Gang Gunfire Hits at Sheriff’s Doorstep; One Shooting Fatal

Gang members continued to fire as their targets sought refuge in a sheriff’s station in a weekend that saw two other gang-related shootings in the Los Angeles area, one claiming a life and the other erupting after a high school football game, officials said.

Deputies said three gang members in a car mistook six people in another auto as members of a rival gang shortly after 2 a.m. Saturday and chased them through Hawthorne and the Lennox area, firing several shots along the way.

Two final shots were fired as the intended victims reached the door of the Lennox sheriff’s station, the deputies said.

“They were scared but not hurt,” Sheriff’s Lt. Ron Herbst said.

Investigators said a description of the suspects’ car was broadcast over police frequencies, and a few minutes later Inglewood Police pulled the vehicle to the curb. Officers said five of the occupants fled from the car, which had been stolen, but the sixth, a 14-year-old boy, was arrested.

About three hours earlier, Jeffrey Simmons, 21, was driving his pickup along Rosecrans Avenue in South-Central Los Angeles when three or four young men in a sedan pulled up and shouted a gang slogan, deputy Roger Hom said.

Hom said that after a brief verbal exchange, someone in the sedan fired several shots at the pickup, one of which struck Simmons in the chest. Simmons died later at Martin Luther King Jr./Drew Medical Center.

Three men were later questioned about the incident, but there were no immediate bookings.

Earlier Friday night, crowd violence at a high school football game escalated into a street shooting in the Fairfax District that left an innocent passer-by in stable condition at Cedars-Sinai Medical Center with a gunshot wound in her neck, Los Angeles police reported.

Officers said Susan Bradley, 26, was a passenger on a motorcycle stopped at Beverly Boulevard and Genesee Avenue when she was struck by one of several bullets fired by gang members in one car at members of a rival gang in another auto.

The gang members who opened fire later shot at a pedestrian in the 1200 block of south Cloverdale Avenue, but missed him, said Sgt. Robert Warden.

Investigators said both gangs were believed to have been involved in a fight that broke out about 5:20 p.m. in a parking lot at Fairfax High School after a football game against Westchester High School.

There were no immediate arrests as a result of the shooting incident.