Double Homicide at Sunset Park Party

By Olin Ericksen and Jorge Casuso

March 6 -- Two young Santa Monica residents were killed and a third man was injured after shots ripped through a party at the Moose Lodge in Sunset Park late Saturday night, according to police and witnesses.

The two men killed were shot in the head after a fight broke out around 11 p.m. at the private birthday party at the lodge at 1600 Ocean Park Boulevard, witnesses said.

The two men were pronounced dead at the scene, according Police Department spokesman Lt. Frank Fabrega.

A third man was shot in the leg and is recuperating from injuries that are not life threatening, Fabrega said.

One of the victims killed was a 19-year-old Latino from Ocean Park, the other a 25-year-old Latino from the Pico Neighborhood, according to sources familiar with the incident.

The suspects are described as two male Hispanics between 18 and 20 years of age wearing dark hooded sweat shirts, Fabrega said.

Police said it has not been determined if the incident was gang related, but two witnesses said those involved in the shooting may have been affiliated with gangs.

Witnesses said the party was going smoothly when the shots -- 15 according to one partygoer -- rang out.

"The security guard was getting ready to go home because everything was going so well," said a woman at the party, who like the other witnesses interviewed by The Lookout asked to remain anonymous.

"Actually, I though somebody had shot some firecrackers," said a man who was at the scene.

"I was under the seat and then everything started falling from the bar," one woman who witnessed the incident said. "They were shooting. They broke the door. I think it was one guy, a guy with a red shirt and a hat."

"Someone hit a guy with a chair and then shots were fired," one witnesses said shortly after the shooting. "One was shot in the leg. The other two were shot in the head."

Some 20 squad cars arrived at the scene, which was immediately cordoned off with yellow tape. Ocean Park, between 14th and 17th streets was closed to traffic as police investigated the crime scene.

By 11:15, more than 50 witnesses were lined up along the wall of the Moose Lodge, which is rented out for private affairs. Half a dozen young Latino men were sitting on the curb watched over by police.

A police officer searched the alley behind the building with a flashlight, while on the street a woman cried and yelled out for one of her loved ones.

Between 50 and 70 witnesses who were at the party were boarded on two Big Blue Buses and taken to a Santa Monica location for questioning, Fabrega said.

Police said it was unclear where the victims had been shot. "There was a lot of blood," Fabrega said.

The double homicide comes one week after the City held a Community Workshop on Gang Violence that drew an overflow crowd of more than 300 people to John Adams Middle School, which is just a block away from Saturday's shooting.

Oscar de la Torre, executive director of the Pico Youth and Family Center, called for the community to come together to aid the families of the victims, one of whom was a young father.

"These are our youth, young men with a future ahead of them," said de la Torre, who is a member of the School Board. "To have brothers and sisters and mothers go through this loss is terrible.

"We need to pull the community together more than ever to help these families, to provide emotional, spiritual and economic support," de la Torre said. "These are low-income families that have to deal with the burden of funerals and police interrogations.

"We're devastated as a community," he said.

Anyone having additional information should call the Robbery-Homicide Unit of the Santa Monica Police Department at 310-458-8451. Callers who wish to remain anonymous may also call the We-Tip national hotline at 1-800-78-CRIME (27463).

A follow-up Community Workshop on Gang Violence will be held at John Adams Middle School on March 12 from 9:00 a.m. to noon. For more information call (310) 458-8301 or visit www.StopGangViolence.smgov.net