LOS ANGELES, CA – An employee was shot and killed Thursday evening during a gunfire exchange with two armed suspects who entered a business in the Florence-Graham area near South Los Angeles, according to the Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Department.
The shooting occurred at about 7:30 p.m. Thursday, Oct. 8, in the 2000 block of Nadeau Street, the Sheriff’s Department said. The location is in unincorporated Los Angeles County.
Deputies who responded to a report of a shooting found the employee shot. Los Angeles County Fire Department personnel pronounced the employee dead at the scene.
Both suspects fled and had not been identified as of Friday morning, Oct. 9. Sheriff’s homicide detectives are investigating.
Employee confronted two armed suspects
A witness told deputies that two armed suspects entered the business and exchanged gunfire with an employee who confronted them. The employee was shot during that exchange.
A second employee ran to the back of the building as the confrontation unfolded, according to the department. That employee’s account was provided to investigators.
The Sheriff’s Department had not released the name or age of the employee who died. The department also had not said what led to the confrontation.
Suspects fled before deputies arrived
The Sheriff’s Department said both suspects left the location after the gunfire. Deputies did not find them at the scene, and no suspect description had been made public as of Friday morning.
A section of Nadeau Street was closed while detectives worked the scene. No arrests had been announced.
Homicide Bureau handles the investigation
The case is being investigated by the Sheriff’s Department’s Homicide Bureau. The bureau investigates murder incidents in areas patrolled by the department, according to the department’s homicide reports page.
That page publishes annual homicide reports for 2023, 2024 and 2025, along with a dataset of Homicide Bureau murder incidents dating back to 1925. The department notes that its numbers are subject to change because some homicides are determined after the year ends.
The Sheriff’s Department’s Century Station serves Florence/Firestone, the City of Lynwood, Walnut Park, Willowbrook and Athens Park.
County rules on cannabis in unincorporated areas
According to initial reports, the business was a marijuana dispensary. The Sheriff’s Department had not described the type of business in the information available Friday.
Los Angeles County states on its cannabis information page for businesses that all commercial cannabis activity is currently prohibited in unincorporated Los Angeles County. The county says it is not accepting applications for cannabis business licenses, and the page directs violation reports to its Office of Cannabis Management.
The page does not mention the Nadeau Street shooting, and officials have not connected the county’s cannabis rules to the case.
Call for information
Anyone with information about the shooting or the suspects is asked to call the Sheriff’s Department Homicide Bureau at 323-890-5500.
Suspects remain unidentified
The investigation remains active. The two suspects had not been identified or arrested, and the employee’s identity had not been released as of Friday morning.
