A woman died and five other people were hospitalized after a shooting at a strip mall in Hawthorne early Sunday morning.
According to the Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Department, the shooting was first reported to the Hawthorne Police Department just before 12:30 a.m. in the 3100 block of Rosecrans Avenue.
First responders located multiple gunshot victims at the scene. They were taken to nearby hospitals in varying conditions, including one woman who was in grave condition.
She later succumbed to her injuries, LASD said.
It is believed that additional victims may have transported themselves to a hospital.
“When officers arrived, they found a victim suffering from gunshot wounds,” said LASD Lieutenant Art Spencer. “They later learned there were also multiple victims who had been transported to various local hospitals that also suffered gunshot wounds.”
Just before 8 a.m. Sunday, officials said that a total of six people were shot. LASD confirmed that one of them is in critical condition while the other four surviving victims are in stable condition.
Footage obtained by KTLA shows officers cordoning off and canvassing part of nearby Memorial Hospital and searching a car that was apparently abandoned.
Evidence markers were scattered throughout the strip mall parking lot centered around a tow truck.
Witnesses said they heard nine to ten gunshots. One man told KTLA 5’s Annie Rose Ramos that he initially thought the gunfire was fireworks celebrating New Year’s Eve.
He also said the location where the shooting took place is a known “hang out spot” for teens and young adults.
Family members of possible victims rushed to the scene to look for their loved ones, including one woman who said her cousins were in the parking lot where the shooting occurred, but their car was not there when she arrived.
The L.A. County Sheriff’s Department’s Homicide Bureau is conducting the investigation. Detectives were seen going from business to business searching for evidence.
No suspect description has been released.
Anyone with information regarding the shooting is asked to contact the LASD Homicide Bureau by calling 323-890-5500.
To provide information anonymously, call Crime Stoppers at 1-800-222-8477 or visit their website.