A witness account and a video circulating on social media are providing new details about what led up to a deadly shooting on Second Street in Belmont Shore over the weekend.
According to police, 32-year-old Long Beach resident Johnny Santos was killed around 1 a.m. Sunday in the 5300 block of Second Street, which is in the middle of a popular entertainment district filled with bars and restaurants. Santos was in a fight when a man pulled out a gun and shot him in the upper body, according to the Long Beach Police Department.
Santos was a father of two young girls, according to his uncle, who created a fundraiser to cover funeral expenses.
A video posted on the social site Nextdoor shows the moments leading up to the deadly gunfire. In it, a group of people are standing outside Taco Shore restaurant. At some point, a group of women begin fighting on the sidewalk and a group of men appear to be involved in an altercation with each other nearby.
The fight between the women spills out onto the street, and the men begin to approach them.
As the men come closer, someone who was previously off-screen jumps out toward the commotion and fires a single point-blank shot in the direction of the men. The video then shows people screaming and running, with one person crumpling to the ground.
The fight was one of several that had broken out on Second Street that night, according to Brandon Silver, a 22-year-old from Signal Hill, who said he’d been hanging out with a group of friends at Legends Restaurant and Sports Bar a few blocks away.
“The whole night on (Second Street), there was so much tension,” Silver said. “We were coming out of Legends and there was a huge altercation.”
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“Some guy was coming out with two bruises on his face, bleeding, and there were two guys trying to get inside of Legends bruised up as well,” Silver said.
As Silver and his friends left Legends and walked toward another bar, they saw another fight across the street involving a couple of women and men.
Punches were being thrown and people were pushing each other, Silver said.
Silver and his friends kept walking, thinking the fight would end after a few blows, but “then we heard the gunshot, one gunshot, then you kind of hear screaming, a couple guys yelling,” the 22-year-old said.
Silver said he then saw a few men run and quickly get into a silver BMW sedan, which sped away westbound on Second Street.
Police rushed to the scene, and the bars that were still open in the area closed as officers began investigating, Silver said.
Silver said the situation was sad: “Second Street, it’s not looked at as a dangerous place, … and there was a ton of people, it was a packed out Saturday.”
Police have not provided any information on a suspect or possible motive. They say they’re still investigating. No arrests have been announced.
Meanwhile, Santos’ uncle, Dominic Santos, started the fundraiser to help pay for funeral costs. It had raised $16,801 out of the $33,000 goal as of Monday afternoon.