LOS ANGELES — Two people were killed and six others were wounded at a warehouse party in downtown Los Angeles early Monday, the latest incident to turn violent stemming from unsanctioned gatherings in the area, authorities said.

About 11 p.m. Sunday, a “big party” was shut down at a warehouse in the 1100 block of 14th Place after officers saw a person possibly armed with a gun go inside, said Los Angeles Police Officer Norma Eisenman. That person was arrested at the scene, she said.

But about two hours later, at 1 a.m. Monday, officers were summoned to the area again after reports of gunfire, Eisenman said. Police said someone opened fire outside the warehouse and responding officers found eight people shot.

A partygoer who did not want to be named out of fear of retaliation said it sounded like “100 shots” were fired outside the event, causing people to stampede out of the warehouse and scatter into the street.

One man in his late 20s was declared dead at the scene, and seven others were taken to the hospital, where a woman in her early 50s died of her injuries, police said.

“This senseless violence and loss of life is devastating and those who are responsible must be held accountable,” Los Angeles Mayor Karen Bass said in a statement. “There will be no tolerance for violence in this city. My thoughts are with the victims and their families. We will continue to work together to keep L.A. safe.”

Authorities are trying to piece together what led up to the shooting. No suspects have been identified.

A law enforcement source not authorized to speak publicly about the investigation confirmed to The Times that the event where the shooting occurred was a warehouse party that was part of an Eight-Tray Gangster Crip “hood day” celebration. Police recovered at least half a dozen guns at the scene and made at least one arrest: a woman who was found in possession of a gun, according to the source.

The violent incident on 14th Place occurred amid a series of downtown warehouse parties after the Hard Summer music festival, a house- and techno-music festival taking place over the weekend at Hollywood Park in Inglewood, next to SoFi Stadium. An organizer for an unofficial festival after-party said the event where the shooting occurred was a hip-hop party not associated with them.

Unsanctioned parties and other illegal activities have been a growing problem in industrial spaces in downtown Los Angeles. There were 11 parties on Saturday in the Fashion District alone, said Anthony Rodriguez, president and chief executive of the Fashion District business improvement district.

“Nothing good comes out of these parties,” Rodriguez said. “Not only are they unpermitted, so there’s no safety protocols ... we know there’s alcohol consumption, illegal drugs, underage drinking and prostitution coming out of these parties. And now violence.”

A century ago, the warehouses were part of a robust industry economy that has since moved far away from downtown. Now, many of the large structures sit empty.

Some have been divided into smaller spaces that are easier to rent, but the expansive, vacant buildings also provide an attractive venue for large, underground parties and illegal drug and gambling operations, said Estela Lopez, executive director for the L.A. Downtown Industrial District business improvement district.

“There needs to be greater inspection, greater oversight and greater communication between the city and the owners of these warehouses, or these these very tragic events are going to continue to happen,” Lopez said.

Businesses in the industrial areas usually open before dawn, so most employees are gone by mid-afternoon, giving promoters ample time to set up in nearby buildings. The areas are dark, desolate and don’t have as many police patrols as a residential or busy commercial area. The buildings don’t have windows, so there may not be much to see by an officer just driving by.

Still, recent parties have given authorities a glimpse of the underground scene.

In May, hundreds of people showed up for an illegal rooftop concert spanning two parking lots downtown, with a group of them later spilling out into the surrounding neighborhood. At one point that night, vandals within the crowd began spray-painting an A Line train and pounding on the windows.

Rodriguez described that melee as something out of a Mad Max movie. Despite the widespread attention some of the parties receive, the problem persists and in some ways appears to be escalating, he said.

Many of the property owners don’t realize their warehouses are doubling as party venues until officials reach out or they see their building on the news, he said.

“It’s going unaddressed. There’s no consequences,” Rodriguez said, adding that he’d like to see cases involving the parties prosecuted by the city attorney’s office. “It’s a business and it can be very profitable for these promoters.”

Last month, Los Angeles City Atty. Hydee Feldstein Soto filed a civil enforcement action to shut down an allegedly illegal after-hours nightclub operating on East Washington Boulevard.

In June 2023, a confrontation inside the nightclub escalated into gunfire, leaving one person dead and wounding another. Before it was a nightclub, it was the site of an illegal marijuana dispensary and a gambling operation.

The site, authorities allege, presented “an ongoing threat to community safety.”

“Ensuring public safety of our residents is a top priority and, with this suit, we are holding the property owners accountable and putting a stop to illegal activities that have continually disrupted this neighborhood,” Feldstein Soto said in a statement announcing the lawsuit.

Along 14th Place on Monday, the chaos that had overtaken the downtown industrial area overnight had calmed by midmorning as detectives scoured the area for evidence. Nearly 50 numbered yellow markers were on the ground, identifying the locations of pieces of evidence, including possible bullets or shell casings.

Family and friends of those who were shot gathered around a police cruiser where a medical examiner and officers placed an orange plastic bag containing items collected from their loved ones. The group of seven people wept as they peered into the bag filled with what appeared to be keys, pieces of fabric and other items they seemed to recognize.

A security guard who works nearby said the area has long been a destination for after-parties because of its location away from residential neighborhoods. Many partygoers affectionately refer to the events as “afters” and stay until early the next morning, he said.

Tyrone Laney, who lives in a temporary housing encampment around the corner from where the shooting occurred, said the partygoers returned an hour after police broke up their party around 11 p.m. Sunday. For hours, he said, he felt the thumping music through the sidewalk as the other encampment occupants slept. Sometime after 1 a.m., he and others heard quick-succession gunfire from what sounded like an automatic weapon, he said.

“It was pretty clear and loud. … You knew that if those bullets landed in somebody, that they weren’t walking away from the situation,” Laney said.

The police responded immediately, Laney said, and the block was quickly inundated with sirens, flashing lights and the whirring of helicopters hovering above.

“It just happened so fast. … I thought it might’ve been a drive-by or somebody rolled up on somebody that they were looking for,” Laney said.

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(Times staff writers Salvador Hernandez and Joseph Serna contributed to this report.)

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