Oakland shooting outside movie theater wounds 5 Oakland Crime

An argument between two groups of people outside a movie multiplex in Oakland's Jack London Square erupted in gunfire that wounded five people and sent theater customers scrambling for cover, police said Monday.

The victims were wounded when a man opened fire at a crowd outside the Regal Cinemas Jack London Stadium at 100 Washington St. at 9:20 p.m. Sunday before fleeing on foot and then possibly getting into a car, police said.

The gunman was in a group that had been involved in an argument with a second group near the theater shortly before the shooting, said Officer Johnna Watson, a police spokeswoman. The nature of the dispute wasn't known.

The two groups happened to be outside the theater at the time, Watson said. "We don't have any indication that anyone was going to the movies or coming from the movies," she said.

However, the street was crowded with theater customers, who scattered when the gunfire broke out. Some ran to a nearby hotel for cover.

"Everybody started running," witness Rodric Stanley told reporters. "I hid and that's pretty much about it."

None of the victims suffered life-threatening wounds, police said.

A 15-year-old boy underwent surgery, and the others, three young men ages 15, 17, and 18 and a 23-year-old woman, suffered minor wounds to their legs, authorities said.

No arrest has been made.

Jack London Square has undergone extensive development and revitalization in recent years, but violence is not unheard of there.

On a Saturday night in 2005, two gunmen opened fire at gang rivals outside the Regal Cinemas, sending dozens of people ducking for cover. No one was hurt.

Last year, a man with an assault rifle killed two people and wounded four others in a restaurant on the 300 block of Broadway, about three blocks from the Sunday night shooting.

"This is not a surprise," Dipesh Chhetri, 28, of Alameda, who works at a hotel in the area, said of the latest violence. "It's a good neighborhood, but stuff happens."

But Andrew Kirsch, 35, who was walking near the theater Monday with his 5-year-old Chihuahua-terrier mix Hulk, said, "It's totally unexpected. This area is pretty safe to live in, and it's usually pretty quiet around here."