Early Tuesday morning, a series of drive by shootings at different locations in Los Angeles left two dead. The suspect gunman had led the police to a three-hour pursuit and a deadly freeway standoff in Orange County. Authorities stated that the gunman died in the shootout on the Orange County freeway. 

The Start of the Shootings

From Exposition Park to Downtown Los Angeles to the 91 Freeway between Fullerton and Anaheim. According to the Los Angeles Police Chief Michael Moore, an LAPD SWAT officer fatally shot the gunman after police used their vehicles to pin the suspect’s Jeep. While the suspect was pinned, he opened fire on the LAPD SWAT through his windshield. This exchange of gunfire would follow a series of shootings where the gunman killed two people, wounded two others and struck the vehicle of a fifth. 

Moore stated that two of the shooting victims were Asian men. The LAPD are still investigating whether the shootings were hate crimes with the anti-Asian violence. LT. Raul Jovel had his own thoughts as he stated, “ These appear to be random acts of violence. . . we have no idea what precepted this.” He later added, “We’ll be going back to the suspect’s home. . . trying to figure out what led to these events.”

In Action

The first shooting happened just before 1 am in the Exposition area, it was witnessed by California Highway Patrol officers. The gunman shot multiple rounds at a Korean speaking driver who he pulled alongside before he opened fire. From the victims car, a dashboard camera was able to capture the killers license plate. About 15 minutes later a few blocks away from the first shooting, a second one was reported. A man waiting in line at a Starbucks drive-thru was shot and killed by the gunman for unknown reasons. One of the security cameras, just like an ip camera, showed the Jeep SUV behind the victim’s blue Mustang in the line. It was not clear what led to the altercation. The victim’s wife watched her husband be murdered in the passenger seat as she was also injured.

Later on after the security cameras footage, the LAPD were able to identify the gunman 24-year-old Alexis Carbajal. Twenty minutes later a third shooting was reported after the second shooting. This occurred in the downtown Los Angeles area in Figueroa and 7th streets. The shooter pulled alongside an SUV where a person in a Cadillac Escalade was the SUV driver was shot and killed. Moments later, a person driving from work was fired by a driver in a Jeep. The two vehicles were stopped on the Maple Street exit ramp on the 10 freeway, the victim was not injured. One last shooting happened, the shooter opened fire at a driver in a white Tesla, no one was injured. 

All traffic lanes were shut down by the police between State College Boulevard and Raymond Avenue during the early morning standoff on Tuesday morning. No officers were injured.