Two children, ages 4 and 10, were shot and killed on a street in Los Angeles’ Pico-Union neighborhood Sunday afternoon. Police say the shooter was their father, who then turned the gun on himself. He survived and is in custody at a hospital.
It happened just before 1 p.m. near Venice Boulevard and Catalina Street, near Loyola High School, the Los Angeles Police Department said, NBC Los Angeles reported.
What happened in the Pico-Union shooting?
Officers found three people shot. The two children were rushed to a hospital and pronounced dead. The man, described as a Hispanic man in his 30s, was hospitalized with a self-inflicted gunshot wound and is in police custody, ABC7 reported. Police said no other suspects were involved and there’s no threat to the public.
Witnesses in video posted to the Citizen app described the chaos. “Oh my God, I was on the bus when it happened,” one said. Metro told NBC Los Angeles that police asked for video from one of its buses that may have passed during the shooting.
What do we know about the children?
Police haven’t released names. ABC7 reported the victims were the man’s 10-year-old daughter and 4-year-old son; NBC Los Angeles reported they were two boys. The motive is under investigation.
“I’m really, really sad for them. I have family too,” a neighbor told ABC7.
If you or someone you know is in crisis, call or text 988 to reach the Suicide and Crisis Lifeline, available 24 hours a day. If you’re worried someone is a danger to their family, California’s red flag law lets family members and police ask a court to temporarily remove their guns.
The BeezLoop Take
Children killed by a parent is the hardest kind of story to write, and there’s still very little known about why. What we do know is the pattern. This is the third family shooting we’ve covered in five days, after Erie and Reading, Massachusetts. In each, a gun was in the home of someone in crisis, and the people closest to them paid for it.
California has some of the strongest tools in the country, including a red flag law that can take guns from someone who’s a danger. Those laws only help if someone uses them before the worst day. That means family, friends and neighbors knowing the option exists.
The open question: were there warning signs before Sunday, and did anyone know where to turn?
Also on BeezLoop: nine people died in a family shooting in Erie, Pennsylvania, and a Massachusetts mother was shot dead in her kitchen.
Sources: ABC7 Los Angeles · NBC Los Angeles · FOX 11 Los Angeles · ABC7 (video)
