LOS ANGELES (AP) — Authorities say a gunman wearing a mask shot two men outside a Los Angeles nightclub.

Police Lt. Paul Vernon says both men appeared to be targeted as they stood smoking cigarettes at the entrance to the club in Little Tokyo early Saturday.

The victims, in their mid-20s, are in critical condition after surgery. They each suffered multiple gunshot wounds.

Witnesses tell police the suspect, wearing a ski mask, fled on foot after the shooting.

Vernon says investigators at the scene found more than a half dozen shell casings from a semiautomatic handgun.

(© Copyright 2011 The Associated Press. All Rights Reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.)