7 Wounded, 2 Critically, in South-Central Drive-by Attack

Seven young men were wounded--two of them critically--when gunmen in a passing car opened fire on a group standing in front of a home in South-Central Los Angeles Friday night.

Police said the attack apparently involved a dispute between rival Latino gangs.

Witnesses said about 10 shots were fired, apparently from an automatic pistol, as the light-colored sedan pulled up beside the young men on the sidewalk in the 200 block of east 88th Place.

A witness to the shooting said the wounded fell to the ground as the car sped away, heading east on 88th Place.

The victims were taken by ambulance to the Harbor-UCLA Medical Center in Torrance and St. Francis Medical Center in Lynwood. Paramedics said initial reports indicated that two of the victims were in critical condition and the others suffered only superficial wounds. None of the victims were immediately identified.

Police said the suspects remained at large.

A woman who lives in the block where the attack took place said the victims were “taggers, not gang members.” She said she thought most of them were students at nearby Fremont High School and Continuation School.

She said the young men in front of the home were “just hanging out on the street” when the car drove up and she heard the gunshots. She said she called 911 and dashed outside to help the wounded.

“Six guys were down on the sidewalk,” she said. “Some of them were moaning. One of them was crying. . . . One boy was clutching his leg, yelling for help.”

The woman said she grabbed a towel and used it to bind the wound of one young man whose leg was bleeding profusely. Arriving medics gave emergency treatment at the scene before transporting the wounded to hospitals.

The woman said gunfire in the neighborhood has become commonplace.

“We hear gunshots all the time,” she said. “Those guys are always out there firing guns into the air and one thing or another.”