DOWNTOWN LOS ANGELES (KABC) — Two separate shootings within blocks of each other left four people injured, including two security guards, in downtown Los Angeles on Monday evening, according to police.
Photographing in a busy shopping plaza
The first incident was reported just before 9 p.m. at the FIGat7th shopping center at Figueroa and 7th streets, just outside the Target store.
According to the Los Angeles Police Department, security guards were trying to stop a shoplifting suspect when the suspect pulled out a gun and shot him.
When officers arrived, they found two security guards suffering from gunshot wounds. They were both taken to a local hospital. One of them was shot in the stomach and was in critical condition.
The other guard was shot in the arm and leg and is expected to survive.
Meanwhile, Eyewitness News has obtained an exclusive photo of the suspect, who remains at large. Researchers believe he is about 25 years old.
Judith Conway told ABC7 she was waiting at the register when she heard gunshots outside.
“(It was) extremely loud, extremely traumatic,” she said. “We all started running to the back. We were escorted by one of the salespeople, one of the cashiers I should say, at the front. But extremely traumatic, we heard several rounds go off, and we pretty much ran to the back and just left our stuff in the cart, and just tried to do our best to get to safety.
She remembered seeing people crying and hearing several others screaming.
“Some people ran towards the aisles, some people hid towards the clothes, everyone just started running and scattered in different directions,” Conway said.
Four people were injured in two separate shootings within blocks of each other in downtown Los Angeles Monday evening, according to police.
Shooting at 7th Street and Maple Avenue
Another shooting near 7th Street and Maple Avenue, about a mile from the mall, also injured two people, according to police.
A man and a woman were rushed to hospital in unknown condition. Information about a suspect(s) in this case was not immediately available.
Investigators do not believe the shooting is related to the earlier shooting of the two security guards.
Copyright © 2024 KABC Television, LLC. All rights reserved.