7 Die, 13 Hurt in Flare-Up of Gang Violence in Wide Area

After a particularly bloody weekend of gang violence, about 75 Los Angeles police officers fanned out into the city’s Harbor area Sunday night to deter more shootings and invite the parents of gang members to meet with authorities this week.

The violence left seven dead and 13 wounded from Inglewood to Riverside. Three of those killings occurred in the Harbor area, the result of two drive-by shootings, one in Wilmington and the other in Harbor City.

As a result of those deaths--and to respond to increasing gang activity in the neighborhoods around the Port of Los Angeles--the Los Angeles Police Department’s brass decided Sunday to flood that part of the city with officers. The additional 75 officers more than quintupled the area’s usual Sunday night force of 12 to 15 police officers.

“With that kind of outbreak of violence on top of the pattern so far this year, I just thought we had to respond very quickly and very decisively,” said Deputy Chief William Rathburn. “We have a very tense situation.”

Revenge Shooting

Because the second drive-by shooting may have been “a payback” for the first, Rathburn said police were particularly concerned about stopping any additional retaliatory killings. He said that there have been 15 gang-related homicides in the Harbor area so far this year, compared to six for all of last year.

The latest violence near the waterfront began when a van stopped on Colon Avenue near Watson Street in Wilmington about 10:15 p.m. Saturday. Gang slogans were shouted. A passenger with a shotgun stepped out and fired more than six blasts at pedestrians.

Edward Delgadillo, 16, and Hector Andrade, 21, both of Wilmington, were killed, said Sgt. Larry Fugatti of the Harbor Division. Four others were wounded. Two of them were hospitalized, Fugatti said. Their names were not released.

About 1:45 a.m. Sunday, several shots from a white pickup truck and a red imported car were fired at a group standing near the parking lot of the Normont Terrace housing project at 254th and Petroleum streets. Andy Velasquez, 30, of Paramount, was hit and died about a half hour later at Kaiser Foundation Hospital, Fugatti said.

Wrong Place, Wrong Time

Rathburn said Velasquez was not a gang member. “He just happened to be in the wrong place at the wrong time.”

Elsewhere, police suspect that gangs were responsible for shootings on sidewalks and front yards, in a condominium complex and a fast-food stand parking lot.

In southeast Los Angeles, a man was killed in a drive-by shooting about 9 p.m. Saturday at 95th Street and Maie Avenue. Police say the attack may have been gang-related.

At a condo complex in north Riverside, two 26-year-olds were shot to death in a drive-by attack shortly after 1 a.m. Saturday. A gang name was yelled out as a vehicle drove past. The bodies of Darone Harrison of Santa Ana and Michael Roberts of Inglewood were found on a second-floor balcony, a police spokesman said.

Shootings in Inglewood Friday and Saturday resulted in one death and four injuries. A clash between two rival gangs left one man dead and three people wounded Friday. Early Saturday morning, one person was wounded in a drive-by shooting at 104th Street and Darby Avenue, said police Sgt. Ron Jackson.

On Saturday, gunfire broke out in a Burbank parking lot where gang members were arguing, police said. About 100 people were standing in the lot shared by three restaurants on North San Fernando Road when three shots were fired from a passing car. An 18-year-old who police said was not a gang member was wounded, said Lt. Don Brown.

A 40-year-old man was shot Friday while he stood in his front yard in an unincorporated area east of Inglewood. Sheriff’s deputies said he was hit by three of about 20 shots that apparently were intended for a 17-year-old gang member walking nearby. The youth also was wounded.

Four people were arrested Friday after a shooting at 93rd Street and Bellhaven Avenue in the Firestone area. A 19-year-old man was wounded. Deputies did not know whether the victim was a gang member, but said the four suspects all were gang members.