Man Severely Beaten Nearby After Boy, 16, Is Fatally Shot

Hours after a 16-year-old boy was shot to death in a gang-related attack on a street in Huntington Park, a man driving in a nearby alley was pulled from his car and severely beaten by several men with clubs, authorities said Sunday.

Huntington Park police said they are investigating whether the two incidents are related. One possibility, they said, is that the second attack was in retaliation for the shooting, although the young murder victim was not believed to be a gang member.

The 21-year-old victim of the bludgeon attack was hospitalized in critical condition, police said.

The shooting occurred about 9:30 p.m. Saturday on Arbutus Street after a red Honda Civic pulled up and the two people inside asked the victim where he was from and then left. The 16-year-old, whom police declined to identify, was in front of his home talking with family members. Several minutes later, the car returned and shots were fired, one of which struck the boy in the head. No one else was hit.

The second incident occurred about 3 a.m. Sunday in an alley a block away. A man, whom police declined to identify pending notification of his family, was driving in the alley when his car was set upon by four or five attackers with baseball bats and other blunt objects, police said.

Police declined to identify the hospital where the victim was being treated, fearing that his attackers might try to find him. Police said the attackers are believed to be gang members.