Youth Critically Wounded at Palmdale Party

A 17-year-old youth was in critical condition after being shot in the chest Sunday at a Palmdale party in what authorities believe was part of a weekend of gang-related confrontations in the Antelope Valley.

But the youth, Darryl Riley, might have been acting as a good Samaritan when he was shot by Juan Lomeli, 22, shortly after midnight at a party in the 37200 block of Populus Avenue, Los Angeles County sheriff’s deputies said.

Lomeli, who was arrested on suspicion of attempted murder, shot Riley after the youth intervened in an argument between Lomeli and Danielle Sanchez, 19, said Sgt. Terry Judge. Lomeli was beating Sanchez, his girlfriend, because she had danced with another man, authorities said.

When Riley tried to stop Lomeli from hitting the woman, Lomeli shot him with a .38-caliber revolver handed to him by Gilbert Rodriquez, 22, the host, who also was arrested on suspicion of attempted murder, deputies said. Riley collapsed onto the floor.

Girlfriend Shot

Lomeli then turned on his girlfriend and shot her in the left shoulder before fleeing in her car, Judge said. She was treated and released at a nearby hospital.

Just 24 hours earlier, Rodriquez’s brother David, a suspected gang member, was shot at after he witnessed a fistfight between members of two rival gangs in the parking lot of a Lancaster toy store, said Deputy Ronald Thomason.

While David Rodriquez and two friends were driving home after the incident, a car overtook them, and a passenger fired nine shots into their vehicle, deputies said. Rodriquez and his friends were slightly injured by shattered glass.

Freddy Ruiz, 18, and a 16-year-old, whose name was not released, were arrested on suspicion of attempted murder in connection with the incident, Thomason said.

An hour after the apparent attempt on David Rodriquez’s life, Freddy Ruiz’s mother received an anonymous phone call at her Quartz Hill home, Thomason said. The caller threatened to kill Ruiz and other members of his gang. At 4:30 a.m. Saturday, 30 gunshots, including shotgun blasts and .22-caliber bullets, were fired into a bedroom at Ruiz’s house.

No one was injured, Thomason said, and no arrests were made.

Authorities said they suspect there is a link between the shooting of Darryl Riley and the earlier incidents.

“We know they are all connected, we just don’t know how yet,” Thomason said.

After fleeing the party, Lomeli led authorities on a short car chase that ended when he crashed Sanchez’s car into a bridge at Avenue S and 20th Street East, deputies said. He abandoned the car and fled. Police dogs found him about 2 1/2 hours later, authorities said.

Lomeli was taken to Los Angeles County-USC Medical Center for treatment of wounds inflicted by the police dogs. Riley was being treated at Palmdale Community Hospital.