Man, 19, Killed in Ambush on North Hollywood Street

Several gunmen ambushed a 19-year-old North Hollywood man and fatally shot him from behind as he and a friend walked down a quiet residential street in Sherman Oaks, police said Friday.

Darryl Modisett Jr. and a companion had visited a friend and were walking home along the south side of Magnolia Boulevard at 10:50 p.m. Thursday when several males suddenly opened fire, said homicide Detective Ed Heissel of the Los Angeles Police Department.

The shooting occurred as the two men walked past their attackers, who had been hiding, and entered the intersection of Magnolia and Varna Avenue, Heissel said.

“As far as we know, there was no confrontation,” Heissel said. “They were just shot at.”

Lt. Richard Blankenship said Modisett suffered several gunshot wounds and died at Northridge Hospital Medical Center shortly after the shooting. He said Modisett’s friend was uninjured and ran away after the shooting. His name was being withheld by police.

Police had no motive and no one in custody, and because Modisett’s friend saw them only from a distance, Blankenship said it was not known whether the victims knew their attackers.

Neighbors in the area said it was the first time in memory that gunshots had been heard in the quiet residential area just north of the Ventura Freeway. “But I certainly heard enough of them last night,” said one resident who lived near the intersection and called police.

“This is the first time we’ve had anything like this,” the resident said. “It’s very quiet around here, except for the traffic on Magnolia.”

The resident asked that his name not be used because, like other neighbors, he feared possible retaliation, perhaps by gang members. He said he heard five or six gunshots and that by the time he looked out the window, there was no trace of any gunmen.

“There wasn’t a thing in sight except for this guy crawling around on his hands and knees,” the resident said of Modisett. “There was no sound of a car racing away.”