Deadly shooting at L.A. restaurant: Here’s what we know

Los Angeles police are still trying to sort out details of a mass shooting at a West Adams restaurant early Saturday that left three dead and 12 wounded.

Here’s what we know:

Q: What exactly happened?

There were about 50 people inside the restaurant in the 2900 block of Rimpau Boulevard when an argument broke out.

Three men left the restaurant, returned with firearms and began shooting, according to police. Others at the restaurant also opened fire, and some diners were caught in the crossfire, police said.

The shooting continued in the driveway of the restaurant, which is located in a house on a residential block, police said.

Q: What do we know about the place where it happened and the owner of the eatery?

The business is identified in registration papers as Dilly’s Kitchen, which is located inside a home on Rimpau.

The owner of the house and business, who identified himself only as Dilly, told The Times that he came to the U.S. in 1994 from Kingston, Jamaica.

He is 63. He started his “catering” business out of his home in 2003 when he moved into the West Adams neighborhood. He said there was another shooting in 2011.

“The guy that died in that shooting was my friend,” he said.

He said he also believes he lost another friend in Saturday’s shooting. He said he heard the man’s name as one of the dead from other people who were at the house. He said he heard that the three dead victims were all men.

He plans to sell the house and move back to Jamaica.

Dilly said he worked several jobs in Kingston, Jamaica, where he lived. He drove a cab for 27 years, built furniture and ran a small restaurant where he cooked.

By 1994 he came to the United States with a woman who would become his wife in 1996.

He worked for a Togo’s sandwich restaurant for five years near LAX before losing his job and starting his catering business.

“I do catering, that’s all I do,” he said. “Except on Saturdays when people come over and I cook food for them.”

According to online reviews, Dilly was usually making about seven dishes at once. His jerk chicken was a favorite dish, but reviewers also gave his stuffed fish, oxtail, stewed chicken and goat curry high grades.

In 2011 one reviewer described his beef patties as “the truth!”

What do we know about the victims?

Police took into custody two “persons of interest” — a man and a women — but were still looking for suspects Saturday afternoon. A gun was recovered from the scene, police said.

Officers are now canvassing the neighborhood looking for witnesses.

Some of the wounded were taken by ambulance to hospitals, while others drove themselves, authorities said.

What did witnesses see?

“It was just ‘pop, pop, pop, pop, pop.’ It didn’t stop. It just kept going. ... Really loud,” said one woman who lives in the area.

“It was a series [of gunshots] first, like really fast, then a pause, almost like someone reloaded,” she said. “It was specific, as if someone was pointing at people.”

She estimated she heard about 20 gunshots in total. She ran to the window and watched people run by her house, screaming. Some held beer bottles, she said. Many jumped in their cars and sped off, she said.

Within minutes, police helicopters appeared overhead and firetrucks and police cars were parked on the street, she said.

Paul Elen, 64, who was visiting his brother in the neighborhood, said, “I heard about 15, 20 shots.”

“First it was two shots,” he said. “Then they started firing again.”

He said he saw people running down the street. “I seen somebody fall, so I said it’s time to go in the house,” he said. “I heard a lot of screaming.”

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