Dennis RomeroThree people were killed and 12 were injured in an early-morning shootout at a makeshift restaurant at a home in the West Adams district, police said. Two “persons of interest,” a man and a woman, were detained for questioning, Los Angeles Police Department Officer Mike Lopez said .
He described the location of the 12:30 a.m. violence, a home near Rimpau and West Jefferson boulevards, as “a residence with an underground restaurant.” A residential Jamaican eatery called Dilly's is listed at that location. Three victims were declared dead at the scene, Lopez said. The 12 people hospitalized were in conditions that ranged from critical to serious but stable, he said.
Detectives believe the shooter and another person “became upset at individuals at the party, left, came back, and that's when the shooting occurred,” Lopez said. Investigators found different types of shell casings at the scene, leading them to believe at least one person returned fire, he said.
“There were possibly two firearms, but only one was located,” he said.
Mayor Eric Garcetti today called the shooting “horrifying.” He said it was “the latest example of a senseless gun violence epidemic that causes so much pain and sorrow in our city and across the nation.”
“We have every confidence that the LAPD's investigation will answer the many questions about what happened and why,” Garcetti said. “Our thoughts are with the families mourning or praying at bedsides today. We must take action against easy access to firearms and the thoughtless, indiscriminate, murderous use of them. We cannot tolerate these tragedies multiplying in communities across America.”
Lopez said detectives were casing the area for any possible video of events outside the home. Anyone with information on the shooting was asked to call police at 213-485-2582.
UPDATE at 8:28 p.m. Sunday, Oct. 16, 2016: Police today announced the arrests of Mowayne McKay, 33, and Diego Reid, 25, on suspicion of murder. Authorities said the two weren't the only ones who allegedly opened fire after a dispute at the residence turned violent.
The makeshift restaurant was the location of a birthday party attended by about 50 people, LAPD said in a statement.
“Immediately following the shooting of this one individual, several other shots were fired indiscriminately in the crowd, including some that appeared to be 'return' fire from other partygoers in the direction of the suspects,” according to the department. “The initial shooter and at least one other associate, who is also believed to have fired in the crowd, fled the scene on foot.”
One of the injured remained in “extremely critical condition,” police said.
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