The suspects involved in a Christmas Day shooting at a hookah
bar on Broxton Avenue may soon be apprehended, police said
Wednesday.
A late-night gathering of a group of friends at the Habibi Cafe
in Westwood Village was violently interrupted early Sunday morning
when a stray bullet shattered the restaurant’s front window,
striking a patron in the head.
The victim, Fouad Salik, 36, was seriously injured and was taken
to UCLA Medical Center. He remains in critical condition, said
detective Ron Phillips of the West Los Angeles Police Department’s
homicide division.
University police officials said the LAPD is conducting the
investigation because the incident occurred off campus, and said
there are no immediate plans for extra security measures, such as
more frequent patrols by university police officers.
Phillips added the investigation remains ongoing, but said LAPD
detectives are close to identifying the suspects.
"We think we know who they are," he said. "Time is on my side.
He can run, he can hide, but I will find him."
The shooting occurred around 1:30 a.m. Sunday, following an
argument between two men inside the restaurant, Phillips said. One
man involved in the argument, described as being in his early 20s,
left the cafe with a group of friends and later returned in a
vehicle.
Then a man in the vehicle allegedly fired a shot at a man
standing outside the cafe who was involved in the earlier
argument.
The bullet missed and went through the cafe’s front window,
striking Salik in the head, Phillips said.
He said there is no history of shootings at the cafe and that
neither the victim nor the suspects are UCLA students, and that the
shooting was not gang-related.
Habibi Cafe owner Saad Fathi said he was standing outside his
restaurant when he saw a vehicle stop in the middle of Broxton
Avenue, about 25 feet away from the cafe. A man from the vehicle
then fired one shot, Fathi said.
Once the bullet entered the cafe, Fathi said, anyone could have
been struck, including several of Salik’s family members who were
there that night.
"That even could have been me shot in the chest," he said.
Fathi said he did not know exactly what the men were arguing
about earlier while inside the cafe, but it seemed insignificant at
the time.
"(The suspects) left and paid their bill. They even left a $50
tip. They seemed very happy when they left. I don’t know what
happened," he said.
Fathi said the cafe’s security personnel acted properly and
professionally by escorting the arguing men outside until tempers
cooled. He said nobody expected the men to return with a gun.
Police urge anyone with information about Sunday’s incident
to call LAPD’s homicide division at (310) 444-1519.