17-Year-Old Gang Member Arrested Over Slaying

A 17-year-old gang member was arrested Monday in connection with the fatal drive-by shooting of a rival gang member who was gunned down as he stood on a North Hollywood street, police said.

Gerardo Jose Jimenez, 18, of North Hollywood died after he was shot once in the chest while standing with friends in the 6800 block of Gentry Avenue about 9:45 p.m., Lt. Michael Ranshaw said. Ranshaw said the fatal shot was fired from one of three passing cars that carried about 10 members of a rival gang.

“One shot, one hit, one dead,” Ranshaw said.

A 17-year-old gang member, whose name was not released because of his age, was arrested Monday on suspicion of murder, Detective Mike Coffey said. Police are uncertain whether the youth was the one who fired the gun at Jimenez, but he is believed to have been traveling in one of the three cars. He said the search is continuing for others in the cars.

According to police reports, Jimenez, a senior at John H. Francis Polytechnic High School in Sun Valley, was standing outside the apartment of a friend when the three cars slowly passed. Gang slogans were exchanged between the youths in the car and those on the sidewalk, and a single shot was fired from one of the cars.

The bullet went straight through Jimenez’s body and through the wall of a nearby apartment. He died at the scene. No one in the apartment was injured.

The cars sped south on Gentry.

Police had not determined a motive for the attack and had not recovered a gun Monday.