Gun-toting Thugs Rob, Shoot Tourist Near Santa Monica Pier - Suspects still on the Loose after Bloody Weekend

SANTA MONICA, Calif. — A brazen robbery attempt near the iconic Santa Monica Pier turned into a shooting Sunday night when one of the crooks blasted the victim in the leg — then the whole crew took off running.

Cops raced to the Pier ramp around 7:49 p.m. after reports of gunfire. Preliminary probe shows a group of punks approached the victim, tried to stick him up, an altercation erupted and one of them opened fire, nailing the target in the leg, according to the Santa Monica Police Department.

Officers gave first aid on the scene before the wounded man was hauled to a local hospital with injuries that aren’t life-threatening. The gunman and his accomplices fled before police arrived. As of Monday morning, no arrests. No IDs. The suspects remain at large and cops are still hunting them down. No descriptions have been released yet.

The violence erupted right by the Third Street Promenade tourist strip. Helicopters were already buzzing the coastal zone that night as part of the response.

And this wasn’t even the only bloodshed in the neighborhood over the weekend.

Just a day earlier — around 12:49 p.m. Saturday — Santa Monica cops responding to a domestic violence call in the 1400 block of Palisades Park (steps from the Pier) were charged by a knife-wielding homeless man. The guy ignored orders to drop the blade and kept coming, so an officer fired one shot in self-defense, killing him. The dead man had nothing to do with the domestic call. A large kitchen-style knife was recovered at the scene.

Two shootings in roughly 31 hours in the same Pier-adjacent stretch. One dead, one wounded, and the robbery gunman still free. Welcome to sunny Santa Monica.