LOS ANGELES (NewsNation Now) — An attempted robbery early Friday morning in a wealthy Hollywood Hills neighborhood erupted in an exchange of gunfire that killed one person and wounded four others, Los Angeles police said.
The shooting was reported around 2 a.m. on Blue Jay Way, said Officer Jeffrey Lee, a police headquarters spokesman. The area has narrow winding streets lined with multimillion-dollar homes.
“They were approached by two individuals who were wearing ski masks, one of them at least armed with a handgun,” Detective Meghan Aguilar told NewsNation affiliate KTLA. “They prone the men out, made them lay on the ground, and they removed what’s being described now as high-value property from the men.”
A security guard came out of a residence and there was an exchange of gunfire that struck the guard, the two victims on the ground and the two robbers, who fled in a car with a waiting getaway driver, she said.
Police stopped the car at an intersection on the border of Beverly Hills. One suspect was pronounced dead there and another was taken to a hospital in stable condition, Lee said.
The security guard was hospitalized in critical condition and the other two victims were in stable condition, Lee said.
Identities were not immediately released. The driver of the suspect vehicle was not injured.
Police believe the motive was the property.
“What the connection is, whether they knew these people would have this property on them it’s hard to say at this point,” Aguilar said.
The Associated Press and NewsNation affiliate KTLA contributed to this report.