Two men and a woman have been shot dead in an upscale Los Angeles neighborhood just a week after 18 were killed in Monterey Park and Half Moon Bay as California experiences its sixth mass shooting in a month.
The three victims who died were reportedly found in a car in front of a $3 million home.
Four others were injured in the shooting outside the home on Ellison Drive in Los Angeles’ upscale Benedict Canyon neighborhood around 2:30 a.m. Saturday.
Two took themselves to hospital before police arrived, while two others were transported by emergency services, according to ABC 7. All four are in critical condition.
LAPD Sergeant Bruce Borihanh said the shooting took place outside of the home, which is believed to have been used as a short-term rental.
It’s unclear what led to the shooting and the suspect remains at large.
Two men and a woman were shot dead around 2:30 a.m. Saturday outside a home on Ellison Drive in Los Angeles’ upscale Benedict Canyon neighborhood. The three deceased victims were reportedly found in a car
Four others were also shot and left badly injured. The shooter remains at large and it is unclear what triggered the fatal incident
The shooting took place in front of a house (pictured) on Ellison Drive. It is believed to have been rented out as a short term property
The fatal shooting is the sixth mass shooting in California this month.
The early Saturday morning shooting comes on top of a massacre at a dance hall in Monterey Park last week for the Lunar New Year that left 11 dead and nine wounded, and shootings at two farms in Half Moon Bay that left seven dead and one wounded .
Huu Can Tran, 72, was banned from the ballroom about five years ago for molesting women and being too “quarrelsome” before the Monterey Park shooting.
Tran fired 42 shots into the ballroom on Saturday night before driving to the nearby club where he was disarmed.
Police also announced Thursday that the gun he used in the mass shooting was a Cobray Model CM11-9, while a .308 caliber bolt-action rifle was found at his home.
A day later, Chunli Zhao, 66, a Chinese farm worker, shot dead seven of his colleagues.
The shootings took place at two different locations in Half Moon Bay, with four being shot at a facility operated by Concord Farms and three being shot at Mountain Mushroom Farms two miles away. Officials are unsure which was attacked first.
Although this is the sixth mass shooting in one month in California, crime in Los Angeles as a whole is down 13 percent compared to the same time last year
Children were there at the time because some workers lived with their families on the site.
An eighth person was shot and injured and airlifted to Stanford Medical Center.
Zhao is expected to face seven counts of murder, one count of attempted murder, firearms enhancement and a “multiple murder” charge. He is being held without bail.
The weapon used in the attack was a legally purchased semi-automatic handgun. Investigators have not said publicly what the motive for the shooting is, but San Mateo County Sheriff’s Spokesman Eamonn Allen said the evidence points to workplace violence.
The shooting comes shortly after 18 people were killed in Monterey Park and Half Moon Bay by Huu Can Tran (left) and Chunli Zhao (right). Tran killed eleven people in a ballroom, while Zhao killed seven of his peers
In another unrelated mass shooting in California earlier this month, six people were shot dead at a home in central California in what police described as a “horrific massacre.”
The victims included a teenage mother and her toddler, both of whom were shot execution-style. The child was found in his mother’s arms as she tried to escape with her young son.
Authorities are looking for at least two suspects in what appear to be gang-related killings, sheriff’s officers said.
The back-to-back killings have dealt a blow to the state, which has some of the strictest firearm laws and the lowest death rates from firearms.
According to the Gun Violence Archive, in 2022, for the third straight year, the US recorded over 600 mass shootings, killing or injuring at least four people.
Despite the increase in mass shootings this month, overall crime in Los Angeles is down 13 percent compared to the same time last year.