Detectives are still hunting for the suspect in Tuesday’s random midday shooting on Norton Avenue in West Hollywood, and patrols in the area remain elevated.
A Poinsettia Place resident told WEHOonline today they noticed an undercover West Hollywood Sheriff’s vehicle patrolling the street — driving up and back down — before flagging it down. The deputy said investigators are actively searching for the white Nissan Altima seen fleeing the scene on Norton Tuesday. The deputy also indicated the patrol was connected to a recent burglary just a few doors away on the same block — suggesting investigators are paying close attention to the stretch of eastside neighborhood where multiple daytime incidents have now occurred.
The deputy referred to “shooters” in the plural — which may refer to the two separate shooting suspects still at large from both the Norton Avenue attack and the April 9 shooting on Vista Street, rather than multiple suspects in Tuesday’s incident alone.
The nearby incident the deputy referenced was a burglary just a few doors away. WEHOonline covered that incident. On January 18, two masked burglars broke through a window of a duplex on North Poinsettia Place around 1:20 p.m. while neighbors were having a backyard barbecue in the adjacent unit. A resident confronted the intruders and the burglars fled empty-handed. WEHOonline spoke with the victim Wednesday, who confirmed no arrests have been made and the suspects remain at large.
On Wednesday, Los Angeles County Supervisor Lindsey Horvath said she had personally contacted Sheriff Robert Luna and Captain Fanny Lapkin to demand every available resource be deployed to catch the suspects. “Solving these crimes is a top priority,” Horvath said. Later Wednesday, the City of West Hollywood issued its own statement calling the incidents “deeply unsettling” and pledging additional patrols by both Sheriff’s deputies and Security Ambassadors. The City urged anyone in need of emotional support to contact Maple Counseling at (310) 271-9999, which offers free counseling services to people who live, work, or attend school in West Hollywood.
The West Hollywood Sheriff’s Department confirmed to WEHOonline that the Norton Avenue shooting and the April 9 shooting of a woman on her balcony on Vista Street are not connected. “Based on the investigation, detectives do not believe the incidents are connected in any way,” a department spokesperson told WEHOonline.
No arrests have been made in either case.
Anyone with information is asked to call the West Hollywood Sheriff’s Station at (310) 855-8850 or Crime Stoppers anonymously at (800) 222-8477.
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Withing a few short blocks of each other, as far as I can tell.
Heading west.
I have not seen a description of the shooter/s anywhere. Any idea why? A sketch should be circulated everywhere by now. Residents are on edge. What is going on?
The public safety division, in their Wokeness of mind, decided years ago to leave out any suspect description if it was a Black person. Rather than put public safety in the best interest of it’s residents, they choose putting people in harm’s way to further their virtue signaling. They feel that publishing suspect descriptions somehow promotes “unfair” stereotypes. This is akin to putting out an All Points Bulletin on a “Stolen Vehicle” rather than giving a year, make, model and color….Totally lame.
I live on that block. My neighbors told me it was a tall skinny black guy. They told the same thing to the countless news and Sheriiffs. But they won’t report it. This city continues to run cover for criminals.
Horvath’s “orders” to the local Sheriff are performative at best. Increase the budget for law enforcement and allow the City to hire more deputies and perhaps I might be impressed.
The budget has increased every year. LAPD and LASD get huge increases EVERY YEAR.