Weekend Tally: Five Slayings and 230 Drunk Driving Arrests

Street violence claimed five lives near downtown Los Angeles while in the San Fernando Valley an intense weekend crackdown on drunk drivers led to 230 arrests, police reported Sunday.

A man believed to be in his mid-30s was shot to death when he fled from a 16-year-old boy who had pulled a gold chain from the victim’s neck as the two walked past each other along the 1100 block of Venice Boulevard late Saturday, police said.

The victim, who was shot several times in the back, had not been identified Sunday. The suspect, whose name was not released because of his age, was arrested on suspicion of murder. Police described him as “an admitted gang member.”

“We believe robbery was the motive,” said Detective Terry Wessel of the Rampart Division.

In the San Fernando Valley about 150 police and California Highway Patrol officers were involved in a two-night drunk driving task force that police described as the largest such operation ever in the Valley.

The legion of officers, mainly on motorcycles fanned out on Valley streets and freeways, beginning at 6 p.m. on Friday and Saturday, concluding nine hours later. Normally, about 20 traffic officers patrol the streets for drunk drivers.

Police and CHP officers reported 125 arrests in the Saturday night through Sunday morning sweep. Another 105 were arrested earlier in Friday night-Saturday morning patrols.

Most of the suspects were booked at the Van Nuys division headquarters and were released on bail after sobering up, police said.

Elsewhere in Los Angeles, three men were slain in shootings and a woman was killed during a domestic dispute:

- In the Mid-City area, 28-year-old Jose Carlos Becerril, was shot to death while standing near the intersection of Cambridge Street and Harvard Boulevard. Police described the motive as “gang rivalry.”

- In South Los Angeles, a 33-year-old San Gabriel Valley man was shot to death and another man was wounded while they were sitting in a car parked along the 4300 block of Ascot Avenue. Police believe that robbery was the motive. The injured man was in stable condition at a nearby hospital, police said. The victims’ names were not released and no suspect had been arrested Sunday, police said.

- A 23-year-old Los Angeles man, who confronted a carload of men parked at Vernon and Long Beach avenues and accused them of defacing graffiti on a nearby wall, was shot in the chest and killed by one of the car’s passengers, police said. Armando Solas Avalos of Los Angeles died at County-USC Medical Center Saturday night.

- In the Koreatown area, a 26-year-old woman was shot in the head after arguing with a male companion. Police were searching Sunday for Jong Dae Kim, 30, of Los Angeles in connection with the shooting. Kim apparently fled in the victim’s gray Ford Tempo. The woman’s name was not released pending notification of her family.