Earlier today (July 23, 2018) LBREPORT.com asked LBPD if it knows of any relationship between the May 31, 2010 annual event and the July 21, 2018 event at which an attendee was shot to death [LBREPORT.com initial coverage here and here) by a suspect LBPD hasn't publicly described. LBPD's response is pending.

In a July 21 initial release, LBPD said a suspect fled, a motive for the murder is unknown and its investigation is ongoing.

LBREPORT.com archival coverage

(June 5, 2010) -- Police Jim McDonnell, along with high ranking officers and Parks & Recreation Director Phil Hester, took part in a community meeting organized by 5th district Councilwoman Gerrie Schipske regarding the Memorial Day shootings at Pan American Park (Centralia St. @ Charlamagne Ave., Old Lakewood Village area) that left two people wounded. [Previous LBREPORT.com coverage, click here and here].

[Scroll down for further.]

Over sixty people attended the Saturday morning (June 5) meeting in the Pan Am Park gymnasium (among those present/observing was City Manager Pat West). LBReport.com provides extended on-demand audio coverage below.

During audience Q & A (audio below), Parks & Rec Commission Dir. Hester acknowledged that those who held a large annual family gathering in the park didn't have a permit for it...which led to a series audience questions regarding the extent to which Parks & Rec communicates with LBPD about large events in parks...and some urged reexamining permit practices for future events.

The first audience questioner said that apart from PD's response to a loud music call (about an hour before the shooting), he didn't see a police presence in the area despite the holiday weekend and large event park crowd...prompting responses from Police Chief McDonnell, Parks & Rec Chief Hester, and Councilwoman Schipske about PD and Park Ranger staffing (included in Q & A audio below).

Chief McDonnell said that what occurred wasn't part of a pattern and "all indications are that the geography here had nothing to do with it. It was all about the people who had come in from outside the city" for an annual family gathering whose participants ranged in age from infants to an 80 year old war veteran...and included the lady who founded "Mothers Against Gangs" in Compton.

Lt. Jeff Lieberman said: "This was a family event. This family had been here for the last 18 years doing the same family reunion. This dispute arose as a result of an inter-family problem and it was a random event, a random crime, it just happened to happen here."

Lt. Randy Hausauer said the Detective handling the case is working diligently as high priority to identify the suspects so officers can make an arrest and bring those responsible to justice. "There's a good likelihood we'll be able to identify who they were," he said (with other details not discussed publicly during the ongoing investigation).

Chief McDonnell said:

This is a safe park, it's a great park, it's a great neighborhood. People like you who care, who come together like this on a Saturday morning because you care is why it is what it is. And I look around Long Beach and I see so many neighborhoods that take such pride in who they are, in their own neighborhood and also in the City of Long Beach, and I think that's what separates this City and this neighborhood from so many others where you see disrepair and you see the signs of blight and you see crime as a result and I think that the more you step up and the more that you demand that things be taken care of and be done right, the better off we'll all be in the long run.

To launch LBReport.com on demand audio, click links below. Audio is in MP3 format and edited (names and residence locations removed along with some other material).

LBPD presentation

Audience Q & A

On July 23, 2018, a staffer at LB's Dept. of Parks, Recreation and Marine told LBREPORT.com that there's no record of a permit issued to any person(s) or entity for an event at ELB's Pan American Park on Saturday July 21 during which a man attending what appeared to be a group event (BBQ, amplified sound, families) was shot to death in a restroom by a suspect LBPD hasn't publicly described.

Further as we learn it on LBREPORT.com.

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