Shootings Wound 2 Despite Police Net

Patrolling police officers were out in force in a “surprise mini-task force” operation in the Southwest Division, but their presence failed to stop the wounding of two youthful gang members in a drive-by shooting near the Coliseum, authorities said Friday.

About 40 officers joined in the special LAPD operation at 4:30 p.m. Thursday and arrested 70 people, including 10 suspected gang members, by the time the sweep was concluded at 1 a.m. Friday. Charges ranged from drunkenness to narcotics and vice activity.

Less than an hour after the operation began, two gang members, whose names were not released because of their age, were wounded at 3901 Wisconsin Place by a gunman who fired five shots from a purple Datsun, police said. One victim was hit in the foot. The other was shot in the back.

2 Teen-Agers Arrested

Members of the Southwest Division’s special drive-by shooting team responded, and at about 2 a.m. Friday they arrested two teen-agers driving a purple Datsun at 42nd and Hoover streets, the scene of a shooting earlier in the week.

“The cycle never stops,” said Southwest Detective Bill Pavelic. “It’s just a never-ending story here.”

Officers in the Northeast Division might have said the same thing after one man was fatally shot and two others were wounded within 15 minutes of each other Thursday night in similar shootings.

Man Shot, Killed

Detective Jerry Rowe said that shortly before midnight, a gunman got out of a car in the 4100 block of Bemis Street, approached several young men, asked where they were from and fired a shotgun. He struck Los Angeles resident Ian Nolan, 21, who died later at nearby Glendale Memorial Hospital.

In a similar shooting a few minutes earlier, a youthful gunman armed with a shotgun fired into a parked car where four men were drinking beer in the 3400 block of Drew Street after asking where they were from.

Sebastian Lazaro, 21, and Epifanio Calderon, 29, both of Los Angeles, were wounded. They were later reported in stable condition at County-USC Medical Center.