2 Men Shot at Home of Friend Slain Earlier

Two men were shot and wounded in Long Beach as they were leaving a house where they had expressed condolences to the parents of a friend slain hours before in a gang-related stabbing, authorities said Saturday.

One of the victims, Hector Perez, 25, had been previously wounded in a Jan. 14 gang-related drive-by shooting at MacArthur Park in Long Beach in which a 13-year-old boy was killed and four others were wounded, Detective Logan Wren said.

Hit in the head and chest in the latest shooting, Perez was said to be in critical condition Saturday at St. Mary Medical Center. The second victim, Ignacio Rosales, 17, was treated there for an arm wound and released.

Police Lt. Columbus Lowe said both men were “gunned down” as they were leaving a house at 927 Lime Ave. about 11:55 p.m. Friday, after stopping by “to pay their respects” to the parents of a man identified as Johnny Rios Jr., 20.

Rosales was related to Rios, who was killed shortly after 2 p.m. Friday in a gang confrontation involving two teen-agers who stabbed him at Pacific Coast Highway and Atlantic Avenue, Lowe said.

Rios had been driving with his wife and their child when they were confronted by the suspects, Lowe said. The victim’s wife drove Rios to St. Mary Medical Center, where he died about 3 p.m., he said.

Both Rios and the suspects had shouted out gang slogans before the attack, Lowe said. No arrests were made.

Several hundred residents of the Aliso Village Housing Project in East Los Angeles held a prayer Mass Saturday afternoon for one of those killed earlier this year.