Two boys, one man injured by gunfire at South L.A. park
Los Angeles police searched Friday for a shooting suspect who injured three people during at a South Los Angeles park.
Shots were fired around 7 p.m. Thursday near 51st and San Pedro streets at South Park.
A 12-year-old boy was struck in the hip by a ricochet bullet and an 8-year-old boy was hit in the ankle. The third victim was a 25-year-old gang intervention worker who was shot in the arm, authorities said.
None of the injuries were life threatening. The shooting occurred after a fight broke among several people. The gang intervention worker was heading toward the fight when he was struck, said Sgt. Paul Sanfillippo of the Los Angeles Police Department’s Newton Division.
The suspect, who police believe may have been a gang member, took off running. Police gang units were at the scene and will study video as part of the investigation, Sanfillippo said.
Officials initially thought the shooting occurred at a Summer Night Lights event because the gang intervention worker once worked for the program, said LAPD Sgt. Rudy Lopez.
Youths who were at the park were not connected to any city-organized event, Lopez said.
The city-sponsored Summer Night Lights event typically draw about 150 people to the park, Sanfillippo said.
The program was started in 2008 by former Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa as a way to occupy young people during evening hours in neighborhoods with high rates of gang-related crime. The program, at about 32 locations this year, offers free food, family entertainment and sports activities.
Police said the program has helped to reduce gang violence.
“These are usually very nice events,” said Los Angeles police Ofc. Sally Madera. “It’s a night when a lot of youth get together and unfortunately there are people out there doing bad things and that’s what they target.”
Anyone with information is asked to call police at (323) 846-6547.
[For the Record, 12:12 p.m., PDT, Aug. 23: A previous version of this post and the headline stated the shooting occured at a Summer Night Lights event. City and LAPD officials now say that was not the case.]
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carla.rivera@latimes.com
Twitter: @CarlaRiveraLat
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