SHOOTING IN WESTWOOD VILLAGE: SHOTS RING OUT ON BROXTON NEAR LE CONTE; POLICE ARREST SHOOTER

Report by Don Rose, in Westwood, around midnight Friday night / Saturday morning

I was drinking the new Vivatto beverage (a delicious banana-chocolate blend) at the Starbucks next to the historic Fox Theatre (Broxton at Weyburn) when several people came running into the store. They said they heard a shot. A few minutes later, gathering courage and curiosity, I headed outside. I noticed that, in those few minutes I had waited, Broxton had been roped off (to stop car traffic -- foot traffic was still allowed) between Weyburn and Le Conte.

I talked with a man who works at Habibi Cafe, a popular hangout for food and drink located on that stretch of street. He said he heard at least four shots fire, and he pointed to a tree that got belted with a bullet (southeast corner of Broxton and Le Conte). There were now about a dozen cops on the scene, some squad cars and an ambulance. The man from Habibi said the police got the gunman -- but the strange part, he said, was that the gunman just had lunch at the Habibi Cafe earlier that day, and seemed perfectly fine.