Troubled Pico Corner Hit with Gunfire

By Lookout Staff

July 31 -- A violence-riddled pocket of the Pico neighborhood was once again hit with gunfire Wednesday morning, but the only material evidence that an incident had occurred were the casings found at the scene and a bullet hole in a preschool window half a mile away.

Police were responding at 8:39 a.m. to reports of numerous shots fired at 17th and Delaware Avenue when they were summoned to a preschool at the 2300 block of 17th Street, where a bullet had struck a window, said police spokesman Lt. Frank Fabrega.

No one was injured and police recovered a bullet as evidence, Fabrega said. Police then recovered several shell casings in an alley near 17th and Delaware.

No victims were found and police are investigating the incidents.

"We're looking to see if it's gang related," Fabrega said. "It's too early to indicate if it is or not."

The suspects were described as two male Hispanics in a brown or rust-colored minivan of an unknown year.

On June 28, police responding to reports of possible gunshots found a 19-year-old Santa Monica man on the 1900 block of 20th Street suffering from gunshot wounds.

Six days later, a report of gunshots fired near 18th Street and Delaware resulted in the discovery of several shell casings by police.

In March, Pico residents summoned police to 17th and Delaware after hearing as many as 11 gunshots in the neighborhood, which had seen a spate of violence. The gunshots came days after two vehicles were shot nearby.

Earlier that month, a man was shot in the torso as he rode his bicycle down Delaware Avenue on a Sunday afternoon.