Shootout: 'I guess this is Hollywood,' witness says of surreal scene

The shootout Friday at the intersection of Sunset and Vine resembled a fast-moving Hollywood production, said some witnesses, leaving them with the sensation that they'd witnessed something surreal.

"When I heard it, I didn't react to it being real," said Greg Watkins, a student at the nearby Los Angeles Recording School who was walking on the street and had just taken off his headphones to take a call from his girlfriend when the shooting began.

"This is Hollywood, and they do film stuff all the time," he said, standing near the ArcLight Cinemas. "I honestly thought they were filming something."

Serge Durand, who said he was visiting from Atlanta, filmed the incident from a friend's apartment above the intersection. In the video, a gray car swerves to avoid the shooter as he points what appears to be a weapon at the car.

"Is this the end?" Durand said he heard the shooter exclaim.

Emmanuel Fierro, 21, staying with a friend in another apartment above the intersection and also a student at the recording school, said, "I walk through these streets every day to go to school."

"I couldn't believe what was happening in the streets," he said, "but I guess this is Hollywood."

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-- Hailey Branson-Potts, Angel Jennings and Sam Quinones

Photo: Police block off the shooting scene in Hollywood. Credit: Gary Friedman / Los Angeles Times