Background: The Red West Pizza restaurant in Wilmington, Los Angeles, on May 9, 2026 (KNBC/YouTube). Inset: Andres Castellas (GoFundMe).
In a tragic turn of events at a well-known California pizza restaurant, a man attempting to stop a fight between two women was fatally shot, as reported by authorities.
Andres Castellas, celebrating his 26th birthday, lost his life on Saturday. A GoFundMe page has been created to support his family during this difficult time.
The shooter remains unidentified and is still at large, according to a report by local ABC affiliate KABC.
Castellas was enjoying a birthday celebration with family and friends at Red West Pizza in Wilmington, a Los Angeles neighborhood. Described on the fundraising page as being “surrounded by love and happiness,” the joyous occasion soon took a dark turn.
The incident unfolded when Castellas attempted to intervene in a dispute between two women, as stated by the Los Angeles police. During this altercation, a man opened fire, injuring Castellas and a young employee at the restaurant.
The restaurant employee was taken to an area hospital with non-life-threatening injuries, authorities said. Castellas, however, was pronounced dead at the scene.
“What makes this loss even harder is that Andres was innocent,” the fundraiser says. “He did not deserve for his life to be taken away so tragically. A moment that should have been filled with memories and joy became a heartbreaking tragedy no one could have imagined.”
The shooter ran away after he fired his gun. Police described him as a Hispanic man around 20 to 25 years old.
One local resident expressed how the restaurant is a staple for the community and that the shooting has frightened her.
“There’s a lot of kids there all the time, like it’s kids there all the time, and it’s scary to see that — when you can have a family moment, something like this can happen,” a resident who said she lives around the corner from the establishment told KNBC.