Drive-By Shooting Seriously Hurts Man

A 22-year-old former gang member, back in his old neighborhood for a visit, was possibly paralyzed below the waist for life when he was shot from a passing car Monday. Police said he was hit as he walked across a street with his wife and child in Boyle Heights.

“It appears he had just come back for a visit to his former home in Aliso Village, where he had been a member of the Fourth Flats gang,” said Police Sgt. George Spitzer of Hollenbeck Division. Spitzer said Fidel Aleman had moved to Banning, where he was employed as a construction worker.

Spitzer said Aleman was a block from the housing project when a yellow Mustang carrying two men drove by and two shots were fired. Doctors at White Memorial Hospital told police one of the bullets had apparently severely damaged Aleman’s spine and probably left him paralyzed for life.

Officers said they had no leads but theorized that rival gang members may have recognized Aleman and believed that he was still a gang member.

“It was just a typical drive-by shooting,” Spitzer said.