Local News in Brief : Suspect Held in Slaying at Lanark Center Park

A Van Nuys man who police said opened fire with an automatic pistol in a crowded park, killing one man and wounding two others, was being held on suspicion of murder Sunday in West Valley Division jail.

Police said the suspect, Angel Gudino Nunes, 23, began shooting people with a .22-caliber autmomatic pistol about 5:15 p.m. Saturday at Lanark Recreation Center Park, 21816 Lanark St., Canoga Park. He shot one man once in the chest and twice in the neck, killing him, then hit a second man in the buttocks and a third in the leg, police Sgt. Steve Fry said.

As Nunes was pulling more ammunition from a pocket, Fry said, several bystanders jumped him, began beating him and held him until police arrived.

Nunes was treated for minor injuries, including broken ribs, at Northridge Hospital Medical Center before being taken to jail, Fry said. He is being held without bail.

Mario Guerra, 23, of Van Nuys, was pronounced dead at the scene of the shooting, police said. Louis Denis, 21, of Van Nuys was treated for a minor leg wound at Holy Cross Hospital, and Juan Alatorre, 38, of Canoga Park, was treated at the scene.

Fry said that if the bystanders had not pounced on the gunman, more people might have been shot. The names of the four men and one woman who assisted in Nunes’ capture were not released.

Nunes opened fire on the crowd for no apparent reason, Fry said. Between 300 and 400 people were in the park at the time, police said.