4 dead in separate Lancaster shootings over 24 hours

LANCASTER, Calif. (KABC) -- A spate of shootings in Lancaster over two days has left four people dead and several others wounded as the city's mayor begs for more public-safety help.

Wednesday night, two people were fatally shot in the Antelope Valley city just before 6 p.m. in the 800 block of E Avenue J-12, according to the Los Angeles County Sheriff's Department.

The two were brought to a local hospital and pronounced dead there. Several other people were also injured.

Further details weren't immediately available.

The night before, three separate shootings left two people dead and at least one injured.

The Lancaster shootings happened in a span of two hours and within a few miles, and authorities were trying to determine if they're related.

Investigators are looking into whether any of the four separate shootings, less than 24 hours apart, are related.

Lancaster Mayor R. Rex Parris says his city feels overwhelmed and under-resourced.

He's asking the Los Angeles County Board of Supervisors to provide more law enforcement resources from the sheriff's department.

"We're running at 50% of the number of deputies that we need," Parris told Eyewitness News. "They knew this was going to happen. They knew it was building. For whatever reason the county will not give us enough officers to protect this community, even though we pay for it."