Woman Not Part of Gang Fatally Shot; 5 Others Die

A woman, hit in the chest by a bullet apparently fired by friends of the victim of an earlier shooting, died Sunday in Pomona, authorities said.

The shooting was one of six gang-related killings reported in another weekend of violence in the Southland.

Pomona police said it appears that Collette Denise Cox, 29, was minding her own business in the 2200 block of Carleton Avenue when she was hit by a bullet fired from a passing car at 3:30 a.m.

Not a Gang Member

Cox, who police said was not a gang member, died in a hospital three hours later.

Police Lt. Larry Todd said the shooting took place in an area dominated by the Crips gang. The rival Bloods frequent a neighborhood in nearby Claremont, where a 25-year-old Bloods member was gunned down a few hours earlier, he said.

“We suspect gang members (in the Pomona shooting). It was dark, they may have been shooting up the area, but it’s just speculation,” Todd said.

The victim in the Claremont shooting was not immediately identified.

Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Deputy Chris Wahla said the victim was chatting with an acquaintance in the driveway of an apartment house when a car containing four young men stopped and one of the passengers got out and shot him.

Other Fatalities

In other incidents, Timothy Douglas, 24, was killed and Allen Johnson, 35, was wounded early Saturday in separate drive-by shootings in Wilmington. Witnesses gave similar descriptions of the car used in the attacks, suggesting the shootings may have been related, police said.

Also on Saturday, Vincent Mestas, 26, was beaten and stabbed to death in a gang-related struggle at a party in Santa Fe Springs; Jose Diaz, 19, was killed in a drive-by shooting in South-Central Los Angeles; and Ricardo Bocanegra, 18, died of bullet wounds after he was dropped off at Greater El Monte Community Hospital by a group of people who left without talking to police.

Near the Koreatown section of Los Angeles, five men using a variety of weapons--including a shotgun, a rifle and a handgun--fired more than 20 shots into a group of four men and a woman who were standing outside an apartment house on Mariposa Avenue early Sunday.

Not Saying Much

All five were wounded--including two victims who were in critical condition--but all are expected to survive, Los Angeles Police Sgt. Robert Plassmeyer said.

Unlike many gang attacks, which are carried out from passing cars, the gunmen apparently attacked and fled on foot, police said.

“That is a heavy drug area, but we have no indications that it was a drug-related shooting. It could be anything,” Plassmeyer said.

He said neighbors “all heard the shots but nobody saw anything. The victims aren’t saying too much about it.”