Four People Shot Within Less Than 90 Minutes In Two Double Shootings Sunday: 14th St./Raymond (4th dist.) And 900 block Daisy Ave, (1st district)

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Occurs less than 24 hours after local pols declare start of "peace week" leading up to MLK Day parade, just months after Mayor Garcia recommends and Council approves eliminating LBPD's field anti-gang unit.

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(Jan. 11, 2015, 7:58 p.m.) -- Four people were shot in Long Beach in two double-shooting locations.

The shootings took place less than 90 minutes apart. The first was at roughly 4 p.m. in the area of 14th St./Raymond Ave. (northeast of Cherry Ave./Anaheim St.) in the 4th Council district. The took place about 5:15 p.m. in the 900 block of Daisy Ave. in the historic Willmore City area of the 1st Council district.

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Red Xs=2014 murders; Blue Xs=2014 and 2015 shootings, person wounded; Brown Xs=shots fired at victim(s), not hit; Purple Xs=2014 shots at occupied residence/vehicle; Green Xs=shots at unoccupied vehicle/residence; Orange X's=non-fatal stabbings. Map is unofficial for shootings in area shown.

Preliminary information is via LBPD Public Information Officer Nancy Pratt:

At roughly 4:00 p.m. two male subjects were in the area of 14th St./Raymond Ave. when a vehicle drove up and an occupant in the vehicle fired at the subjects...and the vehicle fled. Both victims were hit and transported to a hospital with what are described as non-life-threatening injuries. LBPD says the shooting is being investigated as possibly gang related. Anyone with information is asked to contact LBPD's Gang Enforcement Section aty (562) 570-7370.
Roughly 75 minutes later at about 5:15 p.m., two male subjects were in the 900 block of Daisy Ave. when a male subject approached on foot and fired at the subjects before fleeing. The two victims were hit, transported to a hospital, one sustained non-life-threatening injuries; the second victim's injuries aren't immediately available (again, preliminary info here.) This shooting is also being investigated as possibly gang related. LBPD asks anyone with information to contact its Gang Enforcement Section at (562) 570-5350.

The information above is preliminary; it's not yet known if the two incidents are related.

The shootings took place less than 24 hours after local politicians held a candlelight vigil to declare what they call the start of "peace week" leading up to the Martin Luther King, Jr. Day parade,

We will update our text with further as we learn it on LBREPORT.com.

LBREPORT.com note and comment: On September 2 and 9, 2014 the Long beach City Council voted without dissent to approve a FY15 budget recommended by Mayor Robert Garcia that ended funding for LBPD's former 22-member field anti-gang unit. LB's immediate past Mayor, Bob Foster, proposed the action in Aug. 2012 (FY13) but at that time the Council resisted, instead cutting the field anti-gang unit in half in Sept. 2012, using "one time funding" to operate it at half-strength. In Sept. 2013 (FY14), the Council quietly let the field anti-gang unit shrink to single digits (taken from patrol). In Sept. 2014 (adopting FY15 budget), the Council voted to eliminate the field anti-gang unit entirely. An internal LBPD gang unit remains.