Man shot to death at City Plaza in Artesia; Suspect flees scene

City Plaza in Artesia is the scene of the shooting death .

By Brian Hews

A shooting at a popular entertainment and shopping center in Artesia on Saturday morning has resulted in the death of a man.

Several employees who work at different businesses at City Plaza at the 11600 block of South Street told Hews Media Group – Community News that at around 12:20 a.m. they heard “several gun shots” coming from near Cha02 Restaurant prompting several officers from the Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Department to converge to the popular night spot.

“A group of men were inside a local restaurant when another patron who was also in the restaurant, walked up to one of the men in the group and started an argument with him. They took the argument outside and as they continued to argue the suspect shot the victim with a handgun,” said Sergeant Diane Hecht.

The victim who was hit in the torso was transported to a local hospital where he was pronounced dead.

“The cops where everywhere, it was very scary,” said Jason Nguyen who manages one of the restaurants a few doors down from the location where the argument broke out.

Four other employees who work at another location in the City Plaza told HMG-CN that the entertainment center were working when they heard the gun  fire.

“It was very crowded. We all ran for cover, it was a very scary situation,” one employee who did not want to be identified said.

Law enforcement officials said that the suspect fled the scene in a vehicle described only as a compact car and that there  is no information regarding the suspect.  There is no more information available at this time.

“The entire parking lot was covered in yellow crime scene tape.  You don’t expect this type of crime to happen here in Artesia,” another manager of a business at City Plaza said.

“This is horrible,” Sue Yang of Buena Park said on Saturday afternoon.  Yang was with a group of five friends sipping on tea just steps away from where the shooting took place just 14 hours earlier.  “This is such a nice place, we love coming here, I hope they catch the person responsible.” Yang said.

Anyone with information about this incident is encouraged to contact the Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Department’s Homicide Bureau at (323) 890-5500. If you prefer to provide information anonymously, you may call “Crime Stoppers” by dialing (800) 222-TIPS (8477), or texting the letters TIPLA plus your tip to CRIMES (274637), or by using the websitehttp://lacrimestoppers.org. 

The name of the victim was not released to members of the media as of 3 p.m.

More details to follow.