Gang Members Sought After Death at Party : Violence: The shooting began when the host confronted youths who had invaded the get-together in Carson. Investigators are not sure who fired the shot that killed one of the leaders of the melee.

Police are still searching for gang members who invaded a Carson home during a birthday party last weekend, causing a melee in which one of the leaders of the raid was shot to death.

The day after 17-year-old Guillermo Venegas died, gang members returned in a failed attempt to set the 182nd Street house on fire, said Los Angeles County sheriff’s deputies at the Carson station.

Venegas was leaving the house as gang members accompanying him fired into it and the host fired back, police said. A bullet passed through Venegas, but police have not found it and cannot tell if it was fired by the party host or gang members.

Police have withheld the host’s name for safety reasons. Sgt. Doral Riggs said even if investigators found that the host fired the fatal bullet, he probably would not be charged because it appeared he was defending his home.

Although there have been no arrests, investigators believe the Victoria Park gang was responsible and have questioned members. Deputies believe about 10 of the gang’s estimated 150 members participated in the attack.

Neither the host, who had recently moved to the area from another part of Los Angeles, nor party-goers were gang members, investigators said.

The shooting has cast fear over the community, with neighbors declining to comment on the incident for fear of retaliation from the gang.

“They can be very violent,” said Deputy Frank Carey, who is assigned to the Carson station’s anti-gang Operation Safe Streets unit.

“They had a similar incident just a few months ago that was a triple homicide--and that was just in a squabble between themselves, all members of the same gang,” Carey said. “Then after the homicides, members of (Victoria Park) went to the suspect’s house and burnt that to the ground.”

The gang’s neighborhood stretches north of Victoria Park to Victoria Street, between Main Street and Avalon Boulevard. Of the 45 gangs in the surrounding area, Victoria Park is one of the 25 or so specifically targeted by Operation Safe Streets, Carey said.

“But basically, you can’t bring a gang under control. That has to happen in the home,” Carey said.

While some gang members’ parents refuse to believe their child could be involved in shootings and drug dealings, others do know but don’t know how to control their children, Carey said.

“Yesterday we served a warrant on a 14-year-old member of Victoria Park, and the mother and father were saying that he’d been arrested four times in the past three weeks.”

Riggs gave this account of the events leading up to last weekend’s fatal shooting, based on accounts from witnesses:

“Some local gang members drove by the party and were flashing gang signs. They inquired about the party and the kids said it wasn’t really a party, just a few friends getting together. The gang members said, ‘We’ll make it a party!’ ”

About 20 minutes later, three or four carloads of gang members pulled up and charged the house, Riggs said. People outside the house ran inside and locked it, but the gang members burst in and went from room to room breaking furniture and attacking people until the host returned with a gun and exchanged gunfire with the gang members.

The gang members were “breaking down the front door, breaking furniture and attacking patrons. One had a brick, another had a club and another had a gun,” Riggs said.

Two of the party-goers were injured by the gang members. One was shot in the arm and another was wounded in the head. Both were treated at Los Angeles County Harbor/UCLA Medical Center and released.