Shootings in Venice and Santa Monica connected?
Yesterday afternoon there was a shooting in Venice, followed up by another in Santa Monica last night. Both shootings left one victim dead and countless others terrified. The LA Times Blog has lots of details on the actual shootings but makes no mention that these were both gang related shootings, a fact the LAPD confirmed with Yo! Venice. Residents of the area heard shots and began questioning things right away. A source which asked not to be named told me that both the victim in the first shooting in Venice and the shooters who were apprehended in the second shooting in Santa Monica are members of the Venice Shoreline Crips. The LAPD hasn’t confirmed that publicly yet however. If you’ve been following this at all you’ll remember that last year a huge sting brought down 19 members and earlier this year I spotted some of their tags on a wall in the area. Clearly the busts didn’t eradicate the gang as was hoped by many, and clearly something is going down right now. Hopefully it gets under control before more people get shot.
UPDATE: Here’s an eye witness report from Bujinkan Santa Monica.
Related posts:
Here’s the official SMPD press release on the SaMo shooting:
http://santamonicapd.org/Press_Info/PressReleases/2009/PressRelease-2009-1104-Homicide.htm
Could be like what happened in my corner of LA a couple of years ago. The bad guys were released from jail and came out with marching orders for revenge. Always possible, and if related likely what is going on.
I witnessed the shooting in Santa Monica. It wasloud, sudden, and sad. I wrote about it on my blog:
bujinkansantamonica.blogspot.com/
Thanks for that link Michael, I added it to the main post.
I live near 7th & Brooks, quite close to Oakwood rec center. I heard the police madness after the shooting but did not actually hear the shots. However, I am *sure* I heard at least one gunshot the night of 10/24. I’ve not been able to find any information about that. I love Venice and this is a real drag… while my instinct, sadly, is that it is going to get worse before it gets better, my hope is that we can find another, nonviolent way to solve these differences. (Pardon me for dreaming.)