The Associated Press Published Monday, July 25, 2022 7:26 a.m. EDT Last Updated Monday, July 25, 2022 3:01 p.m. EDT
LOS ANGELES (AP) – A gang-related dispute at a Los Angeles park led to a weekend shooting spree that left two men dead and six wounded, authorities said.
The shooting happened Sunday afternoon in Peck Park in the San Pedro neighborhood, Los Angeles police said. About 500 people were in the park when the gunfire erupted and many of them ran for cover.
“All of a sudden we heard three shots: pow, pow, pow,” witness Dwayne Ellis told KABC. “Then we heard about 50 or 100 more: pow, pow, boom, boom. All kinds of shots. People were running.”
A dispute of some kind preceded the shooting, Capt. Kelly Muniz told reporters. Police do not know what started the dispute or how many people were shot. No arrests have been made and no suspect information has been released.
Two men and four women were taken to hospital, police said in a statement Monday morning. They were listed in stable condition. Authorities did not release the identities of the victims who died or those who were injured.
Officials initially said five people were injured and taken by paramedics to the hospital, but authorities later learned that a sixth victim went to a hospital in a private vehicle.
Several weapons were discovered at the scene and police recovered them as evidence, authorities said.
Peck Park is located about 20 miles (32 kilometers) south of downtown Los Angeles.
Councilman Joe Buscaino represents the area and said the shooting happened during an unauthorized car show organized by gang members.
But Officer Drake Madison, a police spokesman, said he had no information about a car show in the area. He said the gang-related altercation and shooting happened near the baseball field.
“You know this park and a lot of parks in the city have had problems with these car shows,” Buscaino told the Southern California News Group.
Buscaino has since 2020 pushed for a measure to allow Los Angeles park rangers to carry firearms.
“Recreation personnel on scene can identify potential problems and coordinate with park rangers,” Buscaino said. “We have lost common sense in the city of Los Angeles.”
“It’s sad and heartbreaking that people still aren’t talking,” Skipp Townsend, a gang interventionist who visits the park regularly, told the Los Angeles Times.
He added: “You know, instead, they’re taking up arms. So it’s heartbreaking, that we can have peaceful events in this area for, you know, two or three years in a row without incident, and then an incident like this happens.”