Apartment Complex Firebombed; 3 Hurt : Violence: Explosion guts most of a building in Downey and blasts a hole in a house next door. Arson investigators search for clues.

A bomb apparently thrown into a Downey apartment building early Friday morning gutted most of the four-unit structure and blasted a huge hole in the bedroom of the house next door.

Three apartment building residents--including a man who had been the victim of a recent drive-by shooting--were taken to hospitals and treated for minor injuries, officials said. A couple in the house next door escaped without injury.

Downey police described the 1:05 a.m. explosion as suspicious, and arson investigators spent several hours Friday sifting through rubble for clues. They would not say the type of bomb used.

“All we know so far is the fire started with an explosion and we would suspect that it was deliberately started,” Lt. Terry Pruitt said.

Downey Fire Department Battalion Chief Gail Crook said the apartment complex was fully engulfed when his units arrived shortly after the blast, but that residents had escaped the building.

“We’re very fortunate that people didn’t die there,” Crook said. “Luck was on our side with this one.”

Investigators said they were unsure if the firebombing was related to the drive-by shooting two weeks ago, which had not been classified as a gang-related crime.

Neighbors said the 51-year-old shooting victim told them it was gang members who shot him for undisclosed reasons as he walked along Western Avenue in Downey.

“He described the guy who shot him and told us to keep our eyes open for him, that he wanted revenge,” said Kyle Stafford, who lives nearby. “When we heard the explosion last night, the first thing I thought was: ‘Oh no, they got (the neighbor) first.’ ”

The blast was felt in the Downey police station, six blocks from the apartment building. Neighbors three blocks away said the explosion was so loud that it rattled their windows and shook them in their beds.

“I thought it was another big earthquake,” said Lori Losh, 76, as she watched police and fire officials comb through the rubble.

John Ledesma, 33, who lives in a home next door to the burned-out apartment complex, said he and his wife, Kathy, were sleeping when a large piece of stucco from the building crashed through their bedroom wall, landing less than a foot from the bed.

“I jumped up and heard a man screaming for help from next door,” Ledesma said as he gathered glass shards from a broken mirror strewn about his bedroom. “I had no idea what was going on.”