A Manhattan Beach Police Department SWAT team, responding to early Saturday morning reports of two gunshots, gassed a residence on the 3000 block of North Bayview Drive and entered the building only to find a trickle of blood, a bullet casing and a safe.
“Officers said they did see blood, a trickle…not a mass amount,” said MBPD Sgt. Paul Ford.
Police have not released the identity of the resident, who Ford said detectives have been unable to reach. He declined to indicate if any foul play is suspected, although he did confirm officers found a safe inside the residence.
A neighbor who declined to be identified said she heard two distinct gunshots at about 3:30 a.m. Police responded to a call from a neighborhood resident, and deployed SWAT teams from both MBPD and El Segundo. After obtaining a search warrant, the MBPD SWAT team entered the building a little after 11:30 a.m. Nobody was inside, Ford said, nor were any weapons found.
Nearby residents on the block were evacuated, and several nearby streets were blocked off throughout the incident.
“It’s protocol,” Ford said. “It’s to keep our officers safe. It’s to keep the public safe.”
The investigation is ongoing.
“We’ll just recover what we can and then we will continue to investigate,” Ford said. “…We are still trying to locate the person who lives in the residence.”
