Witnesses mistook Santa Monica College gunfire for firecrackers

Some students and workers in the area of Santa Monica College said they first mistook the sound of gunfire for firecrackers.

Nathaniel Westveer, a 24-year-old visual effects artist, was working in his second-story office near Pico and Cloverfield boulevards around noon when he heard a series of loud booms.

“I thought someone was lighting off firecrackers at first,” Westveer said, adding that once he realized it was gunshots he yelled to his coworkers, who were outside on a smoke break.

PHOTOS: Shooting at Santa Monica College

The group rushed inside, shut off all the lights, locked the doors and waited.

“I was just very alert,” Westveer said. “Very focused on being in the place I was safest.”

After about five minutes, he peeked out the window and saw people milling around -- a sign, he presumed, that things were safe.

Aaron Smith, 25, also thought he heard fireworks outside his house near Santa Monica College.

“President Obama is in Santa Monica today and I just heard someone shoot off a firework ... people are insane,” he wrote on his Facebook page.

A few minutes later, he wrote an update: “Change that to many fireworks. My neighborhood is about to be covered with Secret Service.”

It was like a “Pop-pop-pop-pop-pop,” Smith said.

The shooting that left at least three people wounded in the Santa Monica College area began when the alleged gunman broke into a nearby home and set fire to another property, law enforcement sources said.

The gunman then allegedly opened fire on several cars and appear to try to carjack two vehicles, the sources said. One of the carjackings occurred near the campus library and college police station. The suspect fled to the library, where he wounded by police, the sources added.

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