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# Violence breaks out in Pico neighborhood
- URL: https://www.smdp.com/violence-breaks-out-in-pico-neighborhood/
- Published: 2002-08-01T15:00:00.000Z
- Updated: 2026-10-23T00:34:51.000Z
- Author: Carolyn Sackariason
- Tags: Crime, Pico, #archive-import

*Stray bullet lands at preschool; no one injured*

Gunfire erupted in an east side neighborhood Wednesday morning, but no one was injured despite that one bullet traveled more than seven blocks and landed at a pre-school.

Santa Monica Police are looking for two Hispanic men driving a brown or rust colored mini van, who witnesses say may have been involved in the shooting, which occurred at 17th Street and Delaware Avenue.

SMPD responded at 8:39 a.m. to a call of shots fired in the alley between 17th Street and 18th Street on Delaware Avenue. Less than a minute later, while officers were en route, a call came from John Adams Child Development Center that a bullet hit an office window there.

Officers responded to the pre-school within 35 seconds, said Lt. Frank Fabrega, who noted first priority for the SMPD was the childcare facility because of the presence of children there. Police responded to the shooting scene on Delaware Avenue within three minutes.

All of the children were inside of the building when the stray bullet struck the window, which was only a few feet away from the pre-school supervisor’s desk. The supervisor, who declined to give her name or say whether or not she was sitting at her desk at the time, said the children were told to “stay down low.” She fielded calls from worried parents Wednesday afternoon after they were informed by SMPD that a stray bullet landed at the school.

“It was an isolated incident,” she said. “It could happen anywhere, and we are so grateful that no one was hurt.”

The bullet traveled at least seven blocks to the south — from Delaware Avenue to Pico Boulevard, over Santa Monica College’s main campus and the pre-school’s outside courtyard before it was stopped by the office window, which did not break but was marked with a bullet hole.

“A bullet can travel up to a mile,” Fabrega said.

Police recovered one bullet at the pre-school and plugged the hole in the window. Officers also discovered several empty shell casings and bullet fragments in the alleyway on Delaware Avenue. Three bullets hit a home on the south side of Delaware Avenue, which police recovered and put into evidence. The SMPD estimates between 12 and 15 shots were fired, Fabrega said.

The eight-square block neighborhood runs north of the Santa Monica Freeway to Santa Monica Boulevard, south to Pico Boulevard and east from Lincoln Boulevard to Centinela Boulevard

Fabrega said the motive of Wednesday’s incident is not known, but it does appear to be a drive-by shooting.

“It appears the shots came from the vehicle,” he said. “We did not locate any victims.”

> “It appears the shots came from the vehicle. We did not locate any victims.” — — LT. FRANK FABREGA SMPD spokesman

Police arrested two men on Jan. 25 for attempted murder of a police officer after they allegedly shot at police in the same alley where Wednesday’s incident took place. The alley is behind a city-funded low income housing project, where nearby neighbors say active drug dealing is taking place.

The latest shooting in the area happened July 5 on 18th Street and Delaware Avenue. When a resident was awakened by some men allegedly vandalizing a car in an alley at about 4:30 a.m., the suspects fired shots at his bedroom window where he was looking out from.

SMPD had beefed up its patrol in the neighborhood a few months ago, as well as enlisting the help of the Hawthorne Police Department’s helicopter patrols, to combat heightened violence in the area. Neighborhood watch groups have been formed, which the SMPD continues to be involved in.

“We have numerous officers in the area, and we are still part of the Pico Neighborhood Task Force,” Fabrega said.

*Originally published in the Santa Monica Daily Press print edition on August 1, 2002.* [Read the original PDF.](https://s3.us-east-1.amazonaws.com/smdp%5Fbackissues/080102.pdf?ref=smdp.com)