PANORAMA CITY : Gang Member Shot in Carjacking Dies
A 19-year-old gang member, shot in the head during a carjacking that went awry on Halloween night in Panorama City, has died after life-support equipment was disconnected, police said Wednesday.
Donald Aragon, a popular apartment building owner, also was killed in the exchange of gunfire that occurred after as many as a dozen gang members tried to force him to give up his truck. Instead, he opened fire, striking two members of the gang that openly peddles cocaine to motorists on Blythe Street just west of Van Nuys Boulevard.
Los Angeles Police Detective Joseph Aparicio identified the dead gang member as Abel Sanchez, a transient who came from Mexico about three years ago, he said, and lived in vacant apartment buildings in the neighborhood with other gang members.
A wounded 17-year-old who survived has been charged with one count of murder, Aparicio said. The youth was being held in the jail ward at County-USC Medical Center.
Police were questioning several additional suspects Wednesday and more arrests were expected.
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