3 Shot Outside Del Amo Mall In Torrance, Suspects Escape After Committing Carjacking
TORRANCE (CBSLA) — Authorities are searching for multiple suspects who shot and wounded two men and a teen boy outside the Del Amo Fashion Center mall in Torrance Tuesday night, and then committed a carjacking in the same area.
The shooting occurred in the mall parking lot outside BJ's Restaurant at 6:30 p.m., according to Torrance police.
Officers arrived and found evidence of a shooting, but no victims.
While on scene, officers learned that the shooting suspects had then run down to the south end of the mall, near a Dave & Busters restaurant, and carjacked a Chevrolet SUV. They also robbed the carjacking victim, who was not hurt, police said.
About 45 minutes after the shooting, meanwhile, officers discovered the three shooting victims had driven themselves to a local hospital.
Police told CBSLA Wednesday morning that the shooting victims were a 17-year-old boy and two men in their 20s. One of them suffered a bullet graze wound to the head, but all are expected to survive. One of the patients was transferred to Harbor-UCLA Medical Center.
A statement from Torrance Police Sergeant Mark Ponegalek indicated that, "Detectives are looking into this shooting as possibly being gang-related and not a random attack on a group of teenagers."
Multiple suspects were involved in the shooting and carjacking, police said. No descriptions were immediately released.