Night of Violence Leaves 1 Dead, 10 Wounded in Shootings

Officers reported half a dozen shootings in five Los Angeles police divisions Tuesday night, an outburst of violence that left one man dead and 10 other people wounded, mostly in drive-by, gang-connected assaults.

The victims ranged from a 15-year-old girl to an octogenarian and included a bicyclist and a reputed gang member who was fatally shot while walking with his girlfriend in the Westlake area.

“That’s a very busy evening,” said police spokesman Lt. Fred Nixon. “But I’d hesitate to say that we’ve never had one busier.”

Fabian De La Campa, 26, died at Good Samaritan Hospital within an hour of an assault early Tuesday evening in the 500 block of Bonnie Brae Street. His girlfriend was not hurt.

Sgt. Richard Fox of the Rampart Division said two men approached De La Campa and asked him where he was from, and then one of them opened fire. When De La Campa fell, the gunman stood over him and shot him him again with a revolver, Fox said.

Investigators are assuming that the shooting is a gang-related murder, according to Fox. The two suspects, believed to be gang members, ran from the shooting scene and were being sought.

In the 77th Street Division, Rhonda Alexander, 15, and Don Penn, 28, were wounded in a drive-by shooting at 82nd and Main streets. The teen-ager was shot in a leg and was hospitalized in good condition. Penn was treated at a hospital for a gunshot wound in his foot and released.

An 82-year-old man was one of four victims wounded in a shooting in the 300 block of 66th Street shortly before 10 p.m.

The elderly victim’s forehead was grazed by a bullet fired from a passing car. Newton Division officers said two other people, possibly gang members, were shot in the abdomen, and a 30-year-old man was wounded in a leg. They said none of the victims were seriously wounded.

With 10 minutes of the attack, investigators arrested three gang members sitting in a car believed used in the shooting.

In another incident, Detective Gil Freese of the Southwest Division said, Christopher Jones, 20, was riding his bicycle in the 600 block of 42nd Place about 9:30 p.m. when he heard three shots and felt a bullet strike his shoulder. He was reported in stable condition at the County-USC Medical Center.

In the Southeast Division, Jerome Lott, 17, and Lucille Samuels, 25, were shot when four men in an older Buick drove past on 97th Street, east of Avalon Boulevard, yelled and opened fire.

Both victims were shot in the left side, according to Detective Jim Dieli. Samuels was reported in critical condition at Martin Luther King Jr./Drew Medical Center. Lott was listed in serious condition.

In a second Rampart Division shooting Tuesday evening, Jose Ferrin, 30, was wounded in the left shoulder when two men fired three shots from a passing car near Sunset Boulevard and Reno Street. Ferrin was taken to Hollywood Presbyterian/Queen of Angels Hospital where he was reported in stable condition.