By Wesley Lowery, Ruben Vives and Andrew Khouri, Los Angeles Times –
LOS ANGELES—Five members of a Downey family were shot — three fatally — in a bizarre shooting that started at the business they owned and ended at their home a few blocks away.
Authorities said they don’t know the motive for the attack and said they are searching for the gunman, who allegedly fled in a 2010 black Camaro stolen from one of the victims.
Witnesses described seeing family members wounded and bleeding outside both properties, including one woman who appeared to be shot in the head.
“The family was targeted for a specific reason,” Downey police Lt. Dean Milligan said. “But we don’t know what that reason was yet.”
Detectives are now looking at surveillance tape from around the area hoping they can shed light on what happened.
“Obviously, there’s a reason why this happened. We’re just trying to figure what that is,” “It’s not a random act of violence.”
The first sign of trouble came at 11:12 a.m. when someone called 911 about a shooting at the business, United States Fire Protection Services. When officers arrived three minutes later, they found a man and a woman dead and another woman wounded.
At 11:17 a.m. police received a second call from the home of the business owner, about two blocks away. There, they found another dead woman and a wounded 13-year-old boy.
The boy told police he didn’t recognize the gunman, Milligan said. The suspect was described as a 30-year-old black man about 6-feet tall and 230 pounds. He was last seen in the Camaro, which had the license plate 6LEA010.
Grace Mendez said she saw the teenager near the business as she drove down the street.
“He was screaming, ‘Oh my God, oh my God!” Mendez, 33, said. “And then I saw that he was shot in the shoulder blade and stomach.”
Police tried to help him, Mendez said, adding, “He had gone into complete shock.” She also saw a woman sitting on a cement wall, bleeding from her head.
A woman who works near the business said she heard a heard a helicopter and went outside, where she saw one of the business owners on his knees, crying.
“He told me his mom got shot in the head and the bullet came out,” said the woman, who declined to give her name.
As news of the shooting spread, worried family members hurried to the business, desperate for answers.
“My wife works in there!” yelled a man in a white T-shirt who approached the police tape around 1 p.m. “I need to know if she’s OK!”
