a local incident

Some may have seen the local news coverage about a shooting that occured less than a block from my parents house on Saturday night. The incident happenned at the Masonic Lodge that shares a parking lot with my church in Long Beach. Intial rumors and reports in the night linked the incident to Parkcrest members or staff. Later it was confirmed that the shooting occured at a birthday party for 2 teens at the neighboring Masonic Lodge. Two died in the incident and one suffered non-life threatening injuries. I came into town on Sunday afternoon as the dust was settling, so I missed most of the initial uncertainty. My parents had come home late Saturday night from LAX (right after the incident) to find their neighborhood blocked off by dozens of police cruisers. The police were in the process of shuttling 300 teenagers that were at the event to the elementary school a few blocks away for questioning. They explained to one policeman that they lived in the neighborhood and as he let them by my dad asked if it was safe to go home. The policeman responded "I don't really know." The gunman has still not been caught.

Here is a video of the NBC news coverage from Sunday afternoon.