Long Beach police rushed to four different reports of gunfire in the span of about five hours Tuesday night, including one where bystanders said people in two cars were shooting at each other while they drove.
The spate of gunfire follows an increase in shootings and firearm assaults throughout the city. After a bystander was shot and killed outside of a mobile food vendor Friday night, police said they were assigning more officers to reduce gun violence through high-visibility patrols and enforcement in the areas impacted by these crimes, the LBPD said.
As of now, police do not know if any of the shootings are related or if there is heightened gang activity, spokeswoman Arantxa Chavarria said. In response, she said the department is increasing overnight patrols in the areas affected.
“We can gather at this time that some of these shootings are occurring because of arguments escalating,” Chavarria said. “There’s a variety of motivations behind these shootings, and we can certainly say we have no evidence that one gang is targeting another.”
Police described Tuesday night’s incidents as follows:
5:55 p.m. | In the first shooting, officers were called to the area of Long Beach Boulevard and Bort Street in North Long Beach. Witnesses told police that occupants in two moving vehicles were shooting at each other. Both vehicles were gone before police got there, but they found bullet strike marks on homes and vehicles in the area.
6:40 p.m. | A man and a 16-year-old boy were shot in the area of 19th Street and Chestnut Avenue, in the South Wrigley neighborhood, Chavarria said. Police believe the victims were standing on the sidewalk when a man in a dark-colored sedan drove up to them, opened fire and fled.
When officers got there, they found the teenager with a gunshot wound to his lower body. Paramedics took him to a local hospital in stable condition. They also found out the older victim had taken himself to a local hospital with a gunshot wound to his lower body. He was in stable condition, too.
Officers found bullet casing and a building that was hit by gunfire. They believe the shooting was gang-related, Chavarria said. The LBPD defines gang-related crimes as any crime committed “for the benefit of, at the direction of or in association with any criminal street gang.”
9 p.m. | Police were called to the the area of 15th Street and Gardenia Avenue for another shooting where a man was hit in his upper body.
“The preliminary investigation suggests the victim was walking in the area when a dark colored vehicle pulled up alongside him. An unknown suspect inside the vehicle shot him, and fled the area prior to officers arriving,” Chavarria said.
Police said the victim did not tell officers where he was hit or give them suspect information and they do not know the motive for this shooting. Paramedics took him to a local hospital with critical injuries, according to the department.
10:35 p.m. | Police said they were called about accidental gunfire involving a domestic dispute where no one was injured near Elm Avenue and Wardlow Road in Cal Heights.
The victim told police he was inside his home when his relative who lives with him brandished a gun.
“A dispute ensued between them that escalated into a physical altercation causing the gun to discharge,” Chavarria said. The suspect fled before police got there and no one was injured, according to the LBPD.
Police asked that anyone with information regarding these incidents call investigators at 562-570-7370. Anonymous tips may be submitted by calling 1-800-222-8477 or visiting www.lacrimestoppers.org.
Editor’s note: The headline of this story has been updated to reflect that three people were wounded in the shootings, not four.