Police Blame Gangs in Second Shooting at PCH Intersection

A 26-year-old Wilmington man was shot and seriously wounded Monday on Pacific Coast Highway as he drove past the site where a motorist was shot and killed last week.

Todd Bates Brown was the seventh victim this year to have been shot in the area near Harbor Regional Park in Harbor City, police said. Brown was being treated at Kaiser Permanente Medical Center in Anaheim, where he was listed Monday in critical condition with a wound to the head.

Police and neighbors in the area said that during the last few months, Harbor City gangs and their rivals in neighboring Wilmington have been trading gunfire near the intersection of PCH and Vermont Avenue.

Last Wednesday, a Lakewood teen-ager was shot and killed at the same intersection. The victim apparently was mistaken for a member of a Wilmington gang and was shot by Harbor City youths, police said. Detectives are still investigating the shooting.

In Monday’s incident, Brown, who was identified by police as a gang member, was driving east on PCH when a car pulled alongside him and fired at least two shots, one of which struck him, Los Angeles Police Detective Kim Wierman said.

Brown’s car continued for several yards before crashing into a utility pole. Although he suffered additional injuries in the crash, he got out of the vehicle and was able to walk three blocks before passing out, Wierman said.

“I’m sure it had something to do with rival gangs,” the detective said, “just given where it happened and that he was a gang member from a different area.” Wierman said the victim was listed with the Police Department as either admitting to being involved in a gang or having committed a gang-related offense. “There has been a kind of a gang war going on over a couple recent murders,” Wierman said. “Unfortunately, a lot of innocent people have been shot at and hit as well.”

In nearby Normont Terrace housing project--where, police said, much of the gang activity is centered--residents voiced fears about the recent spate of violence.

“It’s like a little game with them,” Deborah Williams, a housekeeper at a Harbor City hospital, said about gang members responsible for the shootings.

A relative of Williams, who requested that his name not be published, added: “It’s almost like they are hunting for little birds in the trees. But it’s humans that they’re hitting.

“I’ve learned that it’s just smarter to stay inside at night. A straight bullet doesn’t turn just because you’re (an innocent bystander).”