2 Hurt in Gang-Related Shootings at Clubs

Two people were wounded Sunday in gunfire involving alleged gang members who were turned away from nightspots in the City of Commerce and Los Angeles, authorities said.

An off-duty Los Angeles police officer working as a security guard was grazed by a bullet fired by a suspected gang member who had been denied admission to a roller skating rink in the 4600 block of Venice Boulevard.

The gunman fired from the passenger side of a car that was leaving the parking lot of World on Wheels about 3:15 a.m. Officer Anthony Macklin, 29, was treated at Midway Hospital for a wound to his face, police said. No arrests were made.

In Commerce, nine suspected gang members who tried to crash a private party at a restaurant were arrested after one member of the group shot at party guests shortly after midnight, sheriff’s deputies said. No patrons were injured, but one gang member--hit by one of two shots fired by another gang member--was hospitalized with a gunshot wound in the leg.

Sheriff’s deputies said an alert musician helped stop the shooting by throwing a microphone stand at the gunman when his pistol apparently jammed. The stand knocked the pistol out of the gunman’s hand, Sheriff’s Sgt. Bryan Williams said.

The gunman and his associates then fled Stevens Steak House in the 5300 block of Stevens Place. But they were taken into custody a few minutes later when a sheriff’s deputy stopped their van. Five men, a woman, two teen-age boys and a teen-age girl were arrested on suspicion of assault with a deadly weapon, said Sheriff’s Deputy Roger Hom.