Local News in Brief : Gang Kills One of Its Own

Gang members shot to death a member of a rival gang Thursday, and at the same time inadvertently killed a member of their own gang, police said.

Tommy Lynn Carter, 19, was standing in front of a liquor store at 103rd Street and Lou Dillon Avenue in Southeast Los Angeles at 12:30 a.m. when three members of a gang based in the nearby Imperial Courts housing project walked around the corner and began shooting, Detective James Harper said.

Carter, a member of a Watts-area gang, was killed by what police believe was automatic gunfire, Harper said.

Dewitt James Kemper, 17, one of the Imperials Courts gang members, was inadvertently hit by gunfire from members of his own gang and then driven away by his friends, Harper said. Investigators later discovered Kemper dead, slumped in the back seat of a car, and were seeking his companions, Harper said.