporters Sunday night.
Muniz said police did recover weapons at the scene, but there were no arrests and no immediate description of any possible suspect or suspects.
Police said the victims ranged in age from 23 to 54.
One woman and one man were killed, fire officials said. The other victims were three men and two women.
The names of the people who died were not immediately released, pending notification of relatives.
The conditions of the injured victims was not immediately available. ABC7 reported Sunday night that four were critical.
The LAPD went on a citywide tactical alert after the shooting. The entire park was being treated as a crime scene and was closed for investigation.
A witness, Lola Warrant, told the Los Angeles Times she was watching a softball game when the shooting began and she saw people struck by gunfire, including a woman who was bleeding from an elbow and a man shot in a calf.
“They were carrying him. I get up to my car, and the guy’s laid out in front of my car,” Warrant said. “Somebody threw something on his face, and the police officers came, they took it off of his face, check his vitals and start pumping his chest,” she said.
Lecur Josey told NBC4 at the scene that he was at the park with his 5- year-old son when the shooting occurred.
“There were dead bodies. It was like a war zone. It was really bad,” he said.
Another witness told the station as many as 30 shots were fired.
Gang interventionist Skipp Townsend, who is a regular visitor to the park, told The Times violence happens when disagreements aren’t talked out.
“You know, instead they pick up guns. So that’s heartbreaking, that we can have peaceful events in this area for, you know, two, three years straight with no incidents, and then one incident like this happens,” he said.
A motive for the shooting was unknown and no suspect information was immediately available.
Anyone with information on this shooting was asked to call LAPD’s South Bureau Homicide Division at 323-786-5110. Tipsters can also call Crime Stoppers at 800-222-8477.
