Two people were killed Friday following an early morning shooting in Panorama City, according to police.
The incident happened about 3:20 a.m. at the intersection of Van Nuys Boulevard and Chase Street, police said. Van Nuys Boulevard would be closed for several hours between Parthenia Street and Roscoe Boulevard as officers investigated the scene.
The victims were sitting on a bus bench in front of the Denny’s located at 8500 Van Nuys Blvd. when they were shot, according to Los Angeles Police Capt. Robert Marino.
One of the victims was found behind the bench unresponsive and pronounced dead at the scene, officers said. His body remained at the scene more than six hours later.
The other was taken in unknown condition to Holy Cross Hospital in Mission Hills, where he was later pronounced dead, Marino confirmed.
Both men were estimated to be in their 20s, but officers were still working on confirming their identities.
Images posted to Twitter, embedded below, show multiple officers and police vehicles outside a Denny’s restaurant near that intersection.
Investigators had located video of the incident and were reviewing it to determine the circumstance of the shooting and who was involved, Marino said.
Two Denny’s patrons officers had spoken with said they heard the shots fired but didn’t witness anything.
The incident could potentially be gang-related, and detectives found tattoos on one of the victim’s bodies that could be gang tattoos, but it was still too early in the investigation to determine, according to Marino.