SAN PEDRO, LOS ANGELES (KABC) — The search for suspects continued Monday morning after two people were killed and five were injured in a mass shooting at a San Pedro park.
Local leaders and residents held a news conference Monday morning to discuss enforcement of park permits. They said if those rules had been followed, the shooting would not have happened.
“Something like this happening in my backyard, I’m five minutes from this park, it’s shocking,” Tim McOscar said.
The accident was reported near a Peck Park car show on N. Western Avenue just before 4 p.m. Sunday. Police said that although the shooting was near the show, where hundreds of people had gathered, it did not appear that the shooting was at the show itself.
Authorities later said the incident started as an argument between two people near the park’s baseball diamond. They said this is not considered an active shooter situation.
“That’s when we start seeing people running,” Sandra Alba said. “So my girlfriend and I jumped up and started running – grabbed our chairs and started running
The softball game did not have a permit, Councilman Joe Buscaino’s office said.
Witnesses said hundreds of people gathered for the car show and other activities around the park. When gunfire broke out, people immediately fled the scene in terror.
“All of a sudden we heard three shots – pow pow pow,” said witness Dwayne Ellis. “Then we heard about 50 or 100 more — pow pow, boom boom. All kinds of shots. People were running.”
Police said there may have been more than one shooter, but did not say exactly how many there might be. Additional information or a description of these suspected shooters has not been released.
Of the five injured victims, two were in critical condition Monday morning.
San Pedro wants something to help them feel safe.
“It’s not just the permit that’s important, but the police department realizing that we need to have better communication with the community,” said Joe Gatlin, founder and vice president of the San Pedro and Wilmington NAACP.
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