Witnesses mistook Santa Monica College gunfire for firecrackers

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Patty Medina, who graduated from Santa Monica College on Tuesday, comforts Rafael Torres, left, and Gabriel Torres, sons of Margarita Gomez, who was gunned down near the campus library Friday. The fatal shootings have altered the crime picture in Santa Monica. (Allen J. Schaben / Los Angeles Times)

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Santa Monica College graduates are silhouetted at sunset as they line up to receive their diplomas during a graduation ceremony that also served as a memorial at Corsair Field. (Allen J. Schaben / Los Angeles Times)

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A Santa Monica College graduate listens to Msgr. Lloyd Torgerson, of Saint Monica’s church in Santa Monica, as he reflects on the victims of Friday’s shootings. (Allen J. Schaben / Los Angeles Times)

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Family and friends of Santa Monica College graduates listen to Msgr. Lloyd Torgerson of Saint Monica’s church in Santa Monica address those in attendance. (Allen J. Schaben / Los Angeles Times)

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A Santa Monica College graduate listens to a speaker during the commencement ceremony Tuesday evening. Just about every speech made note of the recent violence in the city. (Allen J. Schaben / Los Angeles Times)

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A Santa Monica College graduate wipes her eye while waiting in line to check in at the rehearsal for graduation ceremonies. (Genaro Molina / Los Angeles Times)

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College counselor Robin Ramsdell gives graduating student Taehyun Lee a hug of support during rehearsal for graduation. (Genaro Molina / Los Angeles Times)

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Sophia Schoenberg, 20, far left, and Danielle Olsen, 19, students at Santa Monica College, hold each other for support during a memorial for victims of Friday’s shooting rampage that killed five people, including three on the Santa Monica campus. The memorial was held on the school football field. Schoenberg said that she was on the bus that the suspect shot at before he made his way to the campus. Olsen was in her biology class at the time and heard the gunshots that the suspect fired when he was on the campus. (Mel Melcon / Los Angeles Times)

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Relatives of Margarita Gomez attend a memorial for the five people killed in Friday’s shooting rampage, including three on the Santa Monica College campus. From left, niece Erica Lares, son Rafael Torres and sister Luiza Gomez mourn the loss of their relative. The memorial was held on the school football field nearby. (Mel Melcon / Los Angeles Times)

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Procession makes its way toward the football field at Santa Monica College for a memorial in honor of victims of Friday’s shooting rampage. (Mel Melcon / Los Angeles Times)

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Raphael Torres, son of Santa Monica College shooting victim Margarita Gomez, lights candles at a memorial created at the site his mother was killed. (Al Seib / Los Angeles Times)

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In front of the closed Santa Monica College library, Venice resident Nate Edelson makes a sign honoring the victims of Friday’s deadly shooting rampage. (Al Seib / Los Angeles Times)

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Students Signe Elvin-Nowak, 22, left, and Sara Lindgren, 22, are lost in thought at Santa Monica College’s satellite campus, where faculty, staff and students gathered to receive support and counseling in the aftermath of Friday’s shooting rampage in Santa Monica. (Genaro Molina / Los Angeles Times)

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The backyard of the home at Yorkshire and Kansas avenues in Santa Monica where the first two victims of the gunman were killed. (Anne Cusack / Los Angeles Times)

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Police say John Zawahri killed his father, Samir, and brother, Chris, at this house, then set it on fire. (Anne Cusack / Los Angeles Times)

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Two people embrace Saturday at Santa Monica College, where they went to collect cars and belongings left behind during Friday’s shooting. (Jay L. Clendenin / Los Angeles Times)

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Santa Monica police Chief Jacqueline Seabrooks speaks to the media Saturday. The shooting rampage that left five people dead in Santa Monica on Friday was premeditated, and the gunman had more than than 1,300 rounds of ammunition with him during the attack, police said. (Jay L. Clendenin / Los Angeles Times)

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Santa Monica Police Chief Jacqueline Seabrooks talks to reporters next to a surveillance photo of the suspected gunman entering the Santa Monica College library. (David McNew / Getty Images)

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Police display a .44-caliber handgun and parts of an AR-15 style, .223-caliber, semiautomatic rifle, along with multiple clips and boxes of ammunition and knee pads that belonged to the gunman, identified as John Zawahri. (Jay L. Clendenin / Los Angeles Times)

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Surveillance and evidence photos were displayed in front of Santa Monica police headquarters. (Jay L. Clendenin / Los Angeles Times)

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Santa Monica Police Department spokesman Sgt. Richard Lewis, left, and Det. Maury Sumlin look over evidence. (Jay L. Clendenin / Los Angeles Times)

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The gunman was apparently angry over his parents’ divorce and had some mental health issues in the past, a law enforcement source told The Times. (Jay L. Clendenin / Los Angeles Times)

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Authorities say the gunman’s first victims were his father and brother. (Jay L. Clendenin / Los Angeles Times)

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A Los Angeles County sheriff’s deputy stands Saturday morning near one of the crime scenes from a deadly shooting rampage that ended at Santa Monica College on Friday. (Ringo H.W. Chiu / Associated Press)

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Mark Adams, 62, walks his dog, Gunnar, past the burned-out home in Santa Monica where two suspected victims of Friday’s shooting rampage were found. (Ringo H.W. Chiu / Associated Press)

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Law enforcement officers take up a position on the Santa Monica College campus. (Barbara Davidson / Los Angeles Times)

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People evacuate Santa Monica College with their hands up after a shooting near the campus. (Genaro Molina / Los Angeles Times)

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An investigator examines a car with bullet holes on Kansas Avenue near Santa Monica College. (Barbara Davidson / Los Angeles Times)

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A tearful Santa Monica College student, right, is comforted by a friend. (Genaro Molina / Los Angeles Times)

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A Santa Monica College student talks to a parking enforcement officer after the shootings. (Genaro Molina / Los Angeles Times)

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Santa Monica College student Marcel Kahn, 22, center, receives a hug from college personnel along 17th Street after the shootings near the school. (Genaro Molina / Los Angeles Times)

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Sheriff’s deputies gather near Santa Monica College. (Genaro Molina / Los Angeles Times)

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A Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Department helicopter circles Santa Monica College with a sharpshooter. (Barbara Davidson / Los Angeles Times)

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Police officers search Santa Monica College for a gunman. (Robert Gauthier / Los Angeles Times)

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Two women evacuate Santa Monica College with their hands up. (Barbara Davidson / Los Angeles Times)

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Santa Monica College students wait to be interviewed by detectives along 17th Street. (Genaro Molina / Los Angeles Times)

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People are escorted off the Santa Monica College campus as police swarm the school. (Robert Gauthier / Los Angeles Times)

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Students and staff evacuate to the north side of campus as police swarm Santa Monica College. (Robert Gauthier / Los Angeles Times)

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Students and faculty members gather along 17th Street after being evacuated from Santa Monica College. (Genaro Molina / Los Angeles Times)

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Santa Monica College student Tina Kronkvist, of Sweden, speaks on the phone after being treated by paramedics. She was on campus and saw what she said she thought was the shooter and then ran for safety. She heard screams and fell as she was running for her life. (Barbara Davidson / Los Angeles Times)

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Evacuees from Santa Monica College gather near the campus on 17th Street. (Genaro Molina / Los Angeles Times)

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Students and staff evacuate Santa Monica College after the shootings. (Robert Gauthier / Los Angeles Times)

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Santa Monica College student Marcel Kahn, 22, right, receives a hug from a college employee. (Genaro Molina / Los Angeles Times)

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Police officers surround a body on the Santa Monica College campus. (Christian Lovas / For the Los Angeles Times)

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Los Angeles police officers work with Los Angeles County sheriff’s deputies to search the grounds of Santa Monica College near the library. (Kevork Djansezian / Getty Images)

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Students rush to safety after shots were fired near Santa Monica College. (Kevork Djansezian / Getty Images)

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Los Angeles County sheriff’s SWAT team members search the grounds of Santa Monica College. (Kevork Djansezian / Getty Images)

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A Santa Monica police officer ushers pedestrians away. (Aaron Smith / For the Los Angeles Times)

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Police officers respond to the scene. (Aaron Smith / For the Los Angeles Times)

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Santa Monica police officers respond to the shooting. (Aaron Smith / For the Los Angeles Times)

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A damaged vehicle rests near Santa Monica College. (Aaron Smith / For the Los Angeles Times)

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A witness is comforted by a police officer. (Aaron Smith / For the Los Angeles Times)

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A sheriff’s deputy takes up a position near Santa Monica College. (Aaron Smith / For the Los Angeles Times)

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A bullet-riddled car rests near Santa Monica College. (Christian Lovas / For the Los Angeles Times)

By Marisa Gerber, Kate Mather and Andrew Blankstein

June 7, 2013 2:02 PM PT

Some students and workers in the area of Santa Monica College said they first mistook the sound of gunfire for firecrackers.

Nathaniel Westveer, a 24-year-old visual effects artist, was working in his second-story office near Pico and Cloverfield boulevards around noon when he heard a series of loud booms.

“I thought someone was lighting off firecrackers at first,” Westveer said, adding that once he realized it was gunshots he yelled to his coworkers, who were outside on a smoke break.

PHOTOS: Shooting at Santa Monica College

The group rushed inside, shut off all the lights, locked the doors and waited.

“I was just very alert,” Westveer said. “Very focused on being in the place I was safest.”

After about five minutes, he peeked out the window and saw people milling around -- a sign, he presumed, that things were safe.

Aaron Smith, 25, also thought he heard fireworks outside his house near Santa Monica College.

“President Obama is in Santa Monica today and I just heard someone shoot off a firework ... people are insane,” he wrote on his Facebook page.

A few minutes later, he wrote an update: “Change that to many fireworks. My neighborhood is about to be covered with Secret Service.”

It was like a “Pop-pop-pop-pop-pop,” Smith said.

The shooting that left at least three people wounded in the Santa Monica College area began when the alleged gunman broke into a nearby home and set fire to another property, law enforcement sources said.

The gunman then allegedly opened fire on several cars and appear to try to carjack two vehicles, the sources said. One of the carjackings occurred near the campus library and college police station. The suspect fled to the library, where he wounded by police, the sources added.

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