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LOS ANGELES — Police searched apartment buildings for three men following reports that someone may have fired a shot at a car caravan of supporters of President Donald Trump that rolled through Los Angeles on Sunday, authorities said.
Police responded to the sprawling complex shortly before noon after receiving reports that someone was throwing bottles and other items at vehicles on Ventura Boulevard, said Los Angeles police Officer Drake Madison. A short time later a caller reported that a man had brandished a gun and fired at least once at passing cars, Madison said.
No injuries were reported. One motorist reported a flat tire, Madison said. Investigators didn’t immediately confirm whether a gun was fired, he said.
“Now we’ve got three people holed up in the location and SWAT is trying to find them,” Madison said.
A police helicopter circled overhead and authorities used a loudspeaker to tell residents to stay indoors, said Chantel Bonet, who lives in a townhouse at the complex in the Woodland Hills neighborhood.
“I heard feet running in my building and I called 911. They told me to stay inside and keep the door locked,” said Bonet, who was home with her kids, ages 10 and 12. “It was pretty scary.”
Dozens of cars and trucks, many with Trump banners, honked and shouted their support of the president as the caravan rolled through the San Fernando Valley. The event was mostly peaceful, Madison said.
The rally came the morning after a man was fatally shot after Trump supporters clashed with counter-protesters on the streets of Portland, Oregon.
Six People Were Arrested and a Police Officer Was Injured Late Saturday in Oakland
Demonstrators have taken to the streets in communities across California and the nation since the police shooting of Jacob Blake in Kenosha, Wisconsin. Blake, 29, was shot in the back seven times last Sunday as he pulled away from an officer and leaned into his SUV. A family attorney said Blake was paralyzed, and it would “take a miracle” for him to walk again.
Officials bracing for more demonstrations Sunday evening in Sacramento, California, said public transportation would be halted in some downtown areas.
“With another night of protests scheduled … and the large number of people expected to be walking on or near the light rail tracks and key corridors, SacRT will be temporarily suspending light rail and bus service,” Sacramento Regional Transit tweeted Sunday.
Six people were arrested and a police officer was injured late Saturday in Oakland, California, after a mostly peaceful demonstration for racial justice turned violent. Police said some gas and smoke was used to force demonstrators away after people hurled rocks and bottles.
In San Jose, a crowd spray-painted graffiti Saturday on Mayor Sam Liccardo’s home. His neighbors quickly banded together to clean the mayor’s home.
Liccardo said in a statement that the vandalism does not detract from his support of the Black Lives Matter movement.
“Many of these same neighbors’ homes bear ‘Black Lives Matter’ signs, and they represent the true spirit of the movement, and of our San Jose community,” he said. “They contrast sharply with the roughly hundred so-called ‘protesters’ who stood by silently — or even cheered — as a flag was burned,” and messages including profanity “were scrawled on our home.”