Man Shot In Venice Boardwalk Area; Suspect Sought

VENICE, CA — Authorities Thursday continued their efforts to solve an apparent gang-related shooting in the Venice area that left a young man critically wounded.

The shooting occurred about 6:40 p.m. Wednesday near Ocean Front Walk and Venice Boulevard, according to the Los Angeles Police Department.

The wounded man, about 19 years of age, was taken to a hospital in critical but stable condition, said LAPD Officer Lisette Lomeli.

According to the preliminary investigation, the suspect and victim had gotten into a verbal dispute and the suspect shot the victim and fled. No description was available of the suspect.

"The shooting is believed to be gang related," Lomeli said.

The shooting occurred about two weeks after a shooting in Venice left two people wounded.

On Sept. 23 about 1 a.m., two people were wounded a sports bar just on Washington Boulevard west of Pacific Avenue, police said.

The man and woman were socializing with friends and family in the outdoor dining patio area when a verbal dispute with three suspects turned into a physical fight, police said. One suspect fired a handgun, striking both victims, before the suspects fled.

The man was hospitalized with stable vital signs and the woman was treated at the scene, police said.

Detectives later served a search warrant in Norwalk, where they arrested a suspect and seized a handgun believed used in the crime.

On Oct. 2, LAPD Chief Michel Moore voiced his concern about an increase in violence around the city, which he said could be related to the pandemic and the increased stress placed on community members.

At a news conference in front of the LAPD's Southeast Station that day, Moore described "a spasm of violence" in various neighborhoods, "with 39 additional homicides as a city versus last year; 101 additional shooting victims from a year ago."

"This is a pace of shooting and violence that we've not seen in years, and it has grown from an effort that began (and) issues that we saw in June and July, and now has continued to accelerate," Moore said.

Moore said some of the increase in violence could be related to the pandemic and the increased stress placed on community members, especially because of the need for social distancing.

Residents were voicing concern Wednesday night after the shooting, frustrated with the rise in crime along the boardwalk in recent weeks.

In September, a woman was sexually assaulted and seriously injured near the Venice Fishing Pier. Neighbors have also seen a spike in recent fires in Venice, both on the boardwalk and near the Penmar Golf Course along Rose Avenue.

Venice resident Alexander Poe created an online petition to call attention to what happened.

Dear @MikeBoninLA @mikebonin after another shooting in Venice, calling on you to hold a zoom Q&A with @VeniceNC and the public. Emailed you and @NisaKove many times with no reply so I started a petition https://t.co/zkcddQLlCF @VeniceIntel @CurrentVenice @Venice311 @latimes
— Alexander Poe (@alexanderpoe) October 8, 2020

- City News Service and Patch Editor Nicole Charky contributed to this report.

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