3 Slain, 2 Wounded in Incidents Police Say May Be Linked to Narcotics Probe

A woman and two men were slain and two other people were wounded Wednesday in two apparently separate incidents that police said may be related to a narcotics investigation.

Bodies of the two men were discovered by Inglewood police officers who were called to an apartment in the 100 block of Cedar Avenue to investigate a disturbance. They said the two victims had been tied up and killed “in execution style.”

About four hours later, Los Angeles police, reponding to another disturbance report, found one woman stabbed to death and a man and a woman suffering from stab wounds in an apartment in the 3700 block of Glendon Avenue in the Palms area.

The woman was taken to Brotman Medical Center in Culver City, where she was later reported in stable condition. The man, taken to UCLA Medical Center, was reported in critical condition.

Sources close to the investigation said the injured woman was the wife of one of the men found slain in Inglewood, and indicated that the killings may have resulted from an illicit narcotics deal that went sour. Police declined to identify any of the victims.