A shooting in front of San Diego Central Library left one young man dead and another wounded Tuesday.
The gunfire in the 300 block of Park Boulevard erupted about 12:15 p.m., according to the San Diego Police Department.
One of the wounded men, believed to have been 20 years old, died at the scene, SDPD homicide Lt. Jud Campbell said.
Paramedics took the other victim, 24, to a hospital for treatment of non-life-threatening wounds, Campbell told reporters.
Officers fanned out through the busy downtown area near Petco Park in search of the shooter, with help from personnel aboard a patrol helicopter circling overhead.
The perpetrator remained at large in the late afternoon, according to police.
It was unclear what led to the deadly gunfire, which prompted a closure of the library for the remainder of the day.
A man who identified himself only as Richard told news crews he lives in a high-rise condominium building across the street from the library and heard about five gunshots, which for a moment he “thought were fireworks, maybe from the (San Diego Padres’) ballpark.”
“And I went, ‘No, that’s something else. … That’s gunshots,'” he said.
Richard said he then looked out a window and saw a thin, roughly 6-foot-tall man in black sweatpants and a black pullover shirt running up the street against traffic, looking back over his shoulder.
“And I went, ‘Ah, he’s up to no good,'” he said.
The lieutenant told reporters the SDPD was doing all it could to identify and apprehend the shooter.
“Obviously, two people shot at the library here in the middle of the day is unacceptable, so we’re devoting all of our resources (to the investigation),” Campbell said.
Updated at 5:17 p.m. May 23, 2023
City News Service contributed to this article.