SAMUEL'S FIRST POLICE QUESTIONING

There was a shooting tonight across the street from my house. It happened around 1 a.m. We heard these loud BOOMS, about 3-4 of them (I thought) or 5-7 of them (Kafi thinks). People blow up a lot of @*$%# in my neighborhood, lots of firecrackers, and I just thought it was another exotic street explosive, so I went right back to sleep. But then Kafi told me there were a bunch of fire trucks and ambulances on the street. I got up to check. I went outside. The paramedics were carting a guy into one ambulance. My neighbors said that two guys had been shot, one in the head, one in the thigh. They wheeled out a second guy. Apparently they were doing steady CPR on the first guy. There are still police out on the street, and it's now almost 4 a.m. Officers came to my front door to question us in detail, given that our home is so close to the shooting. They talked to me, then to my wife, then to two other adults living in my home. Then they asked to speak to Sam, to see what he heard. I hesitated - this is not the kind of life we want for him, dealing with shootings and giving interviews to the police. But Kafi checked on him and he seemed fine with it. So he stepped outside the front door with the four adults and two officers. He stood upright, almost confident. He said the little he had to say - "I heard three shots" - and then went back into the house. Micah slept through everything.

UPDATE: The two men who were shot have died: PASADENA STAR NEWS: Fight escalates into double homicide

UPDATE 2: Los Angeles Times Homicide Blog:

Pasadena Double Homicide

Pasadena: Two men, Joseph Vargas, 31, and Sergio Mendes, 34, both Latino, were shot in the 1500 block of Navarro Avenue in Pasadena at about 1:50 a.m. this morning, Friday, July 27. They were transported to a local hospital where they died.

Pasadena police spokeswoman Janet Givens said police got word of an argument that escalated into a fight. A suspect or suspects shot the men, then fled. Detectives later arrested three people in Covina: Jonathan Warren, 22, Diana Reyes, 20, and a youth or boy whose name was not released. Investigators said gang concerns were at issue in the attack. More to come.