Man shot and killed at homeless encampment in front of L.A. City Hall
A man was shot and killed near Los Angeles City Hall early Thursday, police said.
The man, a 30-year-old Latino who is believed to have been homeless, was on the sidewalk near 1st and Spring streets when he was shot by an unknown assailant about 3:05 a.m., said Officer Melissa Podany of the Los Angeles Police Department.
The attacker approached the man, pulled out a handgun and shot him once, Podany said. It’s unclear what led to the shooting.
Two people were arrested Thursday morning in Rolling Hills Estates after deputies say they attempted to burglarize evacuated homes, then tried to escape into the landslide area.
The Los Angeles Fire Department pronounced the man dead at the scene. He has not been identified.
The suspect fled in a vehicle. Police said there was no available description of the suspect or the vehicle.
Video from the scene shows firefighters tending to a man wearing shorts and white sneakers lying on the sidewalk near several tents and tarps. A white bicycle with no front tire sits upside-down on the street nearby, outside a fence lining a lot just south of Gloria Molina Grand Park on Spring Street.
The encampment next to Grand Park, across the street from City Hall, has existed in some form for at least two years.
Los Angeles has now seen an increase in homelessness in seven of its last eight counts, even as the budget for addressing the issue has topped $1 billion.
In December, in the run-up to the inauguration ceremony for Mayor Karen Bass, outreach workers relocated roughly a dozen encampment residents to the nearby L.A. Grand Hotel, which has been serving as temporary homeless housing.
A handful of people decided to remain, and in recent months the encampment has been repopulated.
The shooting comes less than a week after a fire broke out in City Hall after an object was thrown into a second-story window.
A 36-year-old man, who police said is homeless, was arrested Sunday in connection with the suspected arson the evening before.
Times staff writer David Zahniser contributed to this report.
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