12 Killed--6 in Drive-By Shootings--on Weekend

At least 12 people were killed in weekend violence in the Los Angeles area, six in unrelated drive-by shootings, authorities said Sunday.

In one incident, four pedestrians were struck by bullets fired indiscriminately from a passing car about six blocks from the Los Angeles Memorial Coliseum, Los Angeles Police Sgt. David Young said.

One of the men, a 22-year-old whose name was not released pending notification of relatives, died at 1 a.m. Sunday. The three other men were in stable condition at area hospitals.

“As best as we can tell (the gunman) just started opening fire . . . shooting at anyone who was there,” Young said of the shooting near 39th Street and Normandie Avenue.

As with the other drive-by shootings, there were no arrests.

Among the victims of other weekend violence was a 16-year-old Palmdale boy who died Saturday after he held a gun to his head and pulled the trigger, thinking it was unloaded, authorities said.

Jason Sanders died instantly from a single shot to the head from the .44-magnum revolver, the coroner’s office said.

Los Angeles County sheriff’s deputies said the boy took the gun, which belongs to his mother’s boyfriend, from his house about 10:30 p.m. He pointed it playfully at two friends and ordered them not to move before placing the barrel to his temple and firing, deputies said.

The boyfriend left the gun out because he planned to go hunting Sunday morning, deputies said.

In another incident, a sheriff’s deputy shot at--but missed--a man who allegedly was firing his semiautomatic pistol into homes in his Florence-area neighborhood early Sunday. The suspect, Ballentine Gonzalez, 26, was arrested after a short struggle and was being held on suspicion of assault with a deadly weapon, authorities said.

A 17-year-old boy was stabbed and found bleeding to death in a driveway in the 11200 block of El Rey Drive in Whittier, police said Sunday. The boy was believed to have been stabbed in a fight about two blocks away.

In the other drive-by killings reported by authorities:

* An unidentified 19-year-old was slain in front of a taco stand in East Los Angeles about 2 a.m. Sunday.

* Jose Rodriguez, a 20-year-old suspected gang member, was struck and killed as he partied about 12:15 a.m. Sunday in the street in the Cypress Park area east of downtown. Party-goers, including gang members, were “very uncooperative witnesses,” and did not provide a description of the gunman’s car, Detective Ron Whitt said.

* Edward Jaquez, 25, of San Pedro was killed as he stepped into the street in the 1000 block of South Center Street about 11:35 p.m. Saturday.

* Also Saturday night, two men were hit by gunfire in South Los Angeles as they stood in front of a coin laundry at 7601 S. Vermont Ave. Delbert Bain, 29, who was shot in the back, died at Daniel Freeman Memorial Hospital, while the second victim was in serious condition with a jaw wound.

* Danny Hurtado, 17, of Pomona, was killed late Friday when a passing gunman fired three shotgun volleys at him as he walked on East Grand Avenue in that city.