Shots From Car Kill Pedestrian in Area Closed to Deter Crime

A 20-year-old man was fatally shot in a drive-by shooting that occurred in an area of Sepulveda barricaded last year as an anti-crime measure, Los Angeles police said Wednesday.

Detectives said the suspects sped away from the Tuesday evening shooting through the remaining entrance for automobiles to the 12-square-block Columbus Avenue neighborhood. No arrests have been made.

Daniel Ray Anaya and his cousin, both of Sylmar, were going to visit a friend and were walking east on Rayen Street near Columbus Avenue when the shooting occurred about 5:30 p.m., Lt. L.A. Durrer said.

The only entrance and exit that is open to the neighborhood is Rayen Street at Sepulveda Boulevard.

A late-model light-brown car, possibly a Nissan, heading north on Columbus Avenue, briefly stopped at the intersection with Rayen Street before turning west. One of the car’s four occupants yelled at the cousins and two shots were fired, Durrer said.

Anaya was struck once in the upper body. His cousin, whose name was not released, was uninjured. Anaya was taken to Panorama City Community Hospital where he was pronounced dead.

The car sped west and left the neighborhood on Rayen Street, police said. Investigators declined to reveal what was yelled at the victims, but the words and the style of shooting has led them to conclude the slaying was gang-related. However, Durrer said investigators knew of no gang activity involving Anaya.

Four street entrances to the neighborhood where the shooting took place have been barricaded since Nov. 7, 1989, in an attempt to curb drug and gang crimes.

Durrer said the Monday night shooting was the first slaying in the neighborhood since the barricades were installed.

“The barricades had been putting a lid on crimes of violence in that neighborhood,” he said.