Police Seek Man in Wilmington Shooting, Salvage Yard Fire

Fire lit up the sky over a Wilmington salvage yard where police said a man had shot and wounded a youth before igniting the blaze Thursday night.

Los Angeles detectives responded to a call that shots had been fired about 9 p.m., police spokesman Arthur Holmes said. Officers saw a man they believed to be the gunman running into a trailer at the salvage yard.

Police said the gunman shot and wounded a 15-year-old boy then fired at least one shot at detectives.

“The officers did not return fire,” Holmes said. “The suspect ran into a trailer and set it on fire.”

The fire burned an industrial salvage yard about 15 miles south of downtown near the harbor in the 400 block of Banning Boulevard.

Richard Smith told KCAL Channel 9 that he owned the property. He said he feared that his son Curtis might be inside the burning yard.

Officers subdued a man who ran through police lines. The elder Smith told a reporter that the man was another son trying to rescue his brother Curtis.

As the yard burned, the elder Smith said, “His brother is in that . . . place, surrounded by fire. Why can’t they put the fire out?”