A spree of violence marred the streets of Long Beach as police responded to a series of "no-hit" shootings and a hit-and-run incident that left a woman and her infant injured—all unfolding within hours.
The Long Beach Police Department reported a robbery at gunpoint along Pacific Coast Highway and Chestnut Avenue on February 29, where a car owner ran to safety after a gunman, among two suspects, fired a shot during a flared altercation before taking off with the victim's vehicle, as was first noted in a department blotter posted online. Officers found bullet casings indicative of gunplay at both 16th Street and Locust Avenue, and Cedar Avenue at 21st Street later that evening. Strikingly, neither incident yielded any suspects or injuries, as per the Long Beach Police Department.
Shortly afterward, a dispute between two men at 23rd Street and Lime Avenue culminated in one fetching a gun and discharging it into the open sky, a potentially lethal gamble that thankfully resulted in no physical harm. Law enforcement later apprehended 59-year-old Long Beach resident Daniel Cortez, slapping him with charges including assault with a deadly weapon, confirmed by the Long Beach Police Department's blotter.
The violent streak continued past midnight as a female pedestrian, along with her baby in a stroller, while attempting to enter a vehicle, was struck by a vehicle that then fled the scene on Martin Luther King Jr. Boulevard and 8th Street. Both victims survived, described as stable after being transported to the hospital, as reported by the Long Beach Police Department.
All investigations remain active as the Long Beach Police Department delves deeper into these incidents, inviting anyone with information to step forward to peel back the layers of these senseless acts of violence and bring those responsible before the firm hand of justice.
