Four Ambushed And Killed In Super Bowl Host City

Four people, including a pair of sisters, have been killed in what authorities are calling an “ambush” during a birthday party in Inglewood, California. A fifth victim remains in critical condition.

In a Jan. 23 statement, Inglewood Major James T. Butts said Inglewood Police responded to a shooting call at 1304 N. Park Ave. at 1:38 a.m. and located five shooting victims. When officers went inside the residence, they found two females and one male victim. The statement said they “all appear to be African-American adults.”

The other two victims — both males — were transported to UCLA Ronald Reagan Hospital. One victim died on the way to the hospital, and the other was in critical condition but is expected to survive.

The surviving victim reportedly told police he is “gang-affiliated from another city.”

Butts wrote, “This information along the targeted nature of this crime, the weapons used and statements uttered before the shooting by the suspects indicate that this crime was indeed gang-related.”

The victims did not live in the North Park Avenue home. It was reportedly being used as “an unregulated Short Term Rental.”

Butts said this is the “largest number of shooting victims in a single crime since the 1990s.”

In a brief meeting with reporters, Butts said one of the guns used appeared to be an assault rifle as well as a handgun. He believes there are “multiple suspects.”

He said of the suspects, “These are sociopathic killers that have to be sequestered from society. Turn yourselves in. We will find you, and we will prosecute you.”

KTLA-TV reports Butts called the fatal shootings an “ambush” and “monstrous, vicious crime.”

Two victims were identified as sisters, 20-year-old Breahna Stines and 25-year-old Marneysha Hamilton, according to KCAL-TV. The party was reportedly for Stines’ birthday. The two other men killed were reportedly the sisters’ friends and were later identified as Jayden Griffin and Teron Whittiker Jr. They were both 21.

Inglewood’s mayor said the city is committed to finding the perpetrators.

“This crime is singular in the large number of victims. It’s singular in how calculated this ambush was. And we are committed to bringing the people that committed this crime to justice,” the mayor said.

On Sunday night, Jan.24, a group gathered for a memorial for the victims.

Photos of two young women killed in the shooting were displayed, along with candles and pink balloons that read, “Happy birthday.”

“They both were outgoing, beautiful girls,” their mother told the Los Angeles Times. “They both had futures ahead of them, and to have it taken away.”