LBPD: Channel Homes Shooting Investigation Ongoing

The Long Beach Police Department continues to investigate a shooting early this month that left one man wounded but no one has yet been arrested in the case.

Lt. Eric Cregeen, an LBPD spokesman, declined to reveal any further details about the case, saying the investigation remains open.  

“Still under investigation,” Cregeen told Patch when asked for an update on the case in which police said they had a “person of interest” in custody.

The shooting — which involved more than 30 shots fired — occurred minutes before midnight on Nov. 2 outside the Channel Park Homes, a 130-unit public housing facility, two blocks behind City Hall and LBPD headquarters. When police arrived on the scene, they found a 26-year-old Inwood man lying wounded in the street on Sycamore Court, near National Boulevard and West Market Street. Long Beach Fire Department transported the man to South Nassau Communities Hospital in Oceanside, where he was treated for non-life-threatening injuries. Police have not revealed his identity.

LBPD Commissioner Michael Tangney said the shooting start after two gang members from Far Rockaway and Inwood arrived in Long Beach looking for the Inwood man who was shot. Police found 31 shell casings of varying calibers in the road at National and West Fulton, and recovered two illegal rifles. At least four men may have been involved in the shooting, according to the Long Beach Herald. Tangney, speaking at a community vigil against violence that was held at the Channel complex Nov. 5, said:

“Our early information is that it was actually over a girl. They came looking for the girl’s old boyfriend … We do believe some of those involved are from inside Long Beach, and that’s who brought the others in.”

Tangney said that handguns were also used in the shooting and that the victim, who two people with knowledge of the incident said was shot twice, would not cooperate with authorities, the Herald reported.  

Police announced that the State Parole Board took into custody a male person of interest who is on parole and may have organized the shooting. At the Nov. 5 vigil, Tagney said about this suspect: “We do believe we know who the subject is. We’re trying to get an ankle bracelet placed on him tomorrow when he shows up for his hearing and he’s barred from Long Beach.”

Authorities have not release any further information about the suspect. 

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