Shots Fired From Pickup Lead to Arrest of 5 Youths

Five teen-agers were charged Tuesday in connection with a five-hour series of shooting incidents that left at least two people injured, authorities said.

Sheriff’s Detective Mike Griffin said the five were involved in at least six separate incidents Jan. 7 as they drove between downtown Los Angeles and South Gate, firing shots from a pickup truck.

Griffin said the first of the events took place when the youths began firing at a motorcyclist at 6th and Olive streets.

They were arrested by California Highway Patrol officers after the patrolmen witnessed the attempted robbery and shooting of Filiberto Rojas Castillo, 32, at a Huntington Park gas station. Castillo, who was wounded in the abdomen, was listed in good condition, Griffin said.

Earlier, Charles Johnson, 28, was shot and wounded in the chest as he walked down a street in South Gate. He was hospitalized for two days and released.

In a third incident, Lesley Dee Baggett, 42, managed to escape gunfire while walking in the 500 block of Boyle Avenue, Griffin said.

Griffin said detectives believe that other victims may have been struck by bullets fired from one of two weapons confiscated from the suspects, a .22-caliber rifle and a .32-caliber revolver.

“They hit them. We just haven’t found them yet,” the detective said.

In South Gate Municipal Court Tuesday, Melvin Louis Rossi, of Los Angeles, Louis Howard Price, of Perris, and Donte Deon Warren, of Los Angeles pleaded not guilty to three counts of attempted murder and two counts of attempted robbery. All are 18.

Two juveniles, a 17-year-old and a 16-year-old, were charged with two counts of assault with a deadly weapon and attempted robbery and were scheduled to be arraigned today in Compton Juvenile Court.

The juveniles and Warren attend Cleveland High School in the San Fernando Valley, the district attorney’s office said. Griffin said it is unclear whether they are gang members.