What we have been seeing in Elysian Heights and what our ears tell us has been at odds the last couple of days. Yesterday afternoon, the sun was shining. The neighbors were visiting with friends on front laws. I cooked a lasagna while my daughter played in her bathing suit with her friends across the street in their front yard. Next door, musicians took a break from recording a CD they've been working on for weeks. They chatted on the front steps. Up and down these streets, well tended gardens are in bud. With the exception of an uptick in tagging in recent weeks it doesn't look troubled. It all looks great until about 5 when we hear the big noise -- about six or seven gunshots in rapid succession. Then quiet. Then two more shots. Right away a helicopter chops the air. After that, it's all military-style police noise for quite some time. The sirens as Echo Park Avenue is blocked and the ambulance carries away a 38-year-old victim, possibly one of my neighbors. The chopper. Some friends took the back route to our house for dinner. They said a cop gave them the throat-slash sign when they asked what had happened.
As many of us have heard by now: the shooting near Baxter/Fargo left one man dead. It followed a shooting further down Echo Park Avenue that left one man wounded. And, if my chronology is correct, the Baxter drive-by was followed by another fatal shooting, this one in Glassell Park (possibly by the same now-apprehended suspect).
The first victim, identified as Eric Zamarripa, 38, of Los Angeles, was taken to hospital, where he was pronounced dead. The victim in the second shooting was taken to hospital in stable condition. The third shooting was in the 4300 block of Toland Way in Glassell Park about 28 minutes later. That victim was pronounced dead at the scene.
*Some say that Zamarripa was the head of Echo Park's EXP gang.
The Eastsider also has been reporting.
Then, today, the sun went behind the clouds. (Now it's raining.) It was pre-rain, moody, but peaceful. Everything still and quiet. No one hanging out. It all looked orderly. Until about 11:15 when a chopper was back, turning tight circles over the location of yesterday's shooting. I didn't see the aircraft, but I heard it of course. Then, a little after 11:20 there's a crisp announcement over the P.A. at Elysian Heights Elementary School, announcing that the school is in lockdown. A short while later the helicopter has flown away. At 11:44 there's more loudspeaker news from the school -- carrying up the canyon. This time, it's "all clear," lockdown is over.
Then it's quiet again.
**A meeting is scheduled to discuss these shootings and other violence in the neighborhood: Thursday, 7 pm at Williams Hall, Barlow Hospital, 2000 Stadium Way.
