The Region - News from Sept. 7, 1987

A botched murder attempt in full view of two Los Angeles County sheriff’s deputies resulted in the arrests of three men and a teen-ager in South Los Angeles. Deputies James Copplin, 27, and Patrick Martin, 24, were on patrol at about 2:20 a.m. in a radio car on Manchester Avenue near Alameda Street when they saw two men running behind them, chased by a car. Several shots were fired from the car. Copplin, thinking the shots were aimed at him, returned fire. The deputies pursued the car and forced it to pull over several blocks away. They arrested Adalberto Velasquez and Efrain Velasquex, both 18; Manuel Pena, 21, and a 16-year-old boy. All were booked on suspicion of attempted murder at the Firestone sheriff’s substation and held without bail, said Deputy Steve Lee. The intended victims, Armando Coronado, 21, and Alfred Magallon, 19, were taken to Martin Luther King Jr./Drew Medical Center. Coronado, shot in the leg, and Magallon, with a hip wound, were in good condition.