14 killed in weekend violence in L.A. County

Violence on the streets of Los Angeles County took 14 lives this weekend, underscoring the struggles of local law enforcement in dealing with a rise in homicides this year.

Most of the weekend homicides were described by authorities as gang-related. They occurred across the county but were concentrated in areas known for high crime rates, such as South L.A. and the northeast San Fernando Valley.

In the city of Los Angeles, homicides are up 8% over the previous year. But violent crime overall is down 6%. The number of shootings has dropped 11% and shots fired are down 24%, LAPD officials said.

The number of killings over the weekend is not unprecedented, but it is greater than the county’s homicide rate, which averages two to three a day.

Many of the names of the dead were not available from the coroner’s office. Only one person has been arrested.

Although the weekend killings were cause for concern, UC Irvine Professor George Tita said, “things are holding steady” in the context of the overall downward trend in violent crime.

Tita said there was nothing suggesting a seismic societal shift, no new street drug to realign competition for sales on the street or to have a huge economic effect.

“There’s no common thread linking them,” Tita said. “With respect to policing, these [killings] are tough to predict, understand and intervene in.”

A shooting occurred about 1:40 p.m. Sunday in the 8400 block of Greenbush Avenue in Panorama City, where a man on a bicycle asked two men where they were from, then shot them. The victims were taken to a hospital, where one died and the other was in stable condition.

A drive-by shooting Saturday afternoon in Baldwin Park claimed the life of 16-year-old Ruben Chavera, authorities said. Witnesses told Los Angeles County sheriff’s deputies that the teenager was standing on Illinois Street about 3:30 p.m. when someone shot him.

Saturday night in southeast Los Angeles, a 20-year-old man was standing at 95th Street and Vermont Avenue when three men shot him several times, said Los Angeles Police Department Officer Sara Faden.

Faden said a killing in southeast Los Angeles early Sunday may have been gang-related. Edward Jones Jr., 20, was shot in the 1400 block of East 111th Place about 2 a.m.

Not long after, four gang members started a fight at a bar near Hill Street and 24th Street in the Newton area, police said. The fight ended with one person shot dead and another wounded. The coroner’s office identified the dead man as 37-year-old Jose Villalobos of Bell.

The other homicides:

* A man in his 30s was found beaten to death in the 9100 block of Bartee Avenue in Arleta shortly after midnight Saturday. Police spokeswoman Norma Eisenman said the man may have been killed elsewhere and his body dumped there.

* About two hours later in the Newton area, a man was killed after people in two cars got into an argument while driving near 66th Street and Broadway. Two men from one car shot the other driver, hitting him in the chest and causing him to crash, Faden said. Paramedics took him to a hospital, where he died.

* A man in his early 20s was shot to death near Perlita Avenue and Veselich Avenue in northeast Los Angeles about 7:45 p.m. Saturday, police said.

* In North Hollywood, near Saticoy Street and Morella Avenue, a 40-year-old man was killed about 11:40 p.m. Saturday when a man hit him with a bottle and then stabbed him with its broken stem, police said.

* Police arrested Kenneth Harris, 44, on Sunday on suspicion of fatally shooting 29-year-old Soccoro Lopez about 2:40 a.m. in Panorama City. Authorities said Harris was trying to rob Lopez, who was in a parked car near the corner of Nordhoff Street and Columbus Avenue. Lopez was shot in the torso.

* The Sheriff’s Department reported that a man was shot and killed about 1 p.m. Sunday in the 2500 block of Sale Place in Walnut Park.

* Authorities also reported a slaying in Long Beach, another in Inglewood and a third overnight in Los Angeles.

 andrew.blankstein@latimes.com