A Los Angeles Police Department tactical unit responded Sunday to reports that someone may have opened fire near a pro-President Donald Trump rally, authorities said.
In a statement, the department said that three suspects had barricaded themselves inside an apartment building in Woodland Hills, northwest of downtown Los Angeles.
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Police said the shooting occurred shortly after 11:30 a.m., when a large caravan of cars were amassed on Ventura Boulevard. A woman who wasn’t part of the rally was driving past it and said her tire went flat after she heard what sounded like gunshots, authorities said.
The tire appeared to have been damaged by a bullet or a bullet fragment, the statement said.
A SWAT team responded to an apartment building where police said three suspects had barricaded themselves inside, the statement added. The department later said SWAT officers entered one of the apartments, but the suspects were gone, and investigation is continuing.
There were no reports of injuries on the caravan, which was traveling from Woodland Hills to Studio City, and it wasn’t clear if the shooting was connected to the rally.
Video footage posted by a local radio reporter showed pickup trucks with pro-Trump and American flags attached to the vehicles. Supporters could be seen on the street holding signs describing CNN as “fake news” and Black Lives Matter as “Black supremacy.”
The alleged shooting comes one day after a man was shot and killed in Portland, Oregon, after a pro-Trump caravan traveled there from Clackamas County. Authorities haven’t identified the victim or offered any details about the shooting.
A photo from the scene published by Getty Images showed the man wearing a hat with a logo of the pro-Trump group Patriot Prayer. The group’s founder, Joey Gibson, declined to comment Sunday on the man’s death.
