Benedict Canyon shooting that left 3 dead, 4 wounded was not random, police say

At least three people were killed and four wounded Saturday morning in a shooting in an upscale neighborhood in the Benedict Canyon area of Los Angeles, authorities said.

Three people were killed inside a vehicle on the street and four were wounded outside, a law enforcement source told The Times. All three killed were women, who were in their mid-20s to early 30s, another law enforcement source said. The suspect or suspects remain at large.

Sgt. Bruce Borihanh from the Los Angeles Police Department said the property was a "short-term rental home" and that a gathering was going on at the time.

"We called it a gathering, until we can interview some of the people that were here to determine exactly what kind of gathering it was," he told reporters at the scene.

He said the attack was not random. Neighbors reported seeing several cars driving away from the scene within minutes of the gunfire. Authorities towed a black Mazda SUV Saturday afternoon that had bullet holes on both sides of the car and in the passenger-side window.

Los Angeles Fire Department officials responded to the shooting at 2:55 a.m. in the 2700 block of Ellison Drive, a street of large hillside homes north of Beverly Hills. Los Angeles police were also on the scene.

Few details were immediately available, but police said the wounded were taken to local hospitals, according to LAPD Capt. Jonathan Tippet. Two are listed in critical condition and two were stable.

A coroner official said around 10 a.m. that investigators were still at the scene and they had not yet identified the victims.

The entire block was cordoned off with crime scene tape early Saturday, and multiple police vehicles were on the scene. LAPD forensic scientists are on the scene scouring for evidence.

Investigators were also collecting video footage from security cameras in the neighborhood, according to a law enforcement source.

Ellison Drive is a cul-de-sac tucked away in a warren of streets lined with attractive homes and tidy landscaping.

“It’s a pretty quiet neighborhood. My family has been here forever,” said Rachel David, a resident in her late 20s.

David left the house to meet friends around 11 Friday night. When she returned the next morning around 5 a.m. and saw rows of flashing police cars, she initially wondered if it was a film shoot, a fairly common occurrence in the area. Then she spotted a large white van she believed to be the coroner’s.

“I wait for my Ubers right at that corner,” David said, pointing at the intersection of Ellison and Arby drives, where the slash of yellow police tape was. “Not anymore.”

David’s mother, who declined to give her name, said the sound of police helicopters woke her around 3 a.m.

“Now you know why moms worry about their children when they’re out late,” the woman said.

“I just feel terrible,” she added, gesturing with her coffee mug toward the blocked-off street where the three victims’ bodies were still in the car.

The women live around the corner from the crime scene with David’s grandmother, who has lived in the house as its original owner since the 1960s. For decades, it was a quiet neighborhood of longtime residents. In the last five years, as many of the original owners have died, many of the homes have been converted into rental properties, the women said.

“Literally, I don’t even lock my car at night, it’s so safe,” David said. “Even people trying to find our house can’t find it.”

An Ellison Drive resident who declined to give her name said the sound of police helicopters circling the neighborhood also woke her up at 3 a.m.

She assumed police were looking for suspects involving a lesser crime, perhaps a robbery. Then her phone pinged a few hours later.

“My dog walker woke me up at 6:30 and said, ‘Oh my God, are you OK?’” the woman said. “Then I realized it was way more serious than someone getting their jewels stolen.”