Roof Collapses At Lucky Lady Casino In Gardena; 7 Hospitalized

GARDENA (CBSLA) – Firefighters rushed to Larry Flynt's Lucky Lady Casino in Gardena Monday morning after its roof partially collapsed, injuring nearly a dozen people.

The collapse occurred before 10:20 a.m. at the casino located in the 1000 block of Rosecrans Avenue. Aerial footage appeared to show the collapse occurring in the area of two large commercial air conditioners. One woman told CBS2 that when the collapse occurred, people started running frantically to the exits. The collapse also caused a significant water leak.

At least 11 people suffered minor injuries, Los Angeles County Fire Department officials told CBS2. Firefighters were providing medical aid at the scene. Of those, seven people were taken to area hospitals for further treatment. All but one of the injuries was classified as minor. All are expected to be fine.

Fire officials said the collapse occurred over the lobby area of the 100-foot-by-100-foot building. Images shared on social media from inside the casino showed debris atop some gaming tables.

A customer who was inside at the time told CBS2 that he had visited the casino before and noticed that the roof of the casino had been taped up. Those inside were evacuated to safety.

"Currently we don't have the exact cause of why this happened," Fire Capt. Tony Imbrenda said. "But clearly, as evidenced by the photographs that we're seeing right now live on television, the area of this collapse was primarily around the area where a couple of large commercial air conditioners are situated on top of that roof."

The casino remained closed Monday night with yellow tape across the building's entrance. The buildinghas also been red-tagged, meaning nobody is allowed into the structure until authorities are able to determine why the roof collapsed and have established how much damage the building sustained.

Minda Gowen, a spokeswoman for Flynt Management Group, was unsure how many people were inside the casino when the collapse occurred.

"We have our architects here, we're working to figure this out, we'll be on site all day to work through this with everybody," Gowen said.

Gardena police were also investigating. It is unclear when it will be safe for the casino to reopen.