VENICE : Man Charged in Slaying, 2 Other Gang Shootings
A Los Angeles 18-year-old has been charged with killing a man and wounding two women in a series of gang-related shootings that have plagued the Oakwood area of Venice in recent months.
Refugio Escobar was accused of using an assault rifle to shoot 21-year-old Anthony Bibbs 12 times outside an Oakwood-area apartment building Oct. 10. He also is charged with attempted murder in the wounding of Dinita White, 22, and Deborah Lewis, 37.
Prosecutors said the attack was gang related.
Bibbs died instantly when the three were shot in front of an apartment complex at 6th and Sunset avenues.
Since late September, more than 30 people have been shot--11 of them fatally--in a one-square-mile area of Venice and Mar Vista in what authorities have described as a cycle of retaliatory bloodshed involving three gangs.
A minor also has been implicated in the Oct. 10 shooting, but police have not yet presented their findings to the district attorney’s office.
Escobar’s arraignment has been scheduled for Jan. 12.
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