WHITTIER — Police sought a gunman late Saturday who shot a man to death in the courtyard of the apartment complex where he lived.

The shooting took place about 8:45 p.m. at an apartment complex on Painter Avenue, just south of Lambert Road, Whittier police officials said.

Officers responded to a report of a shooting and found a man lying in the courtyard of the apartment complex, suffering from gunshot wounds, a sergeant said. He died at the scene.

Police initially described the shooter only as male and Latino, and he was last seen fleeing the area on foot.

The victim’s two young children who were inside their apartment at the time of the shooting were safe at the Whittier police station with their mother, who was at work when the shooting occurred, officials said.

A motive in the slaying was not clear.