Gunman Kills 4 at East L.A. Party : Surrenders After Rampage; Estranged Wife Among Slain

Four women were killed and two other people wounded--one critically--late Sunday night when a man crashed a birthday party for his estranged wife in East Los Angeles and opened fire with a handgun, authorities said today.

The shooting spree occurred shortly after guests received a telephone call warning them that Raymundo Navarro Jr., 26, was en route to the party to kill Maria de Navarro as she celebrated her 27th birthday, witnesses said. About 15 minutes later, witnesses said, a man walked in on the 10 guests and began shooting, killing the estranged wife and three others.

Three victims died at the scene and a fourth was pronounced dead a short while later at East Los Angeles Doctors Hospital, police said. Among the dead was Leticia M. Dipp, 46, of East Los Angeles. The names of remaining victims were not released pending notification of relatives.

Meanwhile, one woman was listed in extremely critical condition early today at County USC Medical Center, suffering from gunshot wounds in the head. A male victim was reported in serious condition with a gunshot wound in the abdomen.

Gives Up Peacefully

Police arrested Raymundo Navarro about five hours after the 11 p.m. incident when he surrendered peacefully at his father’s home, about a mile and a half from the shooting scene, authorities said. Navarro was booked on suspicion of murder and was being held without bail.

A warning that he was on his way to the party to kill the estranged wife was relayed to the partyers by Navarro’s brother, according to guests in attendance. The tip was relayed to police but they did not arrive at the scene until after the shooting, guests said.

One guest described the gunman as looking “serene” when he entered through the rear of the small rental home on Lafranco Street, possibly after scaling at least one wall to get to the back-yard patio. The assailant then unleashed a burst of obscenities in Spanish and opened fire, witnesses said.

Francisco Amazcua, 12, who was in the living room, said: “I hid behind a cabinet when the man came in and started shooting. . . . I saw people fall to the floor. After he left, I ran into the bedroom and hid under the bed with two other kids.”

A 4-year-old, Denia Uriarte, also hid under a bed along with Navarro’s 5-year-old son, Raymundo. “When I came out everybody was dead,” Uriarte said Monday outside a home marred with pools of blood, where food and salsa still sat on a patio table.

Navarro was described by friends as an unemployed former Marine who was torn apart by his pending divorce. He and his wife had been separated about a year, friends said.

“He had a very bad temper,” said Beatrice Palacios, 27, who was a friend of both Navarros since high school. “They used to fight a lot. He used to get drunk. They had a lot of problems. . . . But I did not think he’d do something like this.”

A friend of Navarro’s, who asked not to be identified, said he spent time with him earlier Sunday at a park near Estrada Courts, an East Los Angeles housing complex where Navarro lives. Navarro was very serious, not wanting to talk, the friend said.

“He was just thinking, thinking, thinking,” the friend said. “He left about 4 (o’clock) and said, ‘I’ll be back.’ But he didn’t come back.

“He had a lot of problems. He was going through a divorce. He loved her, man.”