6 Wounded as Gunfire Rakes Baseball Field

Youthful ballplayers and terrified spectators scattered for cover Monday evening as gunfire raked a Little League baseball field in Cypress Park, wounding six young men as they ran from an adjacent gymnasium, Los Angeles police said.

Detectives said the attack apparently was gang-related, and fear of possible retaliation prompted intensified security procedures at County-USC Medical Center, where five victims--ages 14 to 20--were undergoing emergency treatment. Three were listed in critical condition, two in serious condition. One was not badly wounded.

Jose Cruz, 29, who was visiting the Cypress Park recreation area on San Fernando Road with some friends, said a dispute apparently started about 5:30 p.m. in the gymnasium, where a pickup basketball game was in progress.

“We saw these guys--six or seven of them--walk out of the gym, and all of a sudden, they started to run,” Cruz said. “There were four other guys in a white car, and all of them started shooting--probably seven or eight shots,” Cruz said.

“The guys coming out of the gym went down, and the car drove away real fast.”

Fifi Leon, 23, said she and a friend were walking through the park, on their way to watch the Little League game, when they heard “what sounded like a machine gun.”

“People were running everywhere,” she said. “Except for the ball field, it was real dark, and you couldn’t tell what was happening. It was really scary.”

Park officials said they herded the young ballplayers and some of the spectators into the recreation center’s administration office, where they took refuge until police secured the area.

The victims were not immediately identified. Police were searching for suspects Monday night.