Restaurant workers bussed tables and prepared menus at LA Live on Friday morning, preparing for the typical weekend rush of concertgoers, diners and visitors to the downtown complex.
Visitors stopped to admire a Christmas tree in the center of an outdoor ice rink, unaware or uncaring that a man had been shot to death inside one of the nearby restaurants three days earlier.
“I've seen people get hit around here, but nothing like that,” said Polo Palomarez, 67, a regular on LA Live. “But most people don't know what happened.”
Home to the Peacock Theatre, nightclubs, bars, restaurants, a movie theater and Crypto.com Arena, the entertainment complex is a hub of activity, with thousands of visitors and patrons on any given night.
However, LA Live, which first opened its doors in late 2007, has been known as a safe zone, with uniformed police and security personnel visibly patrolling the surrounding area. Tuesday's shooting was the first murder there.
“I was like, LA Live? This is a very safe place,” Captain Raúl Jovel of the Los Angeles Police Department told the Times. “It's a family place. There is an ice rink here that is open until midnight every day. I myself have been here with my family.”
An LA Live spokesperson did not respond to a request for comment.
Palomarez, who travels from Santa Clarita to eat and visit the resort's sports bars, said he was shocked to learn of the shooting. But it wasn't enough to keep him away.
“It doesn't bother me,” he said, turning and nodding toward the center. “More people are dying out there.”
Shortly after 6 p.m. Tuesday, police say, a masked gunman wearing dark clothing exited a car parked on Figueroa Street outside Fixins Soul Kitchen, entered the restaurant and began shooting a 43-year-old man. .
The victim collapsed and the suspect fled while people tried to help him. A woman also suffered a graze wound.
Few additional details have been released about the brazen murder. Authorities have not publicly identified the victim, pending notification of his family.
Los Angeles Police Capt. Scot Williams said the suspect appeared to be targeting the male victim. Williams, whose Robbery-Homicide Division detectives are leading the investigation, said the suspect appeared to have taken steps to conceal his identity, including covering his face at the time of the shooting.
The suspect fled the scene in a vehicle described as a white Ford Escape, he said.
In Fixins, there were few signs of what had happened, except for a patrol car parked nearby.
Since Shaquille's closed during the pandemic, Fixins has been a downtown go-to spot for Southern staples and cocktails mixed with Black-owned brands like Uncle Nearest Whiskey.
The interior nods to Black food culture with art celebrating popular ingredients like Crystal Hot Sauce. Early hip-hop plays loudly, attracting out-of-towners heading to LA Live to watch games and concerts. Many customers are familiar with Fixins through its original Sacramento location or thanks to owner Kevin Johnson, a three-time NBA All-Star with the Phoenix Suns and former mayor of Sacramento.
Johnson did not respond to requests for comment.
On Thursday night, two LAPD officers stood in front, with an additional security guard nearby. The line for a Trilogy Tour performance by Enrique Iglesias, Ricky Martin and Pitbull at Crypto.com Arena still wraps around the block.
Fixins, although far from empty, seemed less crowded than usual. Bar patrons were focused on the Thursday Night Football game, while other families enjoyed unusually short wait times before being guided to their tables.
“It's slow,” said one waiter, who requested anonymity to comment. “And it feels a little strange to come to work like it didn't happen, when it did.”
The restaurant manager also declined to comment.
Abbey, a 19-year-old concertgoer who declined to give her last name, was sitting alone waiting for her friends on a bench. She said she had not heard of the shooting. Still, that wouldn't have stopped him from traveling from Seattle to Los Angeles to see Puzzle at the Novo.
“There are so many shootings every day,” he said, even near his home in Seattle. “Unfortunately, things like that just happen, but I'm not going to not go.”
Greg Hankins, a Los Angeles security guard who is normally stationed elsewhere in the complex, has been reassigned to Fixins for the time being, but said he is not worried about another violent incident.
“They didn't come here shooting everyone at random, it wasn't a mass shooting,” Hankins said. “If he had come here shooting everyone, then that would be something to be nervous about, but he came for one person, execution style and it's sad, but it is what it is.”
Hankins paused to open the door to a family leaving Fixins. He punched the boy and yelled, “I missed you on the way in, but I won't forget you on the way out.”
