Payton Obermyer
Social Media Manager
A Halloween party off El Segundo Boulevard and Isis Avenue,, turned violent on Friday night, Oct. 24, when gunfire erupted, injuring two and sending dozens of highschoolers running for their lives. The shooting, which happened around 10 p.m, left one victim in critical condition and another in stable condition, according to the Los Angeles Sheriff’s Department.
Police arrived to find two people suffering from gunshot wounds outside a crowded home where a Halloween party had drawn dozens of high school students from across the South Bay. Both victims were rushed to a nearby hospital, but officials have not released their names or ages. Investigators have not identified a suspect of motive and the case remains under investigation by the Sheriff’s Department’s gang detectives, with assistance from Hawthorne police.
What began as a celebratory night quickly turned into chaos. “I had no clue what was going on,” said El Segundo High School (ESHS) junior Jamie Wheeler, who attended the party. “I was with my friends in the back of the party when we heard gunshots coming from the front. People went crazy; jumping over fences, trampling over people and sprinting for their lives. When I started running, I saw someone laying on the floor bleeding.”
Other students described similar experiences as they scrambled to flee the scene. “I left the party ten minutes before the shooting happened,” said ESHS junior Landon Aubert. “My friend called me in shock, screaming for me to come pick him up, so I turned around and went back to the party. When I got there, I saw at least 30 cop cars, three ambulances and a helicopter.”
Police blocked off surrounding streets and interviewed witnesses far into the night. Helicopters hovered above as cop lights lit up the neighborhood. Videos and posts from the party circulated quickly on social media, reaching students across El Segundo, Hawthorne, Redondo Beach and Manhattan Beach within minutes.
Many Costa students said they heard about the shooting via group chats with friends who were there. Several Costa students also attended the party, describing the experience as surreal and terrifying. “Everything happened really fast,” said junior Giana Chavez. “The party was packed and it was hard to move around. I was near the back when there was one shot and then, not even a second later, about four more.”
Even for those who weren’t there, the incident has sparked conversations at Costa about safety, social media, and the risks of large, unsupervised parties. “It’s scary because it could have been any of us,” said junior Bella Higgins, who heard about what happened through friends. “Everyone goes to these same kinds of parties, it’s just random luck that something like that happened there.”
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