Violence Leaves 6 Dead, 5 Hurt in L.A. Area Over Weekend

Violence continued to mar the long holiday weekend in the Los Angeles area Sunday with six people killed and seven more seriously wounded in seven separate incidents.

An irate motorist in Compton was booked on suspicion of murder early Sunday after authorities said he chased a fleeing hit-and-run driver, forced him to stop by ramming his Toyota into the man’s car, and then fired at him with a shotgun.

A police officer disarmed and arrested Robert Dunlap, 33, of Compton after hearing the rear-end crash at Compton Boulevard and Central Avenue.

Police identified the victim as Mike Lafleur, 37, of Compton.

In Pacoima, meanwhile, Los Angeles police were searching Sunday for a motive in the murder-suicide of a young couple. Authorities said Juan Sandoval Marquez, 22, apparently killed his wife, Juana Nunez Marquez, 20, in their Pacoima residence and then drove about three miles to Kagel Canyon Road near Dexter Park, where he shot himself.

In East Los Angeles, an unidentified man was fatally stabbed late Saturday after he and several friends argued with the assailant in the 700 block of South Fetterly Avenue. Los Angeles County sheriff’s deputies arrested Julio Luna, 20, of Los Angeles, in connection with the stabbing.

In two incidents believed to be gang-related, a man was shot to death sitting in his parked car in Santa Fe Springs about 2 a.m. Sunday, and a young man died at County-USC Medical Center on Sunday after he was shot in the face Saturday night in the 3500 block of Lanfranco Street in East Los Angeles. The names of the two victims have not been released and no arrests have been made.

Four customers of a crowded check-cashing office in the Walnut Park area, including a 76-year-old woman, were wounded when three gunmen attempted to rob the office Saturday afternoon.

Sheriff’s spokesmen said Sunday the masked gunmen opened fire with a .30-caliber rifle and two handguns on about 15 customers when they were unable to reach employees behind bulletproof glass in the General Check Cashing Service Inc. at 2688 E. Florence Ave.

The assailants fled without getting any money.

Three youths were shot in a gang-related confrontation which occurred in a Koreatown parking lot at Elden Avenue and Pico Boulevard shortly before midnight Sunday.