More than 60 people were arrested after Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Department officials broke up a party in Compton over the weekend, officials announced Monday.
Authorities responded to the underground event at 1916 East Rosecrans Avenue about 12:30 a.m. Sunday and 67 people, including six juveniles, were arrested.
Most of the attendees arrested were cited with misdemeanors, but one person was found to be in possession of a firearm. In addition, officials found evidence of the illegal use of nitrous oxide, according to a Sheriff’s Department news release.
Photos released by the agency Monday showed dozens of masked people sitting on a sidewalk while many were processed by officials.
Authorities did not elaborate on the event or those arrested, but indicated the human trafficking task force as well as the operation safe streets, fraud and cyber crime and aero bureaus responded.
Officials also responded to two other incidents over the weekend that they described as being “super-spreader” events.
About 10:45 p.m. Saturday, the Sheriff’s Department responded to a double shooting at an underground party in the 400 block of South Hewitt Avenue in downtown L.A.
One of the victims in the shooting died at the scene. Though the incident occurred in the Los Angeles Police Department’s jurisdiction, sheriff’s officials assisted with crowd control.
Later, LASD responded to yet another party, this time in Arlington Heights, which is also in LAPD’s jurisdiction. A shooting occurred at that party as well, and the event was shut down by officers.
The incidents occurred weeks after Sheriff Alex Villanueva decried such underground parties as “super-spreader” events and vowed to take action against massive gatherings amid the coronavirus pandemic.
“This was a flagrant violation of the governor’s health order, but also, please understand, even without the health order, these actions were criminal in nature,” Villanueva said at a news conference announcing arrests related to an illegal party in Palmdale.
Yet, after the briefing, the Los Angeles Times reported that the Sheriff’s Department had been aware of the Palmdale party hours before it started, but chose not to stop it in advance.
