1 killed, others injured in shooting near Azusa polling place

One person was killed and two others were injured in a shooting across the street from a park in Azusa where voting was taking place. The suspected gunman was later found dead in a home where the shooting occurred. 

Azusa Police Chief Steve Hunt said there appears to be no connection between the shooting and the election, but the gunfire resulted in the polling station at Memorial Park to close at least five hours early. Voting at a second polling place at nearby Dalton Elementary School was temporarily suspended. 

Hunt said investigators still don't know the motive for the shooting. Police earlier said the suspect had been a female armed with an assault rifle with rapid-fire capability.

The person killed was identified as male, authorities did not not release his name or age. The two people injured were both identified as women. Both were hospitalized in critical condition. 

Everyone involved was an adult.

Sheriff's deputy Vincent Plair told KPCC the shooting took place just outside the park near 5th Street and North Orange Avenue. 

Police blocked off nearby streets as armored vehicles, ambulances and fire trucks from as far as Pasadena and Pomona lined up. Neighbors, many wearing "I voted" stickers, lingered behind police tape on street corners. 

The L.A. County Fire Department said they've received four patients. 

Police arrived at the scene of the shooting around 2:02 p.m. Tuesday where they encountered the shooting victims, Azusa police tweeted. Arriving officers immediately came under fire. Those officers are now safe and accounted for, police said.

Officers set up a perimeter in the area where a suspect was barricaded, police said. They asked residents near the scene to shelter in place until the situation is resolved. Seven tactical teams were on the scene, Hunt said.

Two schools — Slauson Middle School and Mountain View Elementary School — were placed on lockdown, Fox 11 report.

Los Angeles Registrar-Recorder Dean Logan has advised voters who'd been planning to cast ballots at Memorial Park to instead head to an alternate polling location.

Yvonne Diaz was on her way to vote when she saw police begin shooting. "It looked like they were shooting at someone," she said.

Officers told her to leave the area because the suspect had a high-powered weapon, so she headed home, where she looked up where she could go to cast a ballot nearby.

"At the time I was scared but had to come and vote," she said.

Diaz voted at the Fire Department Station 32 on 6th Avenue and N. Angeleno. 

LaLisa Morgan is a LA County voting inspector at the polling station on W. Sixth and N. Angeleno in Azusa, just blocks from the shooting. She said people from closed polling stations were welcome to come vote there. 

"We were never shut down," she said, as helicopters hovered nearby. She encouraged people turned away from their polling stations by the shooting to come cast provisional ballots. "Voting never stops."

Here are some alternate locations in the area, according to a release from Logan's office:

• Dalton Elementary School Auditorium – 500 E. 10th St. Azusa
• Mountain View Elementary School – 201 N. Vernon Ave. Azusa
• Foothill Community Church Lobby – 777 E. Alosta Ave. Azusa
• Northside Park Recreation Room – 600 W. 111th St. Azusa

Azusa voters are advised to call the city's information line at (626)812-3233. 

Correction: An earlier version of this story misstated where one of the affected polling places was.  KPCC regrets the error.

This story has been updated.