A 17-year-old was wounded in a drive-by shooting near Belmont Park in Mission Beach overnight when a passenger in another vehicle opened fire, police said.
According to the San Diego Police Department (SDPD), the victim was with three other young men traveling in a Honda Civic around 1:30 a.m. near the beachfront amusement park in the 1300 block of West Mission Bay Drive.
A teal colored vehicle – possible a Chrysler 300 or Dodge Charger – passed the group in the Honda on the left and a passenger in that vehicle fired a gun out of the window.
The round pierced the rear driver’s side door of the Honda, striking a 17-year-old passenger in the hip, police said.
The shooting suspect’s car then fled the area, and was last seen taking the Sunset Cliffs Boulevard off-ramp from West Mission Bay Drive. The SDPD said the shooter was wearing a fitted red hat, but a more detailed description was not immediately released.
After the shooting, the group in the Honda drove a few miles to Mission Valley Resort off Hotel Circle South in Mission Valley where they called police for help.
The victim was taken to a local hospital and is expected to survive. No other injuries were reported.
The drive-by shooting is under investigation. As of 7:30 a.m. Tuesday, no arrests had been made.
NBC 7 spoke with locals and visitors in Mission Beach Tuesday who said the shooting is concerning, especially in an area that is filled with people daily.
"It's very discomforting," Tierrasanta resident Pam Lamarsh told NBC 7. "You feel unsafe in any place today -- to even go grocery shopping. You never know what's going to happen."
Phoenix resident Franki Leonard is on vacation in San Diego for two weeks and said it's frightening to hear of an incident like this happening in the beach community. Her children are teenagers.
"It makes me nervous to have my kids out now," said Leonard. "Now I'm afraid."
