Police Kill Gunman Who Shot 4 on Street

An unemployed Los Angeles schoolteacher who “went berserk” with a rifle near his Inglewood home--wounding four passers-by--was shot to death by Inglewood police Thursday afternoon after he fired two shots that struck their arriving patrol car, investigators said.

Inglewood Police Sgt. Harold Moret said De Witt D. Hooks, 31, walked out of his home near the intersection of Van Ness Avenue and 83rd Street about 2 p.m., raised a World War II-vintage rifle loaded with armor-piercing ammunition to his shoulder and opened fire at nearby houses and at passing motorists and pedestrians.

Officers said there was no immediate explanation for his actions.

Shann Hicks, 21, of Chino, and Patrick Clark, 19, of Los Angeles, were hit by the gunfire as they drove past. Two other men in cars were also hit.

“I saw the driver of a yellow truck running down the alley, trying to get away, but the guy shot him,” said Monique Benjamin, 15, who said she ran out of her nearby house when she heard the first shots fired. It was not immediately known which victim the girl saw.

Investigators said two of Hooks’ shots struck the roof and light bar of an Inglewood police car called to the scene. The investigators said officers from the bullet-punctured car returned fire, shooting Hooks dead.

Officials at Centinela Hospital said Hicks and Clark were both brought there with gunshot wounds in their legs. Hicks refused treatment and was released; Clark, who had suffered leg fractures, was transferred to Kaiser Permanente Hospital in Los Angeles.

The two other men reportedly shot by Hooks, one 46 and the other 50, were treated at Daniel Freeman Memorial Hospital in Inglewood. Both were reported in good condition. Neither was further identified. Police said Hooks lived with his grandmother in a house in the 8300 block of Van Ness.