1 Dead, 11 Wounded in Weekend Violence

Gang members in a confrontation with two police officers on a dark rooftop highlighted a weekend of gang-related violence, including half a dozen shootings that left one man dead and 11 other people wounded, authorities said Saturday.

Los Angeles police arrested a 17-year-old gang member on suspicion of conspiracy to commit murder in the confrontation late Friday, Lt. Ben Gering said. Officers Jerry Bautista, 28, and James Simoneschi, 42, both escaped injury.

Responding to suspected gang activity, the officers had climbed atop a roof on South Westlake Avenue to scan the neighborhood west of downtown. The men were tailed by at least two gang members who may have been seeking to ambush a rival gang, Officer Rich Banister said.

“Apparently (the gang members) went up there on purpose to get somebody,” Banister said. After a confrontation with the officers, the 17-year-old, who was not identified, was arrested. Another youth, who was armed with a handgun, ran away. He is still being sought.

In another incident Friday night, Martin Alberto Muratalla, 18, was shot and killed behind a home in Lynwood by rival gang members, sheriff’s deputies said.

Muratalla and a companion, Pedro Ramos, 21, of Bell, were followed by four carloads of rival gang members who chased them into the back yard of a home on 111th Street and fired at them with a shotgun, deputies said. Muratalla was taken to St. Francis Medical Center, where he died. Ramos was reported in serious condition at Harbor-UCLA Mecical Center.

In another part of Lynwood, five people, including two teen-age brothers, were wounded when a man opened fire on the group in front of Hercules Burgers at Fernwood Avenue and Imperial Highway, Deputy Patrick Hunter said.

The gunman jumped out of nearby bushes, then shot at the group with a semiautomatic weapon, the deputy said. Two of the injured, Robert Garcia, 21, and Warren Gooden, 26, were reported in fair condition at St. Francis Medical Center. The others, who were not identified, were taken to area hospitals, where their conditions were described as ranging from serious to critical condition, deputies said.

In Long Beach early Saturday, gunfire from a speeding car on Santa Fe Avenue injured two men, Police Lt. Norman Eriksen said. The victims, whose names were not released, were treated for leg wounds at Pacific Hospital, where they were listed in stable condition.

A few minutes after the Long Beach shootings, a man nearby was critically wounded in what appeared to be a related drive-by shooting, Eriksen said. The man, whose name was not released, was shot in the buttocks and abdomen and was in critical condition at St. Mary Medical Center in Long Beach.

In another incident, two teen-agers and four men were arrested Saturday as suspects in a drive-by shooting that wounded a 16-year-old standing in front of a house in Whittier Friday night, said Whittier Police Lt. Harold Sandifer. The suspects’ names were not released and the victim, who was not identified, was reported in critical condition at Presbyterian Intercommunity Hospital in Whittier.

Also Saturday, a 16-year-old Inglewood boy was critically wounded when he was shot at the Ladera Heights Shopping Center, Deputy Hunter said.

Terrance Walker was on life-support systems at Cedars-Sinai Medical Center after being shot as he and two friends walked in the shopping center, Hunter said. The attack occurred when Walker and his friends were approached by a group of six to eight teen-agers, the deputy said. No suspects have been arrested.