8 Wounded at Park in Drive-By

Eight people were wounded, three critically, in a drive-by shooting Thursday night in a Willowbrook park crowded with children and families.

Paramedics took five of the gunshot victims to local hospitals, and police were looking for the attackers, who drove by spraying Athens Park with bullets.

“It was a hot day and there were tons of people out in the street,” said a neighbor who did not want to be named. “The next thing I know, I hear all these popping sounds, kids screaming, people throwing their skateboards and bicycles down, and people running into my house for cover.”

According to neighbors, children were playing soccer, riding bikes and having water fights at the park at Broadway and West 126th Street when the shooting occurred about 8 p.m.

Witnesses said two men in a white sport utility vehicle drove up and exchanged words with people in the park before opening fire. They said seven or eight people fell in a hail of bullets.

One witness said the men were firing what looked like rifles and that as he tried to write down their license plate number, they began shooting at him. He was not hurt. The shooting appears to be gang related, said Deputy Elisabeth Sachs of the Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Department.

A Los Angeles County Fire Department spokesman said at least five people were hospitalized, three with critical injuries. The conditions of the others were not immediately known.

The neighbor whose house became a refuge said she saw a white truck speeding past with smoke coming from its squealing tires and from guns that were still firing back toward the park.

“I’m so thankful none of those kids got hit,” she said. “There were so many playing outside.”

Larry Fitts, who coaches a Little League team for the Athens Park Sports Club, said the park hosts numerous sports programs for children, including football, baseball and soccer. His own team, he said, usually plays there Thursday nights, but happened to be playing at another park.

“We got very lucky tonight,” he said. “Those kids could have been in a cross-fire.”