1 Killed, 4 Injured in Gang Violence

In a burst of gang-related violence across the Southland this weekend, one man was killed and four were wounded, including two who were being sustained on life-support equipment.

The slaying of a Compton man was one of several homicides that authorities have investigated since warring gang members held a “peace summit” more than a week ago.

The latest homicide occurred shortly before midnight Friday at a gas station in South-Central Los Angeles, Sgt. Harlan Ward said. Vincent Crabtree, 25, was shot and killed after rival gang members in two cars began arguing and exchanging gang slogans.

Fired Handgun

The occupant of one car began firing a handgun, hitting Crabtree in the upper back and Crabtree’s companion, Terry Bullock, 27, in his right arm. Crabtree was taken to Centinela Hospital Medical Center, where he was declared dead.

The gas station’s security guard wounded the suspect, Walter Cole, 27, as he fled and held him for police, Ward said. Cole, who was treated for a gunshot wound in the leg at Daniel Freeman Memorial Hospital, was booked on suspicion of murder.

In another shooting incident, Mark McCoy was being kept alive Saturday on life-support equipment at Martin Luther King Jr./Drew Medical Center. McCoy, 28, apparently was the victim of mistaken identity when his assailant thought he was a rival gang member, said Deputy Richard Dinsmoor.

Began at 2 a.m.

The trouble began at 2 a.m. Friday when a gang member saw McCoy standing outside a home in the 11700 block of South New Hampshire Avenue in the Lennox area. The assailant knocked McCoy down and shot him point blank in the back of a head with a sawed-off shotgun, Dinsmoor said.

McCoy was not a gang member but his two brothers belong to the same gang as the suspect, Karl Owens, 22. Owens was booked on suspicion of attempted murder and possession of a sawed-off shotgun, authorities said.

Another man was critically injured Friday, when a band of rival gang members drove by his house in an area northwest of downtown Los Angeles and opened fire, said Detective Jim Bright. Edwin Malabanan, a 16-year-old Filipino gang member, was standing on his porch at 11 p.m. Friday with his brother and two friends when a truck and a car, loaded with passengers, drove past the house twice, authorities said. On the third pass, passengers opened fire.

Malabanan, shot in the chest and face, was taken to Queen of Angels Hospital where he is on a life-support system. A shotgun pellet had pierced Malabanan’s eye and lodged in his brain. He also is suffering from a collapsed lung.