Los Angeles police have launched an investigation following the discovery of a body in Ballona Creek near Playa Vista on the Westside of Los Angeles. The grim finding was reported early Monday morning.
Emergency responders were dispatched to the bike path adjacent to the creek, near the Lincoln Boulevard crossing, around 8:45 a.m. after receiving a report of a person in the water. Aerial footage captured by ABC News showed a significant presence of Los Angeles Fire Department and Police Department vehicles along the access road.
KTLA reported that authorities temporarily closed a section of the Ballona Creek bike path to facilitate the ongoing investigation and allow for crime scene processing.
A witness who lives near the creek told NBC Los Angeles that she saw the body while on her morning walk. "I went on a morning walk along this edge of the bike path and I thought I saw something floating, but I thought, ‘okay, it’s just in my mind.’ Then I went back in my house and I was looking across, and I saw it again," the witness, identified as Kristen, stated. "I decided to walk and get a closer look. And yes, it was a gentleman in the water, and I don’t know how long he’d been there."
Law enforcement sources indicated to NBC Los Angeles that the man had likely been deceased for several days and that he appeared to have a hole in his head. The circumstances surrounding his death remain under investigation.