Walk-Up Shooting, 8th/Chestnut

(Jan. 20, 2013, 12:30 a.m.) -- A walk-up shooting took place in the Willmore City area on Saturday night, leaving a man wounded. It was the third shooting of the day, following two others in NLB: 55th/Atlantic (one shot/wounded, coverage here) and 6400 block Atlantic (two shot/one dead, one wounded, coverage here).

The shootings came on the same day as LB's MLK Parade (MLK Ave. b/w Anaheim/19th St.) during "Peace Week"...when LB had its first murder of 2013 (Jan. 16) in the 1700 block of Cherry Ave. at the western edge of the 4th Council district.

[Red X's are 2011, 2012 + 2013 murders ; Blue X's are shootings since Aug. 2, 2011]

Regarding the Jan. 19th shooting at 8th/Chestnut, LBPD Public Information Officer Nancy Pratt says that at about 8:00 p.m., LBPD responded to a reported shooting in the area and arriving officers learned that a man (adult) had been approached by a male subject (age not provided) who produced a firearm and fired at the victim, hitting him the lower body.

The gunman fled. The victim transported himself [!] to a hospital and was treated for what appeared to be a non-life-threatening injury.

There's no motive known at this point; LBPD asks anyone with information to contact its Gang Enforcement Detail at (562) 570-7370. 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

By way of recent background:

Dec. 10, area 9th St./Pacific Ave: a 16 year old boy is wounded in his hand and leg (the wounds officially termed non-life-threatening).
Dec. 9, area 8th/Magnolia: man robbed at gunpoint, then shot by the armed robber
Dec. 8, area 300 block Cedar Ave.: two people shot
Dec. 5: gunfire heard in the neighborhood reported by multiple residents in the predawn hours. In the darkness with no victim or crime scene visible, responding officers were unable to find evidence of a shooting.

The Jan. 19 shooting, like the shootings above, is in or very near the Willmore City Historic district (LB's oldest historic district), which is within the 1st Council district represented by Councilman Garcia since May 2009 (chosen as Vice Mayor by his Council colleagues in July 2012). Garcia was appointed by Mayor Bob Foster in mid-2010 to chair of the Council's Public Safety Committee but held no hearings of his Committee on the public safety aspects of the Mayor/Manager proposed police and fire budget reductions in City Hall's FY13 budget.