Hermosa Beach alley shooting injures one; police seeking to question two suspects

Police cars gather outside an alley east of El Oeste Drive near Gould Avenue Saturday afternoon. Photo by Drew Stoddard

Police are searching for suspects who shot a man in an alley in North Hermosa this weekend.

Hermosa Beach Police was summoned to the 2700 block of El Oeste Drive, a cul-de-sac off Gould Avenue near Pacific Coast Highway, about 3:15 p.m. Saturday. According to an HBPD statement, calls to the department reported sounds of gunshots. At least five squad cars arrived at the cul-de-sac, then determined that the shooting had taken place in an alley just east of El Oeste, which separates the residential street from Ocean Plaza, a commercial center on Pacific Coast Hwy.

Witnesses said that police cordoned off the area, and that Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Deputies arrived on the scene. Officers were placing markers on the ground in the alley, as is commonly done to denote spent shell casings. According to HBPD Sgt. Robert Higgins, it appeared as if only one gun had been fired.

There were no victims at the scene when officers arrived, Higgins said. But about half an hour later, Hermosa police received a call from a local emergency room saying a man had checked himself in with a gunshot wound.

Higgins did not say which emergency room the man visited, but said that it is common practice for emergency rooms to contact authorities when a person shows up unaccompanied by police or first responders.

“If they show up at an ER with a gunshot wound, those folks will call local police. When someone shows up without them, it’s going to peak some suspicions,” he said. As of Wednesday, the man was in stable condition and recovering in an area hospital.

Officers are seeking two suspects for questioning in the shooting, Higgins said. Police declined to provide a description of the suspects, citing concerns that it could tip them off.

One woman living on the block, who declined to give her name, said that she was at home on Saturday afternoon, and heard what sounded like a car backfiring. She estimated that there were between two and four shots fired.

The alley behind El Oeste faces a parking lot for Ocean Plaza, then opens up into a parking lot for Round Table Pizza. A security camera for Roundtable is trained on the alley, and an El Oeste resident said that she often sees employees taking their break there. A woman at the pizza parlor’s office said she did not know whether police had obtained footage from the camera.

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