An officer was injured at lunchtime today in a shooting in Santa Monica, prompting a search for a suspect at the Santa Monica Place Mall.
Santa Monica Police issued an alert around 1:30 p.m., urging the public to avoid Fourth Street and Colorado Avenue, where the mall is located.
Officers were conducting a coordinated search for the suspect, according to department spokesman Lt. Lewis Gilmour. Police described the suspect as a man in his 30s, last seen wearing a dark jacket and black pants. A photo of the suspect was posted on the department’s social media account.
It was not immediately clear if the officer, who was taken to a hospital for treatment, was struck by gunfire.
The incident comes just two days after two kids riding in a Wayo were shot adjacent to the mall, at the corner of 2nd Street and Broadway around 11:38 p.m.
“Preliminary information indicates the shooting was a targeted and isolated incident that followed a verbal altercation earlier in the evening between the victims and the suspect,” Santa Monica police said. “At the time of the shooting, the victims were passengers in an autonomous rideshare vehicle when the suspect approached on foot and fired multiple rounds into the vehicle before fleeing the scene.”
City News Service contributed to this report.