Advertisement

Drive-by shooting occurs outside site of City Council campaign forum

Share

This article was originally on a blog post platform and may be missing photos, graphics or links. See About archive blog posts.

A drive-by shooting took place in South Los Angeles on Friday night outside the site of a Los Angeles City Council campaign forum, just as several campaign volunteers were heading to their cars, campaign workers said.

Supporters of council candidates Mike Davis and Ana Cubas, both of whom are running to replace Councilwoman Jan Perry, were walking to their cars on 50th Street shortly before 9 p.m. when they heard several shots, said Lewis Myers, field strategist for the Cubas campaign. A man who had not attended the forum was shot and injured roughly 15 feet from one group of campaign workers, Myers said.

Advertisement

‘We ran, and a staff member [for] Mike Davis ran toward the group because we started hearing screaming,’ Myers said.

Robert Cole, campaign manager for Davis, said he was in the parking lot when he heard seven shots. Cole said he called 911 and found the victim in his frontyard with a gunshot wound. ‘He was shot in the left shoulder, and I’m telling him to be calm, don’t panic,’ he said.

Cole said the victim told him the shots had been fired from a car. The victim also said the car rolled up in front of his house and people inside it asked about a job, then began firing, Cole said.

The 9th District covers the eastern end of South Los Angeles. Five of the seven candidates running in Tuesday’s election attended the event, which took place at the Avalon-Carver Community Center. State Senator Curren Price (D-Los Angele), and community volunteer Manuel Aldana Jr. did not attend.

The forum ended shortly after 8 p.m.

Los Angeles police Lt. Julius Guay, who works in the LAPD’s Newton Division, confirmed that a shooting occurred at 50th and Avalon, saying an adult male had been shot at least once in front of a home. He was taken to Los Angeles County/USC Medical Center and was listed in stable condition.

The shooting followed an argument between the suspects and the victim, Guay said.

Some of Cubas’ campaign staffers who were on the scene were ‘traumatized’ in the wake of the shooting, said Leo Briones, consultant to the Cubas campaign. Gun violence, he said, is a ‘stark reality of that district and needs to be dealt with.’

Advertisement

ALSO:

Suspect in Las Vegas shooting, crash arrested in L.A.

Funds set up for families of slain Santa Cruz police officers

TV anchor’s disappearance is ‘private family matter,’ sheriff says

-- David Zahniser at Los Angeles City Hall

Advertisement