Shocking video captured a flurry of shots fired as crowds gathered on the Hollywood Walk of Fame to pay tribute to revered Mexican singer Vicente Fernández hours after his death.
Footage taken by one of the fans at the all-day memorial showed people singing as music played from the back of a parked car — then the noise drowned out late Sunday by a volley of at least eight shots.
“Everyone kind of went crazy, running all over the place,” one fan at the tribute, Alexandra Vargas, told KABC.
At least one bullet appeared to shatter a glass door close to the memorial, but there were no initial reports of injuries, the station said.
“We were all panicking because we did not know what direction they were coming from or where they were shooting at,” she said.
Bryan Trejo said he “looked up and saw the flash from the gun” appearing to come from a balcony in an apartment building across the street.
“That’s when the police came and shut everything down,” he said, with LAPD vehicles swarming off the area and taping it off.
Other footage showed a police helicopter hovering above the scene, shining a spotlight on the area, as cops on the ground held shields and raised firearms as they approached the building.
A bearded man wearing shorts was filmed by the outlet as he was led away from the building in handcuffs.
Los Angeles Police Department Sgt. Andrew Dineen told the Los Angeles Daily News that officers recovered a handgun at the scene while arresting the suspect, who was not immediately identified.
The suspect did not give a motive for the shooting, said Dineen, who stressed that it was not clear if he had been aiming at the crowds.
The suspect will likely face either assault with a deadly weapon or firing into an inhabited building charges, Dineen told the local paper.
The crowds had gathered at the Walk of Fame all day to pay tribute to Fernández, the beloved singer of regional Mexican music who died at 6:15 a.m. Sunday in a hospital in Jalisco state. He was 81.
Stars like Gloria Estefan, Ricky Martin, Pitbull and Maluma took to social media to post heartfelt condolences to the singer known as ″Chente″ and the winner of three Grammys and nine Latin Grammys.
“I am broken hearted. Don Chente has been an angel to me all my life,” Martin said as he posted images of him performing with the late legend.
“The only thing that gives me comfort at this moment, is that every time we saw each other I told him how important he was to me.”
Mexican President Andrés Manuel López Obrador also expressed his condolences, calling him “a symbol of the ranchera music.”
Fernández’s family, meanwhile, said that “it was an honor and a great pride to share with everyone a great musical career and give everything for the audience.
“Thank you for continuing to applaud, thank you for continuing to sing,” they wrote on the late star’s official Instagram account.
With Post wires