1 Killed, 4 Injured in Hollywood Street Fight

Police followed a trail of blood late Friday in the Hollywood area searching for suspects in a “good old street fight” in which one man was killed and at least four others were wounded.

Three of the men were shot, one was stabbed and a fifth man--possibly a suspect--was also wounded. Police believe a fifth man was involved because they saw a trail of blood leading away from the scene. Police followed the trail but were unable to find him.

Police say the incident began about 9:45 p.m. with a fight inside the La Iguerita bar, a pool hall and sports bar in the 6300 block of Yucca Street. The fight apparently spilled out into the street.

It was not immediately clear what led to the fight, but by the time police had arrived, bodies were strewn along a block-long stretch. None of the men, all Latino, was immediately identified. Two were said to be in their 30s and two in their mid-20s. The age of the fifth man was unknown.

LAPD Officer Roy Rogers said that when he arrived at the scene, he found one man lying on the sidewalk outside of the bar. That man had been shot at least once.

The fight apparently continued west on Yucca, to the corner of Yucca and Cahuenga Boulevard, where a second man was found. Police found one more victim near a 7-Eleven store and the fourth outside the Hollywood 8 Motel in the 1800 block of Cahuenga.

As police moved in with helicopters and dogs, two suspects were at one point said to be holed up in a nearby hotel shortly before 11 p.m. Friday. That report proved to be false.

In addition to the man who dripped a trail of blood, police were looking for at least three other men involved in the incident.

LAPD Lt. Pete Durham said two of the wounded were critically injured. Two were taken to Cedars Sinai Hospital, where one died, according to a hospital spokeswoman. One man was taken to St. Joseph’s Hospital in Burbank and one to Kaiser Foundation Hospital on Sunset Boulevard in Hollywood. Their conditions were not immediately available.

Police said they did not immediately know the motive for the incident, which one officer described as a “good old street fight.” One witness called it a drug deal gone bad. Police said several narcotics arrests have been made at the bar in the past.

About the same time as the Hollywood shooting, police were called to the scene of a homicide at La Tijera Boulevard and Centinela Avenue in Westchester, where one person had been shot to death.

Police said the death appeared to be gang-related but could not say whether it had been a drive-by shooting.

Times Staff Writer Nieson Himmel contributed to this story.