Long Beach police say a man was hospitalized after being pistol-whipped by a gunman on Christmas night in East Long Beach.

Police said the attack happened around 11:19 p.m. Wednesday on Stanbridge Avenue between Wardlow and Monlaco roads, which is on the same block as Wardlow Park.

Police said two men who know each other were in a “verbal dispute, which escalated when the suspect pistol whipped the victim. The suspect then discharged the firearm into the air multiple times.”

The man who’d been pistol-whipped was taken to the hospital, police said. The attacker fled before police arrived, and no arrests have been reported.

Police said they’re still investigating.

Jeremiah Dobruck is executive editor of the Long Beach Post where he oversees all day-to-day newsroom operations. In his time working as a journalist in Long Beach, he’s won numerous awards for his investigative reporting and editing. Before coming to the Post in 2018, he wrote for publications including the Press-Telegram, Orange County Register and Los Angeles Times. Reach him at [email protected] or @jeremiahdobruck on Twitter.