Sunday, March 30, 2008

Shootings in Hollywood

For the second time this week, two gunshots were fired in the Sunset/Van Ness area. The shootings killed one man at approximately 1am on Wednesday, March 26. No details have been released about the shootings last night at 12:50am.

My bedroom window overlooks the Sunset Boulevard off-ramp where the man was shot and killed on Wednesday. On Tuesday night, as I was lying in bed, I heard two shots. Police sirens followed, and it was reported in the morning that one man was killed and the two suspects fled on foot. Residents tried to administer first aid to the man, but were unsuccessful. Last night I heard two gunshots again, fired sequentially as if two rounds were pumped from the same gun. It was the same type of shooting that I had heard on Tuesday. However, this time I heard no sirens. I am waiting for the police to contact me for more information about last night's gunfire. The LAPD confirmed that no name has been released for the man killed on Tuesday night. There are no media reports. The LA Times homicide blog has not been updated with his information. Initial television reports, from ABC, claimed that the man was thought to have been homeless.

Outside my apartment is a long strip of land that runs along the freeway. Many homeless people live and sleep in this area, and some residents in the apartment building have suggested that they are stealing laundry from our laundry room. The garbage cans outside are often scavenged, and sometimes I can hear people going through them at night. However, I have always found the homeless people in our area to be friendly and not at all aggressive or threatening. They seem to keep themselves to themselves, sleeping on the embankment at Sunset/Wilton or inside the doors of the church on Wilton.

I don't think of this area as "rough", and aside from one experience that made me feel uncomfortable involving a man running across the street at night to tell my boyfriend I should be walking on the inside of the street for protection... I have never been deterred from walking home at night.

But hearing gunshots before you go to sleep at night might be the last straw for my naivety. Twice in one week. I only hope that no-one was killed last night, and that this won't become a regular event.


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