2 Dead, 3 Injured in East Hollywood Shooting and Fire

Two people died and three were were listed in serious to critical condition at local hospitals Thursday following a report of shots-fired at a home that also erupted in flames.

Police believe that one of the dead found inside the home was the shooter, who according to a resident of the house was the ex-boyfriend of a woman wounded in the shooting.

Emergency personnel were dispatched to 517 N. Harvard Blvd. about 12:40 p.m.

Paramedics treated two 38-year-old women and a 34-year-old man, who were taken to a hospital.

Gary Davidson, a resident of the home who was not there when the shootings and subsequent fire happened, said he had talked with his three wounded housemates, although Los Angeles police Lt. Andy Neiman said they were in critical condition.

The suspected gunman had an address in the area, according to KCAL9.

Harvard Elementary School, 330 N. Harvard Blvd., was placed on lockdown as a precaution, according to the Los Angeles Unified School District.

The lockdown was lifted shortly after the house fire was knocked down.

At the height of the fire, 150 firefighters worked under a unified command with police department, according to the Los Angeles Fire Department's Matt Spence. He said the fire took about two hours and 30 minutes to knock down.   

Emergency crews were limited to fighting the blaze from a distance because the suspect was not in custody and it was not known if he was in the home or in the vicinity.

Neiman said police learned through discussion with the three wounded people that the situation was "domestic-related."

He said the dead suspect had been involved with one of the wounded women and that the additional victim inside the house was a male.

Neiman said when officers first arrived, they saw a wounded woman in the driveway.

"We could see fire erupting from the residence and knowing that the shooter was inside the residence, we had to proceed very cautiously," he said.

Neiman described the actions of the police and firefighters as "heroic" in that they both had to "put themselves in positions they were not trained for." The firefighters had to go inside the house knowing that the suspect was inside.     

The identity of the male found inside the home with the suspect was not known because of the severity of the burns and injuries, he said.     

KCAL9 spoke with Davidson, who was not at the house at the time of the shooting. He said he was in class at Los Angeles City College.

Davidson said he first heard about what happened through a text message from a friend. When he arrived at the home, he did not know if his roommates had survived.

He found himself unable to get to the house and noted that everything he owned was lost in the fire. He said the only things he still had was his car and the clothes he was wearing.

"I just hope they're all right," Davidson told KCAL9. "I don't know who would want to do this...we didn't have any enemies that I know of. It's unreal."

"We were like a family," Davidson said.

Davidson said he later learned that three of his roommates were alive in the hospital and talked to them.    

"They were talking and coherent," he said.     

He said that the suspect was an ex-boyfriend of one of the roommates.