5 people hurt in shooting near site of LA gun buyback event

LOS ANGELES (AP) - At least five people were wounded in a shooting at a Los Angeles beach Saturday night, a few miles from the location of a gun buyback event held earlier in the day by police and a city official, authorities said.

Lt. Sharon Brady of the Los Angeles Police Department’s Harbor Community Police Station said officers responded to a report of gunfire at Royal Palms Beach in the San Pedro area at 5:44 p.m., the Los Angeles Times reported.

Emergency responders transported four people with gunshot wounds to local hospitals. Around 7 p.m. police learned that a fifth victim was taken to a hospital by a friend, Brady said.

“We have some in critical condition, some stable and some serious,” Brady said.

A suspect reportedly fled the scene in a car but no arrests had been Saturday evening.

The gun buyback event held in Wilmington was hosted by Los Angeles County Supervisor Janice Hahn in partnership with the police department. At least 45 guns were exchanged for gift cards at the event, Hahn said.

Hahn and Los Angeles City Councilman Tim McOsker issued a joint statement saying they were “outraged and saddened" by the shooting.

“It’s tragically ironic that today we hosted a gun buy-back event just a few miles away from this location," they said in the statement posted on social media.

Royal Palms Beach in San Pedro, located just west of Terminal Island and the Port of Long Beach, will be closed Sunday to continue the shooting investigation and will close earlier on the weekends as they work on plans “to ensure safety and peaceful community use,” Hahn and McOsker said.