Rudy Carmona said he was worried about children stepping on broken glass when he asked a man and woman to pick up their discarded beer bottles on the Alamitos Peninsula. Minutes later, he’d been shot, and a Good Samaritan was driving him to Long Beach Memorial Hospital with a gunshot wound to his abdomen.
Carmona told the Long Beach Post he was attacked on May 30 in the parking lot on East Ocean Boulevard next to the United States Sailing Center, which residents say has become a hotbed for public drinking.
He described the shooting as a brief interaction that escalated into unprovoked violence.
When he saw two strangers throwing out empty beer bottles on the sand and blaring music from their car, he spoke up. They responded with obscenities, he said.
As Carmona went to retrieve his wetsuit from his van, he thought the sound of an engine starting meant the duo would leave.
Instead, according to Carmona, the female driver shot him once in the stomach and the pair laughed before driving away on East Ocean Boulevard, Carmona said.
He said doctors “gutted me like a fish” in order to save him, leaving a scar that runs from his abdomen to his groin.
After three shootings in her district, including the one that wounded Carmona, Long Beach City Councilmember Kristina Duggan organized a community meeting Monday to address the violence. Nobody was injured in the other two shootings, which happened in the busy entertainment district along Second Street on June 4 and June 1, according to Long Beach police.
During the meeting at the Alamitos Bay Yacht Club, one neighbor complained about seeing condoms, needles and broken glass regularly in the lot where Carmona was shot.
By contrast, neighbors had nothing but positive things to say about Carmona, who lives in Belmont Heights and regularly free dives for fish in the water between Naples and the Peninsula.
Homeowners in the area said they know him and were horrified to hear he’d been hurt.
“He’s been around a long time and he’s a good guy,” said a neighbor who asked to remain anonymous over fear of retaliation from the outstanding shooting suspects.
For 34 years, Carmona’s family has trimmed trees in the area through their business, Dr. Aloha, he said. Occasionally, neighbors said, they’ll even spot him sweeping up sand in the parking lot after parking his work truck to make sure it’s presentable.
“They know of us; we’re trouble-free people. Peaceful,” Carmona said. “If anything, the most we do is barbecue [fish we catch] and offer it to everybody.”
Police said no arrests have been made for Carmona’s shooting, but “officers and detectives have been in contact with the victim since the incident occurred.”
Carmona said nobody from the police department had spoken to him until Tuesday morning, the day after the meeting.
Officers told him they’ve had difficulty finding the suspects because they only have a “blurry picture” of the suspect’s license plate, Carmona said.
He hopes police will soon arrest his attackers and send officers to shut down drinking in the parking lot.
“[If they] don’t catch the people that shot me, it’s going to get worse,” he said.