Violence Claims 19 Lives During Holiday Weekend

At least 19 people died violently in Los Angeles County during the Memorial Day weekend, including seven within the area patrolled by officers from the Los Angeles Police Department’s Rampart Division.

“Even for us, it is an excessive number” of homicides, said Sgt. Ted Severns, a watch commander at Rampart, just west of downtown. “It’s the density of the population.”

Severns said that while some slayings in Rampart--among the city’s busiest police districts--may have involved gang members, none appeared connected.

The Rampart fatalities included a man in his 20s who was beaten and stabbed during an apparent robbery early Saturday; a man hit in a drive-by shooting Saturday afternoon, and another man shot Sunday afternoon.

Among the homicides authorities reported elsewhere in Los Angeles County:

* An unidentified man in his 30s was shot Sunday night as several men approached him in Watts.

* Pablo Ochoa, 17, of Compton was hit in a drive-by shooting Saturday night in Compton. Police said the killing was gang-related.

* A 38-year-old man was stabbed Sunday in a domestic dispute in an unincorporated area near San Pedro.

* Horbeto Pena, 26, of Compton was found shot dead in his home by his sister Sunday.

* Alberto Andrade, 25, died early Saturday after being shot outside a bar in South-Central Los Angeles.

* Walter Zalaya, 21, died Saturday after being shot in southwest Los Angeles.

* Harvey Goldstine, 46, was killed Friday night during a robbery in the Los Feliz area of Los Angeles.

* Two Korean liquor store clerks, Chung W. Oh, 22, and Myung Yul Na, 34, were killed Saturday night in a Los Angeles robbery.

* Sheriff’s deputies are investigating as a homicide the death of a man found dumped off Mulholland Highway in Malibu Saturday night.