Teenage boy fatally stabbed at first-ever community carnival in Palms area

Investigation continues after teenager stabbed to death at LAPD fundraising carnival in Palms

A teenage boy was fatally stabbed during the first-ever community carnival in the Palms community of Los Angeles. 

Police say a group of juveniles got into a fight around 10:30 p.m. Saturday and a 16-year-old boy was stabbed multiple times at the first annual Palms Weekend Community Festival. 

The victim did not survive. His identity has not been released. 

The suspect and other teens involved in the fight all took off. An active search is underway for each. 

Travione Chatman, a witness to the incident, caught the moments leading up to the deadly stabbing on camera. 

"Right now, I still feel like I could've done something," Chatman said. "I couldn't even sleep."

Gabrielle Tame was with Chatman when it all went down. 

"They started from live Overland, and they worked their way around the corner," Tame said. "Everybody was dressed in black, they was just fighting, falling down, getting back up, fighting, getting back up. ... We saw the boy get stabbed a couple of times and then he went down."

Investigators say that they're not looking for a male suspect between 15 and 20 years old and working to determine if the incident is gang-related. 

The event is a three-day carnival with live music, food, and games put together by the LAPD Pacific Area Boosters Association along with the Motor Avenue Association and L.A. City Council District 5. Organizers were hoping the event would become a new tradition in the neighborhood, bringing people together for a weekend of community and connection. 

Although there was a large police presence, LAPD Officer Christian Faulkner said, "there are windows of opportunity, unfortunately, that suspects can find and we can only cover so much of an area as much as we can."

The weekend carnival shut down early Saturday, following the stabbing. The carnival was expected to resume Sunday afternoon as scheduled. 

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