Police Seek Gunman in Kmart
Police evacuated scores of last-minute Christmas shoppers from a Vermont Knolls Kmart store Wednesday evening when a disturbed man entered the store with a handgun, according to the Los Angeles Police Department.
No shoppers were reported injured and no shots had been fired as police surrounded the store for more than four hours and urged the man to leave the building.
The man, according to police, had visited the store in the 5800 block of South Vermont Avenue earlier in the day, but was told to leave because he was acting strangely. Police said he returned around 6:30 p.m. and appeared to be carrying a semi-automatic weapon.
The evacuation occurred when officers used the public address systems to tell shoppers to leave the site. Surrounding businesses in the same strip mall were also evacuated and SWAT teams surrounded the area.
By 11 p.m., police officers had entered the store and were searching for the man, but had not yet found him.
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