Basketball Star, Two Others Die in Bloody Holiday Weekend : Violence: Four people also are wounded in gang attack, drive-by shooting and fights in Santa Monica and Venice.

In one of the Westside’s bloodiest holiday weekends in recent years, violence sparked by everything from longstanding gang rivalries to a chance collision between two pedestrians left three men dead and four injured in Santa Monica and Venice, authorities said.

The case garnering the most attention was the shooting death last Friday of Davy Fortson, a star player on the Santa Monica College basketball team. Funeral services are scheduled to be held Friday for Fortson, who helped his team to a conference title less than an hour before his death.

Fortson’s was one of three murders in Santa Monica during the long weekend. A second man was fatally shot in a separate incident on Friday, and a third man was killed and another injured in a drive-by shooting on Monday. On Saturday night, one man was stabbed in a fight between two rival gangs on the Santa Monica Pier. And on Venice Beach, one man was shot and another stabbed in a Sunday afternoon brawl that began when one beach-goer bumped into another on the crowded boardwalk.

“This is one of the worst weekends we’ve had in several years,” said Santa Monica police Sgt. Gary Gallinot. The weekend violence boosted Santa Monica’s homicide total for the year to four--half the number for all of 1994.

Fortson was gunned down at a burger stand just before 10 p.m. Friday.

Fortson, 19, was eating with friends and a relative at Tommy’s World Famous Hamburgers at Lincoln and Pico boulevards when they were confronted by as many as a half dozen Latino youths, according to police and witnesses. A fight ensued and a 16-year-old boy allegedly shot Fortson once in the chest with a .25-caliber handgun.

Police said Fortson and his friends were not affiliated with any gangs and were dressed in athletic gear, not the baggy clothing sometimes associated with gang members. But that was not enough to save them from trouble, said police and those who were with Fortson.

In fact, they say, it was only moments after Fortson and his friends entered Tommy’s, laughing and joking about the game, that the assailants approached, looking for a fight.

While Fortson and a friend ordered food and grabbed a table, his cousin, Robert Ross, 21, said he saw the group of teen-agers enter from the restaurant’s back door. “What’s up? Where are you guys from?” the assailants asked, according to Ross.

Certain the group wanted a fight, Ross said he and others, including friend Otis Allen, 21, tried to deflect the questions and calm the situation.

“We don’t want no trouble. We don’t want no trouble,” Allen remembered friends telling the group. And while his friends spoke, Allen said, he warned them the assailants were armed.

“I said, ‘They got heat, They got heat. Chill out,’ ” Allen recalled. “I hadn’t seen a gun but I knew they wouldn’t approach us like that if they didn’t have a gun . . . We were much bigger than them (and) if it came down to a rumble, we would have demolished them.”

That never happened. Quickly, Allen said, the words grew louder, a fistfight erupted and one of the attackers pulled out a chrome-handled revolver. After the gunshot, everyone including Fortson ran from the restaurant. But Fortson collapsed after running only a few feet down Pico.

“I walked over to the concrete and he was face down. He was motionless,” said Fortson’s cousin, Ross. “I grabbed his hand and reassured him everything is going to be OK. I was telling him the ambulance was coming, to stay strong and keep breathing.”

But then, Ross said, “Davy started shaking violently.” Then, he added, “He stopped.”

“(A) tear dropped from his eye,” Ross recalled. And a woman who had been comforting Fortson said she could no longer find a pulse. A few minutes later, Ross said, an ambulance arrived and took Fortson to Harbor-UCLA Medical Center where he was pronounced dead.

Shortly after the shooting, police arrested two 16-year-olds who are being held at Juvenile Hall in Downtown Los Angeles. One teen-ager--the alleged gunman--is a former Santa Monica High School student who was enrolled at the Olympic Continuation School in Santa Monica. Both youths are to be arraigned Friday in Inglewood Juvenile Court.

On Monday, police also arrested Miguel Chavez, 19, and a 17-year-old later released pending further investigation. Chavez also will be arraigned Friday in Santa Monica Superior Court.

Although police have not established a motive for the attack, officials said they believe the incident represents an escalation in serious crime among taggers because the assailants are believed to be members of a local gang of graffiti vandals.

“When we talk of taggers we think of spray paint,” said Sgt. Gallinot. “But now taggers are carrying guns and knives and are crossing a line that involves more gang-type activity, such as marking territory and challenging other people. We don’t know why (Fortson) was confronted--maybe they thought his group was from another organization.”

The 16-year-old shooting suspect was arrested at his girlfriend’s Santa Monica home. The girl’s mother, Tina LoPorto, said Wednesday that the suspect belonged to a Christian youth organization and that he and those who accompanied him had no history of violence.

“None of these kids were members of a gang,” LoPorto said. “They were going to school, trying to better their lives.”

Friends and relatives of Fortson, meanwhile, said he was dedicated to his basketball career and one day hoped to make it to the professional ranks. Fortson’s mother and stepfather were at his final game.

“I didn’t say too much to him after the game,” said Rochelle Wilkerson, the youth’s mother. “I patted him on the chest and he grabbed my hand. ‘I’ll see you tomorrow!’--those were the last words we spoke.”

The weekend of violence started Friday morning when a maintenance crew discovered a 40-year-old transient fatally shot on Santa Monica beach. The body of Robert Joe Monchton was found at 5:30 a.m. a few feet from the water’s edge.

Monchton had arrived in Santa Monica from Oregon a couple of weeks ago. He had recently been arrested by police on burglary charges, and was out of jail pending trial, Gallinot said.

Of the more than 300,000 people estimated to have come to Westside beaches over Presidents’ Day weekend, some were members of various Los Angeles area gangs, police said. And their presence led to arguments that escalated into violence in several of the incidents, Gallinot said.

On Saturday night, a man was stabbed by a 13-year-old youth in a fight between two gangs--from Hollywood and East Los Angeles--on the Santa Monica Pier and adjacent parking lot.

Police said Los Angeles resident Davey Jones was stabbed once by the unidentified youth, and is reportedly in stable condition. Jones’ age was not available.

After the stabbing, the fight moved to the parking lot. The 13-year-old and his two brothers, ages 14 and 17, allegedly pulled out a .22-caliber rifle and fired it at Jones and his friends. No one was hit by the gunfire, and police immediately arrested the three brothers, Gallinot said. The three were charged with attempted murder and assault with a deadly weapon, and are in the custody of juvenile authorities.

On Monday, Santa Monica police said one man was killed and another was injured in a drive-by shooting that was believed to be drug or gang related.

At 11:45 p.m., police said two Santa Monica gang members were standing in the 1900 block of 19th Street when several Latino men in a car fired shots at the pair.

Santa Monica resident Sal Palomino, 21, was hit once in the chest and died of his wounds at a nearby hospital. Jonathan Fragoso, 35, also of Santa Monica, was shot in the leg, and is in stable condition at Santa Monica Hospital, Gallinot said.

And in another Sunday afternoon incident, this one on Venice Beach, police arrested a couple on suspicion of assault with a deadly weapon after a fight on the boardwalk.

Evan Sanchez, 33, and his fiance, Myrna Vasquez, 26, were walking down the popular beach path with Vasquez’s two small children when Sanchez was bumped by another man, part of a group of four youths, police said.

After some pushing and shoving, Sanchez pulled out a knife and was wrestled to the ground by the friends of his adversary. One of the men, Anthony Phillips, 27, was stabbed in the left arm and chest.

Vasquez then pulled out a handgun and fired a shot into the group, grazing Frank Buckley, 24, in the shoulder. Buckley was treated and released from Harbor-UCLA Medical Center on Monday. Phillips is in good condition, said a hospital spokesman.

Sanchez and Vasquez were arrested but released on their own recognizance, claiming they acted in self-defense.