Woman Is Fatally Shot, 1600 block Cherry Ave.

(April 24, 4:40 p.m.) -- At about 4:30 p.m. April 24, LBPD issued the following release:

On Tuesday, April 23, 2013, at approximately 11:40 p.m., a shooting was reported to have occurred in the 1600 block of Cherry Avenue, which resulted in the death of a female adult.
When officers arrived, they discovered a female down on the sidewalk, who had sustained a gunshot wound to the upper body. Long Beach Fire Department paramedics responded and pronounced the victim deceased at the scene.
The victim has been identified as 31-year-old Samantha Hollins of Long Beach. A motive for the shooting is unknown, no suspect information is available, and the investigation remains ongoing.
Anyone with information should contact Long Beach Police Homicide Detectives Hugo Cortes and Mark McMgire at (562) 570-7244. Anonymous tips may be submitted by calling 1-800-222-TIPS (8477), texting TIPLA plus your tip to CRIMES (274637), or visiting www.lacrimestoppers.org.

(April 24, 2013, 3:50 a.m.) -- A woman (adult) was shot to death on Tuesday night (April 23) shortly before midnight in the 1600 block of Cherry Ave. (4th Council district).

In initial information, LBPD Public Information Officer Nancy Pratt tells LBREPORT.com that officers responded to a shots call at about 11:40 p.m. and found a woman on the ground with an apparent gunshot wound. She was pronounced deceased at the scene.

No suspect information was available in the overnight/predawn hours and LBPD's investigation is ongoing.

The April 23 murder is Long Beach's third fatal shooting in the past ten days in the area between 7th St. and PCH, east of downtown, west of Redondo Ave. (two others took place in North Long Beach).

Red X's = murders 2011 to date; Blue X's = non-fatal shootings (of which we become aware) Aug. 2, 2011 to date. On Sept. 6, 2011, six Councilmembers -- Garcia, Lowenthal, DeLong, O'Donnell, Andrews, Johnson -- approved a third year of police budget cuts proposed by Mayor Foster and City Manager West (approved over dissents of Councilmembers Schipske, Neal and Gabelich)

On April 17, a man was shot to death in the area of 10th St./Temple Ave. (northern border of the Rose Park neighborhood, border of 2nd (Lowenthal) and 4th (O'Donnell) Council districts).

On April 11, a man was shot to death in the area of 7th St./Alamitos/MLK (1st Council district)

The April 23 fatal shooting is LB's fifth murder thus far in April. By our unofficial tally, Long Beach had five murders in March, two in February and two in January. LB's first murder of 2013 was in the 1700 block of Cherry Ave., roughly a block from the April 23 murder.

Roughly a block north of the April 23 crime scene, a double-walk-up shooting occurred in March 2008 on 15th St. just east of Cherry Ave...that took the life of 11 year old Jose Bailey and wounded another person.

Long Beach also had multiple non-fatal shootings during this period, which the City Council declared (as it does annually) a "Season for Non-Violence" (Jan. 30-April 4, motion by Lowenthal passed 8-0, Schipske absent).