Separate Shootings Leave 2 Wounded Near Schools

Two South Bay teen-agers were wounded by suspected gang members Thursday in separate drive-by shootings outside public schools in Inglewood and Lomita, authorities said.

A shotgun blast from a van struck Joseph Thomas Hardges, 17, a junior at Hillcrest High School in Inglewood, as he walked to class with fellow students just before 11 a.m., police said.

Gang Slogans

Hardges and his friends were walking about five blocks from Hillcrest when three or four youths in the van flashed gang signs and yelled gang slogans at them, said Inglewood Police Sgt. Harold Moret.

One of the van’s occupants fired a shotgun round, striking Hardges in the face, neck, head and chest, Moret said. Hardges was in stable condition Thursday night at Martin Luther King Jr./Drew Medical Center, police said.

In the second shooting, a gunman in a black Camaro shot a ninth grader as he left Fleming Junior High School in Lomita, authorities said.

Cruising Car

Adam Mendoza, 16, had just left a math tutoring session with Assistant Principal Constance Rupert about 1:30 p.m. when he was shot in a school courtyard, Rupert said. Five to seven shots were fired from the car that had been seen cruising near the school several times during the day, officials said.

Mendoza was in stable condition after surgery at Harbor-UCLA Medical Center, hospital officials said. The car’s occupants yelled gang slogans and threw bottles at students before the shooting, witnesses said.