Echo Park shooting leaves one dead, three wounded

One man was fatally shot and three others wounded Saturday in a Christmas morning confrontation between pedestrians and a group of men riding in a car in the Echo Park area of Los Angeles, police said.

Authorities said they had not yet determined a motive and had not made any arrests in the incident, which left one of the people in the car dead and three pedestrians wounded.

The incident apparently began shortly before noon in the 1200 block of Innes Avenue, between Sunset Boulevard and Dodger Stadium parking lot areas.

The vehicle, a white Honda Civic, apparently was then driven to another spot in the neighborhood, about 10 blocks away at Baxter Street and Echo Park Avenue, and abandoned with the body of the dead man inside, according to Los Angeles Police Department spokesman Lt. John Romero.

The dead man’s identity was not yet confirmed as investigators were trying to piece together what set off the shooting and who else might have been involved, he said. The three wounded pedestrians were being treated at local hospitals and their conditions and identities were not available, Romero added.

“It’s a hyper-dynamic situation,” he said of the investigation, adding that it was too soon to say whether the incident was gang-related.

The gunshots, which prompted calls to police, shattered the calm of Christmas morning. Soon noisy helicopters swooped overhead, police cars and ambulances raced to the two locations and streets were blocked off as crime scenes.