Shots Fired at 6th and Spring

I wondered what the fuss was. Fortunately, everything has quieted down and it looks like the situation has been resolved.

The shooter is in custody. The streets have been reopened.

The shooter was seen by a customer on the patio of 626 Reserve pointing a handgun out of a window and firing it three time at 1950 hours from the second to top floor of the Hayward's southeastern corner.

Besides that I can see that window from my desk in our loft across the street, we were walking our dogs on the Spring/Sixth up Broadway to Fifth and back when this happened and didn't even know it until after the police arrived and began announcing for people to stay inside. I darted after Erica who had headed across the street to the market to get something cold to drink for the evening. Thankfully she had not yet made it outside. Then I showed a handful of LAPD how to get to our roof...

This would, however, explain the occasional firecracker sound we've heard in the evenings over the past few weeks.

jim and i received ben's text messages warning us not to walk our dog in that direction, and he kept us in the loop with further updates. thanks ben, you're a great neighbor!

i was more surprised to hear that there were people on the patio of 626 reserve than i was to hear about a shooter at the hayward.

Celia, The instincts honed in our CERT training took over (although the green hard hat and matching vest stayed on the shelf!).

This is where audio triangulation shot spotting technology would be great as a passive alert net over Downtown -- as it is likely this guy could have been doing this for awhile over a long course of time before anyone fortunately witnessed a gun out of a window high above the street...

LAPD's Central Division deserves much respect for its quick response and safety perimeter establishment.

I was in my loft right across and heard the shots, I just moved into the new building at the Manhattan directly across from the Hayward, what a great way to welcome me into the neighborhood!!

I was really scared, I just hope this isnt something that happens often, I thought Dowtown was relatively safer now, Im always going out here and finally decided to make the move. Can anyone tell me just how bad it might be?

I agree with Eric. Been here since 2004, and this was the first time I'd seen something like this downtown.

Now, the westside...Alex and I saw one shooting, heard 2 - all within one weekend.

The next weekend we came downtown to tour lofts, and four months later (due to construction scheduling), moved into Santee Court. We would have moved sooner that year had rain not stopped so much construction downtown.

Adrienne: This is an extremely unusual occurrence. Downtown routinely vies for the safest neighborhood in LA with respect to reported crime statistics.

We were watching it all transpire, including the police sniper on the roof of the Stock Exchange. Definitely scary, but definitely not the norm. Adrienne, don't worry, you're safe, we have an 8 mos. old in this neighborhood and if it was not safe, we would not be here. :) The only recommendation I can make is to remember, you ARE in an urban environment and you need to be aware all the time. But that's any city environment in the world.

This is so wierd! I've been hearing the "firecracker" sounds too. I'm just glad nobody was hurt. I wonder what that cowboy was a shootin' at? Pigeons? They ARE annoying and can be quite dirty, but really, all you need to do is shoo them away.

The biggest source of concern or confusion on various occasions will be the commercial, TV or movie shoots that take place in the neighborhood, where what appears to be a crime in progress may just be a bit of Hollywood make-believe.

I spoke to an officer at the scene and also spoke to the manager of the Hayward. They said the shooter was a resident that had lived there for 10 years and for no apparent reason, decided to fire a couple of shots in the sky. The officer and manager assured me that the shots were not directed at anyone or anything in particular. The reason for the enormous amount of commotion and police, the officer said, was that they don't take any shots fired lightly. Not to worry everyone! I've lived in PT for 10 years... first time I've heard anything like this since new owners took over in 2002.

don't worry adrienne, things have changed a lot from when i lived at 5th and spring - back then we averaged three deaths a week (just in the building), cheryl the coke whore charged $5 for a hand job in the stairwell outside my front door, and there was always a guy selling meat in the elevator.

today, a non-lethal shooting downtown makes the news, cheryl's prices have doubled and we have a ralph's in south park. progress!

What goes up must come down -- innocent fatalities have occurred in other parts of Los Angeles from indiscriminate gunfire into the air.

Nancy-Jean,

be carefull in talking about cowboys in downtown. One can get themself in Badwater, quick.

We live in citylofts and spoke to the last few officers packing up around (or just a little after) 10 pm and were told he was shooting blanks. But we also heard from a friend at 626 that he observed an armful of weapons, which he assumed were from the shooters apartment, being carried out and put into a police car.

Now I feel bad for yelling at the parking enformecement man for not letting me get to my parking lot and/or no prior notice of filming ... I just figured it was CSI NY getting in my way (again) . . .

Adrienne,

I've lived here in the neighborhood for three years and have never seen anything like this. Prior to this, I lived in Venice Beach and the Oakwood neighborhood (west of Lincoln and south of Rose Ave.) was fondly referred to "Shoot'em Up Oakwood". I feel far safer in the Historic Core than I did living in Venice Beach!

We just moved from Silver Lake to the Manhattan. My wife is a little freaked out about this. For me, when I found out it was a starter pistol, things went from "Scary" to "How drunk was he?"

The LAPD crime map for downtown can be scary, but then, during our time in peaceful ol' Silver Lake a body was dumped in the alley behind El Cid, as well as a lot of broken car windows. And before we were married, there was a gang related drive-by murder down the street from her... In Brentwood! But let me say this: I've lived in Los Angeles since the Eighties, and I have never felt safer here. And I feel much safer here than I ever did in NYC.

Connie: I agree, that is my major concern that one day we'll all walk past a real emergency because we mistaken it for another "Hollyweird" prop. Nice to see on this occasion that didn't happen.

I understand that there's a feel-good notion to keeping the Hayward as low-income; but jeez, we need to get the CRA motion overturned as allowed as affordable housing or market rate. I'm not saying things like this won't happen, but looking at the area and what a better asset the residents of the Hayward would be to 6th & Spring would be more phenomenal than what it is now!

Not sure what Norbie 7 was referring to, hmmmm...but I used to live in Silverlake; had my car broken into three times, all four tires slashed, stolen once, watched my neighbor's house getting broken into as I was on the phone with the cops (had to testify in court), drive-by shooting suspect drove past my house and chucked a gun into my neighbor's yard. Oh, I can go on and on but the point is, Celia is right. Downtown is not perfect, but boy-howdy has it improved!

Going on a tangent, that game was brutal wasn't it? I only go to Dodger games for fun because I'm not a huge fun of the sport but man, that hurt. It's always sad to see the hardcore fans (the ones that bring the radio to the game) leave early on because they know they have no chance.

Anyway, I hope you guys feel safer. Downtown definitely has its imperfections but thanks to you guys taking a chance on this previously forgotten treasure, (and the multi billion dollar developments) it is turning around.

It wasn't too long ago that people simply chucked stuff out of the windows of the Hayward, Alexandria, Roslyn and Frontier.

Garbage of all sorts (dumpster below, optional) including objects as large televisions (and likely a person or two over the years too) flowed with gravity to a sudden stop on Earth below or on anyone not quick or smart enough to be out of the way.

The true progress here seems to be movement from "there ain't no crime at quitting time" to instant LAPD full response (air support and SWAT).

p.s. Norbie 7: Urban Cowboy is an oxymoron!