Long Beach police are investigating a shooting linked to a possible robbery attempt that left one person injured and in custody while another fled from officers Monday afternoon, according to authorities.
Officers were dispatched to 7th Street and Elm Avenue at 3:50PM on Monday, December 26, regarding a possible drive-by shooting, according to Long Beach Police Department (LBPD) spokesman Sgt. Brad Johnson. An initial investigation found that no suspects or victims were hit by gunfire, but information about a possible suspect vehicle was reported to other officers, Johnson said.
Shortly thereafter, assisting officers located the possible suspect vehicle on the 2400 block of East Anaheim Street, according to Johnson. Officers found a man in the vehicle with a non-life threatening gunshot wound to his upper extremity. He was taken into custody and transported to a local hospital by Long Beach Fire Department (LBFD) personnel.
Police then observed the driver of the suspect vehicle go into a local business, Johnson said.
The suspect fled into a 76 gas station, according to local business owner Josephine Villaseñor.
“The suspect […] said out loud that he was going to shoot his way out, that he was going to shoot anyone that went in, meaning the cops, and he didn’t care if he died,” Villaseñor said.
Police eventually armed themselves with tactical weapons and entered the gas station but were not able to find him after a search of the area or nearby neighborhoods, Villaseñor said. It was unclear whether the suspect had left the location or not, according to Johnson.
According to Villaseñor, police at the scene told her the two suspects—who were allegedly attempting to rob a business on 7th and Elm when shots were fired—have been robbing local businesses on Long Beach Boulevard and along Anaheim Street.
Officials did not say who fired the shots but stated that the incident is being investigated as possibly gang-related.
Above, left screenshot taken from a video of the incident on the 2400 block of East Anaheim Street, posted online by Josephine Villaseñor.
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