Two people were injured in separate shootings that happened within a half-mile of each other early Saturday in the Westlake District of Central Los Angeles, officials said.
The Los Angeles Police Department first received a call about an assault with a deadly weapon at 12:52 a.m. at Seventh Street and Rampart Boulevard, an agency spokesperson told KTLA.
Officers and the Los Angeles Fire Department descended on the scene at Silver Platter, a bar just a few blocks away from MacArthur Park.
According to LAPD, two people became involved in a heated conversation when one of them pulled out a gun and fired at the other.
The victim, a man in his early 30s, was taken to the hospital in critical condition, police said.
The shooter fled and was last seen heading west on Seventh Street toward Hoover Street, officials said.
LAPD described him as a Hispanic man in his late 30s who has tattoos on his neck. He was wearing a white shirt and white pants, according to investigators.
It’s unclear whether or not the incident was gang-related, police said.
LAPD said just a minute after that initial call, it received a report of a shooting at Leeward Street and Magnolia Avenue.
The department sent officers to the scene, which is about a half-mile away from Silver Platter and where a number of apartment buildings are located.
Two people had a “conversation” before one of them followed the other in a vehicle and opened fire, police told KTLA.
The victim was transported to the hospital in stable condition, LAPD said.
Officials only described the shooter as a Hispanic man.
According to police, the attacker in the incident at Silver Platter couldn’t have reached the site of the second shooting in less than a minute.
Authorities provided no further details about the two cases.
The latest crime data recorded by the Los Angeles Times shows 19 violent incidents, including assault and robbery, that occurred in Westlake between Dec. 12 and 18.
That’s a higher rate compared to that of nearby Koreatown and Pico-Union for the time period, but lower than the rate in downtown L.A., according to the paper.
KTLA’s Lucas Der Mugrdechian contributed to this report.
