A church pastor and two others were injured after being shot at by at least one gunman in Long Beach early Wednesday, police said.
The shooting occurred in the 100 block of East 59th Street just after midnight, according to the Long Beach Police Department.
The pastor, his wife and another person were in front yard of a home that the pastor was house-sitting when they were shot at by at least one gunman in a car, officials said.
They had just come back from a bingo game in Torrance and were watering the grass when they were shot, officials said.
The church secretary, Dr. Tagaloa, told NBC4 the couple is in their 50s, and the pastor has been with the congregation for about three years.
The three had been dropped off at the home after an event at Vai Ole Ola Congregational Christian Church in Lakewood.
"I think it was a random shooting," Tadaloa said. "We don't know who these people are. It happened at our minister's house...It's his personal residence, it has nothing to do with the church."
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Neighbors said they were puzzled as to why someone would open fire on that particular home.
"Just bang, bang, bang, bang. Steady, steady gunfire," neighbor Travis Jennings said. "I know them as that they're a pastor and stuff like that, I don't really talk to them that much. (They are) normal, quiet, no activies, no parties or (anything) like that."
All three people were shot in the lower body and have non-life threatening injuries, officials said.
Police had not released any information about the shooter(s) or the car(s) from which shots were fired as of Wednesday afternoon. One witness said she saw two cars, one of them a compact white car.
"Reach out," Tadaloa said. "Tell people this is not right. They need to stop."
Annette Arreola and Michelle Valles contributed to this report.
