FURTHER Details Added By LBPD: Impromptu Social Networked "Paul Walker Tribute" Car Show Draws Several Thousand To ELB Bellflower/Spring Shopping Center Parking Lot, Dispersed By PD in 10 p.m. Hour, And Some To Head South to Los Altos Center, Dispersed By About Midnight

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Car Show Peaceful But Stretched PD Resources As Officers Handled Planned/Permitted QM Area Rap Concert (Mainly Peaceful But Included Two Fights)

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(Sept. 13, 2015, UPDATE 5:10 p.m.) -- LBREPORT.com has this update to our initial report after a crowd of several thousand people (estimates range from 3,000 to 5,000) held an impromptu social-networked car show (timed for the birthday of the late Fast & Furious actor, Paul Walker) in the Bellflower/Spring St. KMart-Lowes parking lot -- LBPD says without a permit and thus catching police by surprise -- which officers dispersed in the 10:00 p.m. hour.

But many of the attendees, apparently communicating via social media, headed south and converged in the Los Altos shopping center area before LBPD dispersed that crowd about midnight.

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LBPD Public Information Officer Sgt. Megan Zabel says:

[LBPD PIO email] Last night at approximately 7:13 p.m., officers responded to the area of Bellflower Blvd and Spring Street in regards to numerous street racing vehicles and a large crowd gathering in a commercial parking lot at that location.
Numerous residents in the area called to report severe traffic congestion and cars driving recklessly through the surrounding neighborhoods.
Officers arrived and learned an unpermitted car club event advertised via social media was the purpose for the crowd and high volume of traffic.
Police department resources on scene estimated the crowd to consist of between 3,000 to 5,000 people (unknown number of vehicles, but there are 1600 parking spaces in that parking lot and it was completely full, that does not include all the vehicles parking in the surrounding neighborhoods).
Police resources were pulled from other divisions and we utilized the assistance of the California Highway Patrol to clear the traffic and crowd.
Several dispersal orders were given to the crowd, who all eventually dispersed, however they moved to the 2200 block of Bellflower Blvd and gathered in a commercial parking lot there.
Police resources moved to that location and gave more dispersal orders. At this location, while dispersal orders were being given, a bottle was thrown from the crowd striking a police vehicle causing damage. The crowd eventually dispersed from this location and the area was cleared completely by approximately 12:15 a.m., this morning.
Numerous traffic-related citations were issued...No arrests have been made...There were no reports of anyone injured.
A police report was filed documenting the incident, which will be under investigation with the assistance of other city departments and the City Prosecutor’s Office.

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LBREPORT.com notes that at 10:41 p.m., LBPD sent a "Nixle" alert: "Police activity. Stay clear of the area of Bellflower and Spring St. Police clearing of unpermitted event. Traffic heavily impacted."

After some of the dispersed attendees drove a bit south to the Target/Trader Joe's Los Altos shopping center area, the Los Altos Center Adjacent Neighborhoods blog (LosAltosCenterNeighborhoods.blogspot.com) reported that vehicles were "racing up and down Bellflower Blvd through the 4th District south into the 3rd District as LBPD helicopters flew overhead."

[LACAN blog text]...Social media reports that participants from the impromptu event at various 4th and 5th District establishments told residents it was a Paul Walker Birthday Tribute. Walker was the Fast and Furious movie star killed speeding down an L.A. street [Valencia area, single vehicle accident Nov. 2013, attributed to excessive speed.] Walker would have turned 42 [on Sept. 12.]
The event appears to have been spread by Twitter and Instagram and other social media platforms...
Long Beach Police converged on the area closing off major parking lots along the Bellflower corridor as speeding cars could be heard well into the night.

[Paul Walker Tribute events were apparently held in various U.S. cities]

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Shortly after dawn, a.m. Watch Commander Lt. John Kanaley tells LBREPORT.com (based on notes left by the overnight watch commander) that the ELB incident came as LBPD was handling a planned event (with permits) already drawing LBPD resources across town at the Queen Mary: a rap music concert. Lt. Kanaley says that QM event was mainly peaceful but included two fights.

The combination of the two events stretched LBPD resources and resulted in holding-over officers past their usual shifts to deal with the crowds. Lt. Kanaley says LBPD units kept track of the ELB crowd (including using a helicopter) and basically informed attendees that they couldn't gather in such large numbers without a permit...and eventually the ELB crowd dispersed shortly after midnight.

A bit later in the early morning hours, LBPD officers saved a life, talking a distraught, potentially suicidal woman off a rooftop in Belmont Shore (near Livingston Dr.) Lt. Kanaley says officers talked with the woman and convinced her to pull away from the edge of the roof.

And there were no shootings (or worse) overnight.