Kathy Gutierrez was on her way to start her first day working at the local restaurant, Sushi Gala, when she heard the shots go off.
“I just saw somebody pointing at something, which I thought was nothing until I heard the popping sound,” said Gutierrez. “I froze there and then all I saw was a bunch of people scattering everywhere. I didn’t even know what was happening. Somebody grabbed me and put me inside the hot dog restaurant next door.”
This was the scene about 2:50 pm, on Friday, January 19th in the Japanese Village Plaza of Little Tokyo, when an altercation between two people escalated into five shots being fired at the Nijiya Market, leaving one person wounded.
In the wake of the incident, LAPD Central Division tweeted that the “victim suffering a gunshot wound was transported to a local hospital.” According to LAPD Media Relations, the victim’s name has not yet been released, but he is in stable condition.
On the scene, more details emerged from eyewitnesses. A security guard on duty at the Nijiya Market, who spoke on the condition of anonymity out of fear of losing their job, described the gunman.
“The suspect appeared to be a white male in his thirties, around 6 foot 3, 6 foot 4, dressed in black pants, a black hoodie and wore a black bandana covering his mouth,” the guard said. “He had hazel-green eyes and wore a fanny pack across his midriff area.”
The security guard also said they saw the suspect follow the victim into the Japanese grocery store. LAPD Media Relations corroborated the security guard’s interview as valid descriptors of the suspect.
“The suspect pulled out a gun and pistol-whipped the victim near the registers,” the guard said. “That’s when I saw the suspect fire shots in the victim’s direction before escaping. So I started shouting at people to run, and everyone ran out of the market.”
The turmoil following the shooting caused a lot of businesses to close up shop early on Friday. Foot traffic was down, restaurants were nearly empty, and the only sounds that could be heard were the faint noises of cars driving past the village plaza.
Some workers remained in the area, continuing to process the harrowing incident that had happened hours prior.
Matthew Calderon, an employee at a local sushi restaurant, was shocked, as he had briefly interacted with the victim and his friends before the shooting.
“I gave the victim and his friends takeout from our restaurant literally 10 minutes before I heard the shots,” Calderon said. “I later saw him get wheeled out by the paramedics, and his friends all walked up to me. They said that they were not near him when they heard the gunshots. It all just happened so fast.”
Sybil Cerezo had been well into their shift as a cashier at the Yamazaki Bakery when they saw people running their way. Cerezo herded people into the bakery as their coworkers hid behind the store counter, where they waited for over thirty minutes.
“It was as if time had stopped,” Cerezo said. “The atmosphere in the store was so palpable right until we got the sign from security that it was clear and okay to get up. I never imagined I would one day be caught in the middle of something so frightening.”
Further down the plaza, Luciano Peña hid with bated breath behind the closed doors of the local business he worked at after the shots went off, peering through the window to see people searching for a safe place to take shelter in.
“I saw an older lady get pushed aside onto the ground, and people were just running all around her,” Peña said. “Someone pulled her into a business next to where she fell before closing their doors. Eventually, paramedics came, and they wheeled her out on a stretcher.”
This is not the first time Little Tokyo has had an armed suspect disrupt the plaza. In the summer of 2023, two armed suspects sprinted through the area following a high-speed chase with the LAPD.
Peña said that being present for the incident last summer was enough for him to become far more vigilant afterward.
“I always carry the keys to the store with me, and I’m always walking around to monitor the store in case something like that happens again,” Peña said. “So today, when this [shooting] happened, I was prepared, and I quickly closed the door.”
However, not all of the vendors at the store were as anxious about the shooting incident. An employee at a local plushie store said that he saw Friday’s shooting as a freak accident. They spoke on the condition of anonymity out of concern for their workplace’s reputation.
“Little Tokyo has become more popular, especially within the last two years,” the employee said. “I think it’s inevitable that when you have an increase in the amount of traffic and the amount of people that you’re also going to have an increase in the amount of incidents. My comfort level hasn’t changed because of this, and I don’t plan to leave.”
As these issues arise and Little Tokyo expands its appeal, other businesses in the area have grown concerned about the safety of their community. Cerezo said that their biggest question in the wake of Friday’s shooting was the likelihood of another dangerous incident happening in such close proximity to employees and customers.
“The community within the plaza and its immediate vicinity are shaken up, and you can’t help but wonder, ‘what if it happens inside an establishment next?’” said Cerezo. “I hope we’re able to move forward by continuing to be there for one another with open ears and arms. It’s just unfortunate that in the world we live in today we constantly have to look over our shoulders and be expected to be aware of our surroundings at all times.”
Employees within the plaza had split reactions to the shooting overall but were unified in their wish to see visitors and vendors return to their lives in the bustling plaza. Raymond Park, a waiter at a local ramen shop within the plaza, said that the biggest thing that incidents like this had taught him was that people just want to move forward with their lives as soon as they can.
“We just need to have a peace of mind [as] a community,” said Park. “It’s super important that that happened, but that nothing has really changed for us… You know, everything is just normal. We carry on with our everyday lives and just kind of pray and hope that it doesn’t happen again.”
After the last restaurant had closed up on that desolate Friday night, the following day brought the exact energy that Park and the Little Tokyo community had wished for.
Couples played crane games, families lined up to enter cute plushie stores, and local vendors beckoned tourists to buy their homemade goods. The plaza’s reputation as the beating heart of Little Tokyo had been swiftly restored, and both tourists and employees were reinvigorated by Saturday morning.
A large part of this, according to Park, can be attributed to the resilience of those working in the plaza. He said that the sense of community they all share is what allows them to push forward day by day.
“Everybody knows each other, you know, we’ve all been here for years,” Park said. “The mentality is that it happened – let’s get over it, let’s continue. The Little Tokyo community is strong and tight knit, so if something does happen, we have a shoulder to lean on. We know we can put our backs against other businesses because they’ll always have our backs as well.”