Gunfire on New Year’s Eve Kills 1, Injures 4

Hundreds of New Year’s Eve revelers brought in 1989 with a barrage of random gunfire that resulted in one death, at least four injuries, dozens of arrests for illegal gunplay and a loss of electricity to nearly 14,000 customers in Los Angeles.

Four police patrol cars were damaged by errant bullets in South-Central Los Angeles during the night as thousands of calls flooded police switchboards.

“Every year it’s the same thing,” a 77th Division officer said Sunday. “We advise people that it’s dangerous to fire shots into the air. But they still do it.”

Public Warned by Police

Law enforcement officers and other public officials in recent days publicized a new law that made it a felony to fire a weapon in a grossly dangerous manner. Upon conviction, the law imposes a maximum sentence of five years in state prison.

And yet, while not keeping an accurate count, police agencies said dozens of arrests were made. In Long Beach, for example, 21 people were arrested under the new law and officers confiscated 37 weapons, including one AK-47 assault rifle, in a five-hour period.

One South Los Angeles man was killed by an apparent errant bullet early Sunday as he stood in front of a home in the 1300 block of East 114th Street.

Southeast Division detectives said details were sketchy in the death of Rodney Perry, 32, but they said it appeared that he was fatally wounded by random gunfire.

2 Long Beach Men Wounded

Two Long Beach men seen firing shots into the air were wounded by police after they allegedly refused orders twice to drop their weapons and pointed them at officers. Police Lt. Mike Hill said Gregory Gilmore, 33, and Clarence Brown, 30, were wounded about 12:15 a.m. Sunday. Gilmore and Brown were arrested on suspicion of assault with a deadly weapon on a police officer. They were in stable condition at the County-USC Medical Center jail ward.

A bullet shattered the rear window of an unmarked patrol car and grazed the head of Los Angeles Police Officer Scott Krowber early Sunday. Krowber, 32, and a partner were on patrol in Watts. He was treated at a Lynwood hospital and released.

Three other police cars, including a patrol sergeant’s vehicle, also were damaged by random gunfire, officers reported.

At least three other people, including a 3-year-old, were treated at Martin Luther King Jr./Drew Medical Center after they were struck by gunshots, officials said. None of the injuries were serious.

Bullets Cause Power Outages

Some South-Central Los Angeles and Eastside residents also had to contend with overnight power outages caused by bullets that either damaged transformers or penetrated glass insulators holding power lines.

A spokesman for Southern California Edison Co. said an estimated 8,700 customers were without electricity in several South-Central neighborhoods. A 2-square-mile section of the unincorporated Walnut Park area of South Los Angeles was without power until Sunday afternoon, officials said.

Another 5,000 Los Angeles Department of Water and Power customers also were without power. A DWP spokeswoman said crews restored the electricity by 11 a.m. Sunday.