Dennis RomeroUpdated at the bottom with victim John Atterberry dying today. First posted at 11:12 a.m. Friday.
A suspect was dead this morning after at least one LAPD officer responding to a “man-with-a-gun” call at the iconic intersection of Sunset and Vine opened fire, police told LA Weekly.
KNX 1070 Newsradio reported that the man might have been randomly shooting at passing cars, but cops couldn't confirm that to us.
It all happened …
… about 10:19 a.m. at Sunset Boulevard and Vine Street in Hollywood, Officer Gregory Baek told us.
Apparently, someone else was shot before cops got there, and that person was wounded and hospitalized, he said.
[Added]: The Los Angeles Times says the suspect had opened fire on people outside the nearby Arclight Theater and was gunned down at a McDonalds around the corner on Vine.
The topic “Sunset & Vine” was trending on Twitter this morning as some folks claimed the suspect had been shooting randomly at vehicles.
[Update at 12:35 p.m. Friday]: Check out this [warning: explicit language] amazing officer-tower cellphone video of the suspect walking in the middle of the intersection opening fire as motorists screech and swerve to get away.
[Added]: The Times posted cellphone video that gets a closer angle on the guy, wearing a white wifebeater, opening fire on a passing pickup truck, here.
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One of the cars hit by today's gunfire.; Credit: @csyhkpe
Officer Baek tells us that the suspect was indeed allegedly shooting at random vehicles, although cops aren't yet clear on whether the hospitalized victim was in a vehicle or on the street:
He was walking in the middle of the street and started shooting randomly at people and cars.
Witness Oscar Herrera told CBS2 news (via City News Service) that the suspect aimed his gun in the air as he walked north on Vine and then opened fire on passing cars:
I saw a Mercedes making a turn from Sunset to Vine going southbound. And he looked at him, and he started shooting at him, hit the car. Then, another car went by here and he shot (at) him too. And another car goes northbound on Vine, and he shot at that one, too.
So, then he turned around, and was going back, shooting. But I guess he ran out of bullets, so he took out his knife and he put the gun in his waist and he walked down there. And that's when a policeman came this way, near the bank, and he saw him with the knife and the gun (and) he started shooting at him like maybe four or five times.
He said the suspect was screaming: “Kill me … I'm gonna die!''
[Added]: The same witness told ABC7 (video below) that the gunman opened fire on a victim in a Mercedes (it appears to us to be a late-model SL) next to the Arclight before heading to Sunset and Vine and shooting at two other vehicles.
[Update at 4 p.m., Friday]: Police tell the Weekly the Mercedes-driving victim is a 40-year-old man who was taken to Cedars Sinai Medical Center in critical condition. The Times says he was shot in the jaw.
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[Update at 1:05 p.m. Saturday]: Police today say the suspect was 26-year-old Tyler Brehm of L.A.
A Tyler Brehm from Carlisle, Pennsylvania updated his location on Facebook Tuesday as Hollywood, California. The page also suggests a break-up, with his status changing from “in a relationship” to “single” that same day.
Brehm's relationship status changed this week.; Credit: Facebook.
City News Service writes that the L.A. County Coroner's office is identifying the deceased shooter as Brehm, “who had recently moved here from Carlisle, Pa.”
Interestingly this Brehm lists mystery writer Lawrence Treat, a pioneer of the realistic “police procedural” style of storytelling, as one of his interests.
Police today released this narrative of Tyler Brehm's alleged shooting spree, stating that he went to Sunset and Vine and …
… began shooting at people as they drove through the intersection. Brehm then walked Southbound on Vine Street, continuing to shoot at vehicles as they tried to avoid him and leave the area. On Vine Street south of Sunset, Brehm approached a Male Black, 40 years old, who was sitting in his parked vehicle and shot him multiple times, striking him in the face and upper torso. He continued shooting at vehicles and in the air when he was confronted by two LAPD officers, one, an off-duty motor officer working on a movie set, the second, a plain clothes detective who was on duty in the area.
One or both of those cops opened fire, leaving the suspect dead at the scene.
The Mercedes driver was ID'd by the Los Angeles Times as John Atterberry, a Hollywood music industry exec who “was a longtime recording industry manager and promoter, involved in such acts as the Spice Girls, Brandy and Jessica Simpson.”
The LAPD said he was “listed in guarded and critical condition” today.
Two other people suffered minor wounds after the suspect shot at their cars, according to the LAPD:
One, with a graze wound to his left thigh, resulting from the bullet passing through his car door. The second victim received minor cuts and abrasions to his face, when a bullet struck the driver door where it met the window. Both victims received medical treatment at the scene.
Police say they're not sure what motivated the suspect to embark on the spree.
[Update at 5:21 p.m. Monday]: The LAPD tells the Weekly Atterberry was pronounced dead at 3 p.m. today.
[Added]: Simi Singer of Cedars Sinai Medical Center tells us the time of death was 4:51 p.m.
[More]: The Los Angeles Times says Atterberry was shot three times and might not have known the suspect was on the loose, firing randomly at vehicles, when he pulled his SL couple into a nearby bank parking lot Friday morning.
[@dennisjromero / djromero@laweekly.com / @LAWeeklyNews]
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