SAN PEDRO, LOS ANGELES (KABC) — The search for suspects continued Monday morning after two people were killed and five others were injured in a mass shooting at a San Pedro park.
Local leaders and residents held a press conference Monday morning to discuss the park’s permit enforcement. They said if those rules had been enforced, the shooting would not have happened.
“Something like this happening in my backyard, I’m five minutes from this park, it’s shocking,” said Tim McOskar.
The incident was reported near a car show in Peck Park on N. Western Avenue shortly before 4pm on Sunday. Police said that although the shooting took place in the vicinity of the show where hundreds of people had gathered, it did not appear that the shooting happened at the show itself.
Authorities later said the incident began as a dispute between two people near the baseball diamond at the park. They said it was not considered an active shooter situation.
“Then we start to see people running,” said Sandra Alba. “So me and my girlfriend jumped up and started running, grabbed our chairs and started running
The softball game was not permitted, Councilman Joe Buscaino’s office said.
Witnesses said hundreds of people gathered for the car show and other activities around the park. When the shots rang out, people immediately left 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 was likely more than one shooter, but did not say exactly how many there might be. No further information or a description of the alleged shooters has been released.
Of the five injured victims, two were in critical condition Monday morning.
San Pedro wants something to help them feel safe.
“Not just permits, which is important, but for the police department to realize that we need to have better communication with the community,” said Joe Gatlin, founder and vice president of NAACP San Pedro and Wilmington.
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