Man, 30, Shot to Death in Van Nuys Drug Deal

A man shot to death Tuesday while trying to buy cocaine was the seventh person killed this year during a drug transaction in the Van Nuys area, police said.

William C. Spensley, 30, of Van Nuys died at Valley Presbyterian Hospital about 2 a.m. after being shot in the 14700 block of Delano Street, Los Angeles Police Lt. Warren Knowles said. No arrests were made.

Investigators said witnesses reported that Spensley had driven his pickup truck to the street about 12:40 a.m. and was purchasing cocaine from a street dealer when an argument between the two began. The dealer pulled a gun and fired into the truck, hitting Spensley in the upper body.

Knowles said Spensley sped away but pulled to the curb and collapsed at the nearby intersection of Victory Boulevard and Kester Avenue. Another motorist then called police.

Police said the area where Spensley was shot is known as a place where gang members congregate and where drugs are often sold to drive-through customers. Another drug customer was killed less than a block away March 3, detectives said.

Detective James Vojtecky, head of the Van Nuys Division homicide squad, said there have been seven cases so far this year in which either buyers or dealers were killed when drug transactions went wrong. In all of 1989, there were four such cases.

“We are having more and more each year,” Vojtecky said. “We are having consecutive killings on the same streets.”

Vojtecky said three of the drug-related killings this year have occurred on Blythe Street near Van Nuys Boulevard.

While the Van Nuys Division may have an increase in drug-related slayings, the danger associated with street dealing and buying has always been constant, said Sgt. Roger Dunn, a supervisor in the police narcotics squad that works in the San Fernando Valley.

“Any time you buy drugs, you face the possibility of being confronted by someone who is armed,” he said. “It has always been this way.”