On early Monday, the Los Angeles Police Department (LAPD) found themselves at a very different scene in downtown Los Angeles. Those words felt much less consequential after a mass shooting at an unofficial afterparty for the Hard Summer music festival took place, killing two people and injuring six others. The shooting happened just after 1 AM, after a weekend that included house and techno music jubilations.
Just before this incident, LAPD officers had come into the neighborhood around 11 PM. Their intention was to break up a protest from turning violent after seeing what appeared to be an armed man entering a building during the protest in the city’s warehouse district. Spokesperson Norma Eisenman added that officers had evacuated the block and cleared the area before the shooting started.
When officers went back to the scene, they found one of the men shot dead at the construction site. In the meantime, a woman died later at the hospital from her injuries. The victims were not immediately identified. Emergency services took six other people to hospitals, and further details on their conditions are not available at this time.
The Hard Summer festival rocked the grounds of Hollywood Park next door to SoFi Stadium in Inglewood. Naturally, the afterparty was packed to the brim! Witnesses described a sudden and terrifying escalation of events as shots rang out, with one attendee recalling the experience:
“I heard what sounded like 100 shots.”
After the shots rang out, the scene quickly turned chaotic as people rushed into the street in fear. Investigators spent the early morning hours on scene, reconstructing physical evidence and interviewing witnesses to what led to this tragic event.
In reaction to the violence, Los Angeles Mayor Karen Bass offered her condolences and condemnation. She stated,
“This senseless violence and loss of life is devastating and those who are responsible must be held accountable. There will be no tolerance for violence in this city. My thoughts are with the victims and their families.”
Federal officials are now aggressively looking into the circumstances. At the same time, gang interventionists are going into communities to protect vulnerable, grieving families and stop violence from spreading in neighborhoods. As of Friday, the LAPD had not yet made an arrest in relation to the shooting, but are reportedly following possible leads.