Police Blame Gangs in Rash of Violence

Six unrelated incidents of gang violence in San Diego Saturday night and early Sunday left at least seven people injured, including an off-duty police officer who was stabbed in the arm with a screwdriver.

San Diego Police Officer Phillip Worts was hit in the face with a flashlight and stabbed twice in the left arm when he approached a group of men allegedly preparing to break into automobiles in a parking lot near the Giant Dipper roller coaster in Mission Beach Saturday night, police said, .

Worts was immediately assaulted when he approached a group of men peering into cars in the 3000 block of Mission Boulevard about 10:20 p.m.

Worts was able to follow the men to their car and read the license number as they fled. San Diego police staked out the home of one of the men and arrested him when he drove up, said Sgt. Michael Davis said.

Police also reported these other incidents of gang violence, without releasing the names of suspects or victims:

* One man was stabbed 15 times, another was stabbed in the forehead and two others were hit in the head with bricks when a group of men attacked a party in the 3600 block of Cedar Glen Way about 11:19 Saturday night, police said.

The altercation began when party-goers refused a request for cigarettes from the men, who then broke down a fence between them and attacked people at the party.

Four people were taken into custody. Identities of the suspects and the victims were not available Sunday night, police said.

* A 15-year-old youth was hospitalized after he was shot twice. The incident occurred in the 2000 block of Dairy Mart Road shortly before 6 p.m. Sunday.

* A man was shot three times in the legs after he was attacked by eight men as he walked down a San Diego street shortly after 12:30 a.m. Sunday morning.

* A man fired two shots at another man as he fled from a fight. The man had been walking with his girlfriend in the 6300 block of Potomac Street shortly before 9 p.m. when they were approached by a group of men in a pickup.

* A man fired 12 rounds from a 9-millimeter semi-automatic weapon into an apartment in the 4000 block of 51st Street after an argument among several men there. No one was injured.