Man Kicked Out of Club Shoots 7 in Parking Lot, Police Say

Seven people were injured, one critically, when a man who apparently was kicked out of a downtown Los Angeles nightclub early Tuesday fired gunshots at a crowd outside, police said.

The unidentified gunman fired more than a dozen times into a parking lot next to the Grand Avenue nightclub in the 1000 block of South Grand Avenue. About 150 people were outside the club when the shooting began about 1:20 a.m.

Officer Eduardo Funes, a police spokesman, said the gunman positioned himself on Olive Street about 20 yards from the parking lot. From there, he shot indiscriminately into the crowd, using what police believe was a semiautomatic weapon. No weapon was recovered at the scene, Funes said.

Police provided limited details about the victims and their conditions because the suspect is at large.

Funes said a 23-year-old man was struck in the head and was hospitalized in critical condition. A 19-year-old woman who was believed to be seven months pregnant was shot in the thigh and was hospitalized in stable condition, he said.

Another victim, Lorenzo Gray, 40, a nightclub security guard who also works as a police officer for the Compton School District, survived a gunshot wound to his chest. He was wearing a protective vest, police said.

LAPD Det. Al Gonzales said Gray barely had a bruise. “He was very, very lucky to come through like that,” Gonzales said.

The remaining four victims all suffered grazing wounds to the arms or legs, Funes said. None of them were hospitalized.

The police believe the gunman had been involved in a confrontation while in the club and had been asked to leave. Funes said that at the time of the shootings officers were already on the scene to break up a number of fights.

After the shootings, those officers and others in the area began a car chase with a man they thought was the gunman. Funes described him as in his early 20s driving a green Camaro.

Gonzales said gang members were present at the club, but he was unsure if the shooting was gang-related.