Man Shot in Pico Neighborhood

By Lookout Staff

Oct. 14 -- A crime-riddled area of the Pico Neighborhood was once again hit with violence Friday night, when a man was wounded in the wrist in a drive by shooting.

The incident was reported at 10:05 p.m., when Santa Monica Police responded to a local hospital regarding a gunshot victim in the emergency room. When officers arrived, they spoke to the victim, who said that he was standing in the 1800 block of 21st Street when he was shot.

The victim told police that the suspect's vehicle stopped, and they exchanged words. One shot was fired at the victim. The suspect's vehicle drove off southbound on 21st Street. The victim sustained a gunshot wound to the wrist.

The incident is the latest in a string of violence in the Pico Neighborhood, which has become a campaign issue for several City Council candidates.

In late August, a man told police that he was followed and fired at in the Pico Neighborhood but no evidence of the incident was found. A month earlier, police found bullet casings near 17th Street and Delaware Avenue when they were summoned to a preschool at the 2300 block of 17th Street, where a bullet had struck a window.

The incidents capped a summer of violence in the area. On June 28, police responding to reports of possible gunshots found a 19-year-old Santa Monica man on the 1900 block of 20th Street suffering from gunshot wounds. Six days later, a report of gunshots fired near 18th Street and Delaware resulted in the discovery of several shell casings by police.

In March, Pico residents summoned police to 17th and Delaware after hearing as many as 11 gunshots in the neighborhood. The gunshots came days after two vehicles were shot nearby.

Earlier that month, a man was shot in the torso as he rode his bicycle down Delaware Avenue on a Sunday afternoon.