1 Killed, 8 Injured in Gang Violence

Gang-related attacks claimed one woman’s life and injured her mother as they lay sleeping inside their Lennox home, with the latest round of gang gunfire in the Los Angeles area leaving seven others wounded late Friday and early Saturday, police said.

Renee Johnson and her mother, Ann, were sleeping in the living room of their home in the 11000 block of South Osage Avenue when a man armed with a shotgun kicked in their front door and started firing.

Renee Johnson was hit in the upper torso in the 3:10 a.m. attack and died at the scene, a sheriff’s deputy said. Ann Johnson, 45, was wounded in the right arm and right leg. She was taken to Robert F. Kennedy Medical Center, where she was reported to be in good condition.

Motive Unknown

A Sheriff’s Department spokesman could not explain the gang connection other than to say that police believe that the attack on the Johnsons had a gang tie-in. “The motive for the shooting is unknown,” Deputy George Ducoulombier said. “But it appears to be gang-related.”

Earlier Saturday, a security guard in Koreatown was shot in the leg about 1:30 a.m. while trying to prevent gang members from firing into an apartment building marked with rival gang graffiti, police said. The unidentified guard was hospitalized in good condition.

Police arrested Ely Torres, 24, three hours after the South Kenmore Avenue shooting. They said Torres, believed to be a gang member, was spotted driving the getaway car.

Torres was stopped near Washington Boulevard and Hoover Street. Police said his car contained a sawed-off shotgun that had apparently been used in the attack on the guard.

“There possibly were other gang members involved,” Los Angeles Police Sgt. James Markoff said. The wall “had rival gang slogans on it and they came . . . to shoot it up.”

Police also blamed gang rivalries for two other unrelated attacks that left six people wounded in the Newton area.

One unidentified gang member was critically wounded when he was shot in the throat and chest during a drive-by attack in the 900 block of East 40th Street late Friday, police said. The wounded man was taken to County-USC Medical Center.

Another reputed gang member who was standing in the same area was struck in the leg. He was treated at White Memorial Hospital.

In the other shooting, four men were wounded as they stood outside a house in the 5700 block of South Broadway at 1:35 a.m. Saturday, police said. All four were reportedly struck below the waist when three gang members opened fire from a passing car. Their names were not released.

One policeman said of the outbreak of gang-related violence: “Everybody just decided it was a good time to get in a car, drive by your enemy’s house and fire a few blasts.”

Meanwhile, the special police gang-sweeping operation known as “Operation Hammer” hit the streets in South-Central Los Angeles and in the harbor area on Saturday night, with more than 250 officers logging at least 51 arrests by 9 p.m., Sgt. Clay Farrell said.

The arrests included 30 felonies--mostly for narcotics sales and possession--involving 25 known gang members, Farrell said.