UPDATE at 2:26 p.m., Monday, April 20 2015: See our latest, “Shocking Westside Shootings Were Gang-Related, Cops Say.”

One person was dead and as many as three others were wounded in shootings in the Westside community of Palms this afternoon, according to police, fire officials and reports.

The Los Angeles Fire Department responded to separate shooting reports minutes apart and blocks apart in the Westside community, said LAPD spokesman Brian Humphrey.

The first call described a shooting at 3:20 p.m. in the 3700 block of South Clarington Avenue, he said. The second reported a shooting at 3:35 p.m. in the 10700 block of National Place in Palms, Humphrey told us.

LAPD spokesman Tony Im said officers found one victim dead on arrival. Two other possible victims might have turned up at area hospitals, he said. One other victim also was  reported. For now those people are being counted as injured, he said, but the info remained fluid.

A photo captured by area crime twitter account Venice311 shows a sheet covering what appears to be a body next to Woodbine Park in Palms.


The LAPD was on citywide tactical alert as a result of the shooting, Im said. He said the “tac alert” allows local brass from the Pacific Division to ask for reinforcements from other divisions.

The department was trying to contain two “big” crime scenes, he said. The search was on for a white Ford Explorer SUV believed to have been involved in at least one of the attacks, he said.

UPDATE at 4:32 p.m., Thursday, April 16, 2015: Police say Palms Elementary School is on lockdown.

Im told us the first shooting report was logged at 2:59 p.m. He said that there are indeed three injured victims at a hospital and one who was found dead at one of the crime scenes.

UPDATE at 4:48 p.m., Thursday, April 16, 2015: The Los Angeles School Police Department says the elementary school was on lockdown from 3:20 p.m. to 4:04 p.m.

“School had already been dismissed,” Sgt. George Sandoval said. “The only folks impacted were the after-school playground participants, who immediately sheltered in place.”

He said administrators at Palms Middle School, about six or so blocks away from the crime scenes, decided to put that campus on lockdown status “for a couple minutes” as a precaution immediately after the shooting. That status was lifted after school police determined there was no danger to the people there, he said.

UPDATE at 6:45 p.m., Thursday, April 16, 2015: Im of the LAPD now says there were five victims and three crime scenes.

The shootings started about 3 p.m. at Vinton Avenue and Woodbine Street next to Woodbine Park, he said. Two people were shot there, Im said. One was pronounced dead at the scene and another was hospitalized.

Moments later gunfire broke out at Motor and Vinton avenues, he said. The victim there was hospitalized in critical condition, Im said.

Finally, at National Boulevard and Overland Avenue, near the 10 freeway, two people were shot, Im said. They were both hospitalized.

At this point, the officer said, investigators believe this might have been “a disagreement type of deal” and not a gang-related attack.

The shooter, who apparently got out and walked up to his victims, was in a white or silver SUV, police say.

The citywide tactical alert triggered by the shootings was canceled about 6:30 p.m., Im said.

Headline has changed because police now confirm three four people were wounded. It originally said, “1 Dead, as Many as 3 Wounded in Broad-Daylight Shootings on the Westside.”

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