San Diego : Gangs Suspected in 2 Shootings

One San Diego teen-ager died and another remained hospitalized Sunday after two separate “drive-by” shootings that police tentatively traced to youth gangs.

Thomas Orlando Heston, 16, died at 4:40 a.m. in surgical intensive care at Mercy Hospital, said Deputy County Coroner Dan Matticks. Heston had been shot once in the head about 10 p.m. Saturday in front of an apartment building in the 5100 block of Groveland Drive, several miles from his home.

Sixteen hours later, police said, Richard Belmontez, 18, was shot shortly before 2 p.m. Sunday at 5129 Hilltop Drive. Belmontez, who was wounded in the left hip, remained in Mercy Hospital late Sunday in stable condition.

Police had no suspect in the slaying. They believed there were three people in the car involved in the second shooting, and they identified a suspect as Devon Johnson of San Diego. Johnson remained at large.

Late Sunday, a police spokeswoman said authorities did not believe that the two shootings were related, or that the second was in retaliation for the first.

A rash of gang-related violence early this year prompted some city officials to warn of a possible resurgence of San Diego’s predominantly Latino, black and Asian gangs. Police said gang activity had declined in 1984, after gangs were responsible for an estimated 15 homicides, 6 attempted homicides, 52 assaults with a deadly weapon, 4 rapes and 64 robberies in 1983.