Guard, 3 Others Slain in Gang Shootings

Four people were killed in gang shootings in Los Angeles County during the weekend, including a security guard who was shot several times as he tried to stop gang members from crashing a party in Wilmington, police said.

Near midnight Saturday, the gang members, wielding pipes and bats, tried to get into the quinceanera at the Veterans of Foreign Wars Hall, said Officer Ed Ruddy of the Los Angeles Police Department’s Harbor Division.

Security guard David Eugene Ryan, 41, stopped them and locked them out of the celebration.

The gang members began beating on the door and a gunman fired several shots, killing Ryan, who stood on the other side of the door, and injuring a 5-year-old girl and 16-year-old boy.

In South-Central Los Angeles, Robert Hughes, 18, was killed, and a passenger in his car was wounded after an argument with suspected gang members who were in another car Saturday night, police said.

Police said Hughes was driving near Figueroa and 54th streets in South-Central Los Angeles shortly after 8 p.m. when a gray Nissan approached. Hughes exchanged threats with the occupants of the Nissan and one of them fired shots into Hughes’ car, police said.

Several bullets hit Hughes, and his car crashed into a utility pole. Hughes’ passenger, Shandell Milligan, 15, got out of the wrecked car and started running, police said. He was shot in the side and was taken to Martin Luther King Jr./Drew Medical Center in serious condition. Hughes died at the scene.

No arrests have been made in either incident.