10 Deaths Mark Violent Weekend

An unusual succession of incidents--some tragic, some merely bizarre, some possibly triggered by record-breaking heat--marked a weekend of disquieting violence in Los Angeles County.

Seven men died after shootings, two were fatally stabbed and a woman died after a beating. Up to half a dozen were injured in gang violence.

“It is the heat wave,’ commented one police official. “It drives people outside. It drives them to drink. Tempers flare.”

Tens of thousands sought relief from the heat at the beach, including gang members, who were also looking for action, and found that as well.

“Most of the problem children have gone to the beach,” Sgt. Ward Finch, watch commander at the Carson Sheriff’s Department substation, commented wryly Saturday.

At Dockweiler Beach near Los Angeles International Airport, a group of more than 20 gang members attacked two men and some women friends Friday night and stole a car, police said. When the car’s owner chased them, he was stabbed several times in the stomach and back, police said. Minutes earlier, the youths had allegedly bashed another victim on the head with glass bottles, police said.

Earlier in the day, police said, fights among an estimated 300 gang members turned into a riot at Zuma Beach about 35 miles west of downtown.

Gang Links Seen

Police blame gangs for two of the homicides and were investigating possible gang involvement in some of the others.

Alvaro Velazquez, 15, died and two others were injured in a drive-by shooting near Stoner Park in the Sawtelle area Friday night. Police attribute the incident to gang rivalry.

In Long Beach, Esteven Rios, 18, of Long Beach lost his life in an alley, Long Beach police said. Investigators Saturday were looking for a suspected gang member who shot him several times as he stood in a narrow road behind the 900 block of Lime Avenue about 10 p.m.

Detectives also were investigating the possibility of gang involvement in the drive-by shooting death of Robert Jenkins, 21, and the wounding of David Mozeke, 23, at the Jordan Downs housing project in South Los Angeles about 2:30 a.m. Saturday. Police said that Jenkins and Mozeke were standing near the rear of 2156 E. 101st St. when the occupants of a car that drew near fired several shots at them, striking both of them, fatally wounding Jenkins.

And Jerome Jiles, 18, a suspected gang member, died about 9:30 a.m. Saturday at Martin Luther King Jr./Drew Medical Center shortly after he was shot in the head while in an apartment at 745 W. Colden Ave. No suspect is in custody.

Eagle Rock Incident

Two other youths were wounded in another gang-related drive-by shooting in Eagle Rock late Friday. Nearby at El Rio Avenue and Colorado Boulevard about the same time, rivalry among five carloads of gang members erupted into fighting. One youth was shot in the leg, another was beaten and a third was injured in the head by a hammer, police said.

Near Echo Park early Saturday, a gang member, whose name was not released, was wounded in yet another drive-by shooting, police said.

Some lethal violence had no apparent connection with gang activity.

Barbara Jamieson, 58, was booked on suspicion of murder in connection with the death of a man identified by police only as her boyfriend. Police said the death occurred during an argument between the two over a gun about 9:30 p.m. Friday.

A man was booked on suspicion of murder after another argument over a gun, officials said. Wendell Damron, 47, was taken into custody after he called sheriff’s deputies to his home in a trailer park at 30905 N. Mesa Grande Road in Agua Dulce about 4:10 a.m.

Shot in Argument

He allegedly told authorities that he shot and killed Michael Sharp, 31, of Canyon Country, with a handgun while the two were arguing, police said. Sharp’s body, shot several times in the torso, was found nearby by deputies who also recovered the handgun.

James Yonko, 40, died about 3:50 a.m. Saturday after a shooting that took place in the 5400 block of Cartland Ave., police said. No further details were available.

Robbery homicide detectives are investigating the stabbing death of an unidentified man, aged about 50, that took place at 4:30 a.m. Saturday near the intersection of 49th Street and Vermont Avenue.

In Pomona, Jane Minnie Gibson, 41, of Pomona, died after a fight outside a disco named Robbie’s.

In an unrelated incident behind a Pomona bowling alley, two teen-age boys were sleeping in a car early Saturday when someone poured a flammable liquid on them and set them on fire. Luis Morales, 19, of Chino, and Chris Navarro, 13, of Pomona, suffering second- and third-degree burns over almost 95% of their bodies, were in grave condition at a Las Vegas burn center.

Freeway Attack

Nonlethal violence erupted unpredictably:

On the San Gabriel River Freeway, a hatchet came flying at the windshield of a 1985 Mercedes Benz driven by Robert Bedolla, 44, of Oceanside. Thrown by a curly haired man in a white Ford pickup, it shattered the glass and left Bedolla “terrorized” but unhurt, according to police.

In South Los Angeles, an almost naked man drove a car on the sidewalk and then crashed into a police car and a car driven by a pregnant woman. Police booked Whittier-area resident Glenn Evans, 33--found in his underwear--on suspicion of felony reckless driving.

A 13-year-old boy shot twice in the neck Friday night at the Foxy Motel at 7111 S. Hoover St. in South Los Angeles was in critical condition as police searched for the two people who were with him when he was wounded, police said. The boy, whose name was not released, was taken to County-USC Medical Center. Police had not determined a motive for the shooting.

In Long Beach, Anthony Bullock, 19, allegedly pointed a gun at a policeman who then shot him in the buttocks, police said. Bullock was booked for assault with a deadly weapon on a police officer and held without bail.

And in Palm Springs, police and city officials were prepared to keep the lid on 30,000 college students determined to have a good time on spring break. Police arrested 60 Friday night, most for public drunkenness.

“It doesn’t appear quite as active as last year,” said Lt. Lee Weigel. “Things may pick up, though.”