Shootings Raise Fears of Increase in Gang Crimes : Violence: Recent shootings have left four people dead and four seriously wounded and has prompted officials to call for a crackdown before summer.

Street violence in several South Bay cities left four people dead and four critically wounded in the last week, prompting concern from some authorities that the summer months could bring an upturn in gang-related killings.

The violence included a midday shootout on busy Hawthorne Boulevard in Torrance, Redondo Beach’s second homicide of the year and the shooting death of a 16-year-old girl in Hawthorne. And two killings in Inglewood have prompted authorities there to call for a crackdown on gangs.

“As a rule, there is more violence in the summer,” said Sgt. Gib Anderson at the Lennox sheriff’s station, which is investigating the Hawthorne killing. “When the heat makes people uncomfortable, you have more violence. The summer heats things up, but there are other factors too.”

In Redondo Beach early Saturday morning, an assailant ambushed two men sitting in a car outside the Bank of America branch across the street from the Galleria at South Bay.

The gunman walked up and shot and killed DeMon Johnson, 20, of Compton and then dragged him out of the driver’s seat, sheriff’s deputies said. He then shot passenger Major Blackman, 21, of Gardena twice in the head and left him wounded in the passenger seat.

The gunman, who is still at large, drove off in the car and later dumped Blackman in an alley in the unincorporated area east of Carson, deputies said. Blackman was in critical condition Wednesday in Martin Luther King Jr.-Drew Medical Center in Los Angeles. The car was found abandoned and burned in the Willowbrook area.

In a midafternoon incident Monday, two alleged gang members fired at two patrons whom they apparently believed to be rivals as they were leaving a Kentucky Fried Chicken restaurant on Hawthorne north of Torrance Boulevard in Torrance, police said. One of the patrons returned fire after retrieving a gun from his car, but no one was wounded in the 3 p.m. shootout.

Arrested on suspicion of assault with a deadly weapon were Anthony E. Murphy, 19, of Compton and Theodore C. Nevels, 23, of Los Angeles. A 17-year-old from Los Angeles who returned the fire was also arrested.

Police Sgt. Ron Traeber said gang-related incidents are rare in Torrance, but the city is not insulated from the problem.

“It happens all over Southern California,” he said. “The only thing that makes this unusual is that it is happening here instead of Los Angeles and Compton or someplace where these guys live. Obviously, we’re not pleased that it took place here.”

Meanwhile, sheriff’s deputies were investigating the early Sunday morning slaying of Caroline Mojica, 16, of Los Angeles, who was shot as she and girlfriends ate a fast-food meal in a car parked at a gas station on Imperial Highway in Hawthorne.

After a group of men joined the girls at the car, a gunman ambushed them. Mojica died at the scene, and Jose Perez, 18, of Lennox was critically wounded. Deputies said the shooting appeared to be gang related.

In Inglewood, one man was killed and another was wounded in a Monday evening shooting. The two men, believed to be in their 20s, were discovered at 10:40 p.m. on the 9500 block of South Felton Avenue, police said.

Inglewood homicide detectives continued to investigate last Thursday’s shooting death of 19-year-old Ksenia Ross, who was killed as she sat in a parked car near her West Hillcrest Street apartment with her 3-year-old daughter on her lap.

Ross’ daughter escaped injury when at least five shots were fired, but her 19-year-old boyfriend was critically wounded in the head and upper body. The boyfriend was not identified.

Inglewood has had 15 shootings this year, well behind the 31 homicides as of June 2, 1990. Last year’s 55 homicides tied the city’s record.

At Tuesday’s City Council meeting, council members urged residents to get involved in Neighborhood Watch groups and called for other efforts to control gang violence now that schools are letting out for the summer.