File photo of bullet casings.

Police are looking for whoever pulled up in a car and started shooting but missed the intended victim a few blocks from St. Mary Medical Center Thursday night.

Police said the gunfire happened around 8:20 p.m. on Elm Avenue near Eighth Street. When officers rushed to the scene, they found spent casings and multiple vehicles that looked like they’d been hit by gunfire.

Officers were able to find the intended victim of the shooting who told them he’d been able to escape unharmed, LBPD spokeswoman Shaunna Dandoy said.

“The victim stated that a vehicle pulled up next to him and an unknown suspect shot at him,” according to Dandoy.

Police aren’t yet sure what motivated the shooting. Detectives are 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.