Youth Held After Shooting, Standoff : Crime: He faces questioning in shooting of man while deputies were delayed by Whittier Boulevard ‘cruising.’

Traditional Wednesday night cruising on Whittier Boulevard in Pico Rivera turned violent this week when a man was shot three times within sight of sheriff’s deputies, who were unable to reach the scene immediately because their patrol car was mired in heavy traffic, authorities said.

About 10 hours after that shooting--and five hours after a related shoot-out with a sheriff’s deputy during a foot chase--two teen-agers were taken into custody at their La Puente home to face questions about the shooting of George Bravo, 23, of Hacienda Heights, Los Angeles Sheriff’s Department spokesman Fidel Gonzales said.

Bravo was listed in guarded condition at Pico Rivera Community Hospital with gunshot wounds in his chest, a hospital spokesman said.

More than a dozen neighbors applauded and shouted “good riddance!” as the diminutive youths were handcuffed and taken away from their home in the 1000 block of Molinar Avenue Thursday morning.

“I was ready to sell my house because of those little troublemakers,” said one neighbor who asked that her name not be used. “They’d come home from their ventures in the night with guns sticking out of their socks.”

A 17-year-old youth was booked on suspicion of assault on a peace officer with intent to commit murder and grand theft auto, authorities said. The youth, whose name was withheld because of his age, is also under investigation as a possible suspect in the Pico Rivera shooting, authorities said.

A 15-year-old described as the 17-year-old’s brother was held for questioning and released Thursday afternoon without charges, authorities said.

The case began at 11:35 p.m. Wednesday when two deputies assigned to a special “anti-cruising detail” watched helplessly as a gunman fired three rounds into Bravo’s chest in the parking lot of a shopping center near the corner of Whittier Boulevard and Church Street, authorities said.

By the time the deputies reached the scene, the suspect had disappeared in the panic-stricken crowd of hundreds of car club members who traditionally gather at the parking lot on “cruise night,” authorities said.

For years, authorities and residents have complained about the hundreds of youths who turn out on Wednesday, Friday, Saturday and Sunday nights to ogle each other as they parade their cars and trucks along Whittier Boulevard.

A witness to the shooting, who asked not to be named, said the gunfire broke out about 40 minutes after he heard a group of men and women shouting at each other in the street “over a beer bottle that somebody threw.”

“I heard pop, pop, pop,” said the witness, who works at a nearby restaurant. “Then someone came in screaming, ‘Call 911! Somebody got shot!’ ”

Other witnesses told investigators that the suspect drove off in a blue pickup truck with a white camper shell, Gonzales said.

At 4:35 a.m. Thursday, a vehicle matching that description was seen by deputies who were investigating a vehicle burglary a few miles from the shooting scene, Gonzales said.

“They chased the vehicle at high speed for several miles until it slowed down and the driver abandoned it and fled on foot,” Gonzales said. “During the foot pursuit, the suspect fired a round at a deputy as (the suspect) scaled a wall. The deputy fired back almost simultaneously.”

No one was believed hurt in that exchange of gunfire, Gonzales said.

Sheriff’s K-9 units traced the suspect to the house on Molinar Avenue, where a man believed to be the one chased by deputies barricaded himself inside for five hours, Gonzales said.

Eight families living nearby were evacuated as two dozen deputies surrounded the house.

The standoff ended when the youth and his brother surrendered at 9:50 a.m., Gonzales said.

“The house is a known gang hangout,” Gonzales said, pointing to four bullet holes in the side of the home that he said were evidence of “several drive-by shootings here over the past year.”

One of the neighbors who gathered nearby to witness the arrests said he was relieved.

“We’ve been afraid to go out at night,” said the neighbor, who also asked that his name not be used. “They’ve been hell-raisers--writing on the walls, breaking beer bottles, fighting in the streets.”

Shooting Scene 1.) At 11:35 p.m. Wednesday, deputies witnessed a shooting but were unable to respond immediately because they were stranded in traditional “cruiser” traffic near the corner of Whittier Boulevard and Church Street in Pico Rivera. The gunman disappeared in the crowd. 2.) About 10 hours later, a suspect was arrested at his La Puente home after a five-hour standoff with sheriff’s deputies. More than a dozen neighbors applauded and shouted “good riddance!” as the suspect and a companion were led away in handcuffs.