Woman Killed, Man Wounded in Gang-Related Venice Shooting
After a spell of peace in the Oakwood area of Venice, a sidewalk shooting that police described as gang-related left one woman dead and a man wounded early Sunday.
Los Angeles police said three men walked up to 25-year-old Nicole Mitchell and her companion, Eddie Cagle, 39, about 1 a.m. as the two were walking near 5th and Sunset avenues.
After a brief argument, one of the men pulled out a rifle and began shooting.
Mitchell died there. Cagle was taken to a local hospital and treated for a leg wound.
Witnesses told police that the assailants yelled out what sounded like gang names when they shot the couple. Lt. Dan Keef said robbery was not involved.
The Oakwood area of Venice was the site of a series of gang-related shootings from late 1993 to September, 1994, as black and Latino gangs engaged in gun battles that left more than 17 people dead. One incident that drew an outcry was the June 10, 1994, slaying of two Latino teen-agers, neither of them gang members, sitting in their car on Venice Boulevard.
A truce put together by police and gang members has helped the residents of the Oakwood area feel safer and has stifled the shootings.
“Things have really calmed down in the last year or so,” Keef said. “We just have a lot of narcotics transactions in the area.”
Start your day right
Sign up for Essential California for news, features and recommendations from the L.A. Times and beyond in your inbox six days a week.
You may occasionally receive promotional content from the Los Angeles Times.
