Two people were killed and eight people were hospitalized in a shooting at a New Year's Eve party at a downtown Los Angeles warehouse building.
The shooting was reported at about 1 a.m. during an underground New Year’s Eve party at the building located on the 2300 block of Porter Street, according to the Los Angeles Police Department.
Uniformed officers assigned to the Newton Area received a radio call of a shooting' at 15th Street and Santa Fe Avenue, police said. As officers arrived to the scene, they heard several gunshots coming from the area of Santa Fe Avenue and Porter Street.
When officers arrived at the location, they found people on the street and sidewalk on Porter Street, between Santa Fe and Mateo streets, said LAPD.
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A man and woman in their 20s died at the scene. The injured victims were hospitalized, but details about their injuries were not immediately available.
"People were running, falling," a witness told NBCLA. "It was just hard to see because it was just so graphic."
"During the party, a dispute occurred between unknown people, resulting in shots being fired," said LAPD in a press release. An unknown number of shots were fired, striking a total of 10 people.
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An Uber driver who spoke with NBC4 said he witnessed the violence while picking up some passengers.
"I see a man with a gun start opening fire," Mike the Uber driver said. "Just rapid, 'tat, tat, tat,' and it's probably within 20 yards and there’s shell casings flying. People are starting to scatter and the passengers leave my car. I’m in the front seat and I just duck."
He recalled seeing one of the gunshot victims fall to the ground.
"I look up and I see a girl maybe like right where you’re standing, trying, struggling to stand up," Mike said. "And I’m like, 'She got hit.'"
He added that one of his passengers was wounded in the shooting.
"One of the girls says she got hit," the Uber driver said. "She got grazed. I was a medic in the military and so, her friend is kind of tending to her; I’m trying to get us out of here. I’m like, 'Just do what you can. I have some stuff in the back.'"
LAPD is asking anyone with information to call Detective Howarth, Los Angeles Police Department, Operations-Central Bureau Homicide, at (213) 996-4143.
