3 killed, many wounded in shootings on New Year's Day in Los Angeles

Los Angeles, Jan 2 (AP) Two people were killed and eight others wounded in a shooting early New Year's Day at a party in a commercial neighbourhood of downtown Los Angeles, authorities said.

Officers responding to reports of a shooting around 1 am on Monday heard gunfire and found a crowd fleeing the area and several wounded people lying on the street and sidewalk, police said in a news release.

A man and woman died at the scene, police said. Officials initially said three people had been hospitalised but an afternoon update reported eight wounded. Their conditions were not known till Monday evening.

Investigators believe that the shooting stemmed from a dispute at the party, held in an industrial area with warehouses and commercial buildings. No information on any suspects was immediately available.

Meanwhile, the Los Angeles County Sheriff's Department was investigating a separate shooting that killed a woman and wounded four other people early on Monday in the city of Hawthorne.

One of the victims was hospitalised in critical condition and the three others were listed as stable, KABC-TV reported.

There were no arrests and no information about suspects. AP