WILLOWBROOK, Calif.—Paramedics rushed five people to area trauma centers after a shooting that may have occurred aboard a Metro train on its way to the Willowbrook/Rosa Parks Station, authorities said Sept. 25.
Four people with gunshot wounds were listed in stable condition and were expected to survive their injuries, said Ramon Montenegro, a public information officer with the Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Department’s Transit Services Bureau.
It was later discovered that the suspect “brandished” a firearm to a fifth victim, Montenegro said. It was unclear if that person was injured.
The ages and genders of the injured people were not immediately known, according to the Los Angeles County Fire Department.
Detectives were searching for suspects, Deputy Armando Viera Jr. of the Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Department told City News Service. A suspect description was not released.
“The investigation is in its early stages and is still evolving,” Viera said.
“Our detectives are reviewing train platform video and video from inside the train,” Montenegro added. “We’re not 100 percent [sure if] it [the shooting] happened on the train.”
The shooting was reported at about 7:40 p.m. Friday. An argument broke out as the eastbound C (Green) Line train left the Avalon Station in South Los Angeles, a passenger told ABC7, and the shooting occurred before the train reached the Willowbrook/Rosa Parks Station.
“There was a big argument and I saw the gun come out and he started firing into a bunch of people,” witness Andrew Maynard told Fox11.
“He started shooting again. I don’t know if there was another gun or he reloaded it. I crouched down and as the guy ran towards me they shot him but it only shot him in the leg.”
Maynard told Fox11 “there was probably 20 people in a 10-foot area.”
“It was pandemonium, complete pandemonium,” he said.
Maynard identified himself to Fox11 as a Vietnam veteran who was shaken up by the shooting, including having a victim falling at his feet.
The suspects ran out of the train after the doors opened at the Willowbrook/Rosa Parks Station, Fox11 reported.
A Los Angeles Police Department (LAPD) patrol car rushing to the station to provide backup for sheriff’s deputies was involved in a collision at approximately 8 p.m. in the 10600 block of South Central Avenue, an LAPD spokesman confirmed.
Two LAPD officers, two other adults, three juveniles, and a toddler suffered non-life-threatening injuries in the crash, police said.
Service on the Green Line was interrupted overnight for the investigation, with bus shuttles providing bridge service. Full service was restored at about 8:30 a.m. Saturday, Metro tweeted.
