Late-night mob wreaks havoc in downtown L.A., tags buildings, trains

The crowd gathered at midnight at Washington Boulevard and Maple Avenue.

It’s unclear why dozens of people converged at the intersection just south of downtown Los Angeles, but some were dressed to party, wearing pink platform heels and cat ears, according to video shot by news outlet OnScene.TV. A man gulped from a jug filled with a flammable liquid that he spat onto a torch, throwing flames into the night sky.

As a helicopter circled overhead, a man wearing a leather jacket clambered up a light pole, his feet perched on a street sign. He pulled out his phone and appeared to film himself talking into the camera.

The crowd’s attention turned to an A Line train, which had stopped along its route on Washington Boulevard. According to the footage, vandals within the crowd began spray-painting the train and hammering on the windows.

The Los Angeles Police Department was alerted at 12:12 a.m. Sunday by a caller who said five male suspects had entered a train car and were vandalizing the interior, said Officer Kevin Terzes, an LAPD spokesperson.

Video showed dozens of LAPD officers massed in a skirmish line across the street from the mob, gripping black and green riot guns that fire foam rounds.

At 12:19 a.m., the LAPD received another call of people being “disruptive” on a train at Washington Boulevard and Trinity Street, Terzes said.

The officer said no one was arrested in connection with either call. It wasn’t clear whether, separately, the LAPD arrested anyone in the group shown on video spray-painting the facades of a Panda Express, Waba Grill, dialysis center and medical clinic.

Some in the crowd posed for selfies next to a spray-painted LAPD cruiser. They cursed at the officers, hurled a firework and kicked at the police car as the officers drove away, according to the video.

Train service was delayed about 20 minutes after about 50 people blocked southbound and northbound trains at Washington Boulevard and Maple Avenue at midnight, said Jose Ubaldo, a Metro spokesperson.

Vandals spray-painted the exterior and interiors of the trains, but no passengers or Metro employees were hurt, Ubaldo said in a statement.

He asked that anyone with information about the incident contact the LAPD at (800) 222-8477.