Los Angeles

Shootings at 3 LA Locations Leave 1 Dead, 4 Wounded

A series of shootings at three locations Thursday within a span of 10 minutes in the Palms area of Los Angeles left one man dead and four others wounded, one critically, and police are at the hospital trying to figure out who shot whom.

Updated Article: Coroner IDs Palms Shooting Victim

The shootings prompted two schools to go on lockdown and the LAPD to go on a citywide tactical alert, which allows the department to have extra officers on duty or reassigned to help where needed.

Shots were heard around 3 p.m. near Woodbine Park, at Woodbine Street and Vinton Avenue where dozens of people, including children, were playing. A woman was heard screaming and a vehicle sped off, police said.

When police arrived, they found a man dead and another wounded, according to LAPD Lt. John Jenal.

A second shooting was reported a few blocks away in front of a Verizon Wireless store where a man was taken to the hospital.

A third shooting happened in a 7-Eleven parking lot nearby, where two more shooting victims were struck, Jenal said.

Police were trying to piece together whether the shootings were related. They didn't say whether it was gang related.

Witnesses, who gave police conflicting descriptions of vehicles, were terrified.

"I felt those bullets just flying over my head," said Ralph Rocha. "A whistling sound, pop, pop, pop, pop, pop! After that, boom, boom, boom, boom!"

Nyree Arabian, Conan Nolan and Rosa Ordaz contributed to this report.

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