Two weeks after a pair of shootings rattled West Hollywood’s eastside neighborhoods, both cases remain unsolved. No arrests have been made. The suspects are still at large.
WEHOonline spoke Tuesday morning with Sgt. Robert Lim of the West Hollywood Sheriff’s Station, who is assigned to investigate both the April 9 shooting on Vista Street and the April 14 shooting on Norton Avenue. The follow-up came after Lt. Ashley Turner addressed both cases at Monday night’s Public Safety Commission meeting.
Vista Street
On the evening of April 9, a woman was shot while standing on the balcony of her apartment in the 1000 block of North Vista Street. She sustained a gunshot wound to the abdomen and was hospitalized with non-life-threatening injuries.
The suspect has not been identified. The investigation remains active.
At Monday’s commission meeting, Commissioner Catherine Eng — who said she lives close to the building and knows a resident there — relayed what neighbors had been saying. The shooter had fired into one specific unit, not the building generally. And after the shooting, the victim declined to share any information with fellow residents. Neighbors drew their own conclusions.
“They thought it was targeted,” Eng said, “because the driver or the shooter shot into the building into one unit only — not the entirety of the building.”
Sgt. Lim told WEHOonline the victim had no prior connection to her attacker.
“It was a random, recording a video,” he said. “Nothing as if they knew each other or anything.”
Lt. Turner had described the shooting as targeted. Sgt. Lim clarified that the term refers to the suspect having aimed at a specific person — not that the victim and suspect had any prior relationship.
Norton Avenue
Five days later, on April 14, a man was shot while walking with his wife and infant daughter on the 7900 block of Norton Avenue just west of Fairfax. A suspect approached without a word, fired, and fled in a white Nissan Altima.
Investigators still do not know the motive.
“We don’t know what the intent of the shooting was,” Sgt. Lim said. “No words exchanged or anything like that.”
It could have been intentional. It could have been an accidental discharge. It could have been a robbery gone wrong. Detectives have not been able to establish which.
Not Gang Related
Community speculation has included theories that outside gang members were being directed into West Hollywood to cause disruption. Sgt. Lim said there is nothing to support that.
“As of right now, we don’t believe it’s gang related,” he said. “There’s no info or intel pointing in that direction.”
The two cases are separate and unrelated. Anyone with information is asked to call the West Hollywood Sheriff’s Station at (310) 855-8850 or Crime Stoppers at (800) 222-8477.
And yet we have a council member who wanted to “defund” the sheriff’s, is against more cameras, and is against helping the unhoused after 3 times being offered help. The dog whistle? “I don’t want to see the unhoused handcuffed everywhere”. I’ve been here since 94 and have never seen that concocted scene. But they will never miss a photo op . I have zero tolerance for performative politics.
I believe these two shootings in the last two weeks appear to be random and just senseless. In both shootings, there were no sudden confrontations and no moves to rob anybody. The person appears to have a grudge against normal people, so he or she pulled out a gun and started shooting. I hope they will be caught soon.
This is happening all over the country, likely gang initiation