2 Party-Goers Chased, Shot by Gunmen; 1 Dies

A carful of gunmen chased two teen-agers in a pickup truck for eight miles early Sunday, shooting repeatedly before killing one and wounding the other, sheriff’s deputies said.

Sheriff’s Sgt. Ron Spear said investigators do not know what prompted the attack or whether it was gang-related. The chase began in Boyle Heights and ended on Eastern Avenue in the City of Commerce, where the driver of the pickup was fatally wounded by the occupants of a Lincoln Continental.

The 17-year-old truck driver, who was not immediately identified by deputies, was rushed to Santa Marta Hospital in East Los Angeles, where he died about 2:30 a.m. from a gunshot wound to the chest, Spear said.

His companion, Oscar Cortez, 18, of Los Angeles, was treated at Santa Marta for a slight wound and released, hospital officials said.

Deputies said the two left a party near 8th Street and Grande Vista Avenue in Boyle Heights about 1:30 a.m. and drove away in a gray Toyota mini-pickup. The pair, who were not armed, left the party without incident, investigators said.

Then, for no apparent reason, several men in an older-model, primer-gray Lincoln Continental began following the pair, shooting at them as they chased the Toyota onto the southbound lanes of the Long Beach Freeway, deputies said.

The pair in the Toyota eventually got off the freeway in Commerce and sped north on Eastern Avenue, deputies said. But the pursuing gunmen drove alongside them on Eastern and began firing again.

The driver of the Toyota was then shot in the chest, and his passenger suffered a minor wound, Spear said.

The Lincoln Continental sped away, and the wounded men flagged down a passing sheriff’s patrol car, Spear said.