Two women killed in downtown L.A. in separate homicides

Two women were killed in downtown Los Angeles early Sunday in separate homicides that occurred just blocks apart, police said.

Police had few details of the crimes, and could not identify the women or say whether the incidents — one a stabbing, the other a shooting — were related.

The first killing was called in at 1:51 a.m. from the 300 block of South Main Street, just blocks from City Hall, police said. An unidentified woman in her 30s, who was possibly homeless, had been stabbed and was pronounced dead at the scene.

Two hours later, police responded to a call about a shooting at 5th and Wall streets, a few blocks southeast of the stabbing, authorities said. They found a woman in her 30s or 40s, also possibly homeless, shot to death inside a car.

No arrests have been made in either incident.

The area around 3rd and Main streets, near the site of the first killing, is home to several large homeless encampments and some people could be seen Sunday morning washing up at the corner’s portable hygiene station.

One of the unhoused residents, who asked to remain anonymous, said that the woman who was stabbed didn’t live in one of the tents on Main Street. She also said that people in the tents heard shouting before the woman was stabbed.

Another individual, who also lives at the encampment and declined to give his name, told The Times that he called 911 after hearing the attack.

The incident involving the woman who was shot inside a car took place in an area around skid row, just a block away from a Los Angeles Police Department substation.

At the corner of 5th and Wall streets on Sunday, an individual lay motionless on the sidewalk, wrapped in a dirty blanket. Nearby, a woman sat on the sidewalk, her bare legs sprawled. Her eyes were bloodshot and a wheelchair rested next to her.

Robin Ely, a merchant in the area, said the shooting wasn’t unusual. Violence is “normal around here,” Ely said. Nearby San Julian Park is known as a place to buy drugs, he said.

“It’s very scary,” Ely said.

Both incidents are being investigated by the LAPD’s Central Bureau homicide detectives, police spokesman Drake Madison said.

Officials at the Los Angeles County coroner’s office said they had no further information on the deaths or identities of the victims.