LAPD Adds Patrols in Van Nuys : Violence: Police boost presence following Friday’s gang-related double slaying, which began a bloody weekend in the Valley.

In an effort to stave off more violence, Los Angeles police announced Monday that they have boosted patrols in Van Nuys following a gang-related double slaying, although they see no danger that the truce among San Fernando Valley gangs is deteriorating.

The killings of Armando Estrada, 18, and Miguel Angel Limon, 21, on Friday were among three gang shootings in the San Fernando Valley over the Easter weekend.

On Sunday, two youths were blinded and six others were injured when a gunman fired on a group in Pacoima. About an hour later, a teen-ager was found shot to death several miles away in Sun Valley in an apparent gang-related attack.

In the first three months of this year there have been seven gang-related killings in the Valley, and gang violence is up roughly 5% over the previous year, according to police statistics.

Nevertheless, despite that increase and the three incidents during the weekend, the LAPD and community members insist that the 18-month-old truce among Latino gangs in the Valley is still in effect. The recent violence, police say, was perpetrated by youths who are not participating in the truce.

Police suspect members of a non-Latino gang of shooting Estrada and Limon, both of Van Nuys. And a 17-year-old Latino who allegedly had a personal dispute with another gang member, unrelated to gang issues, has been arrested in Sunday’s shootings that left eight injured.

“These were isolated incidents that all happened on the same weekend, but were not related to each other,” said Lt. Fred Tuller, who heads the LAPD Valley Bureau’s gang unit. “There’s not a gang war going on out there.”

To ensure that one doesn’t erupt, additional officers have been assigned to patrol the neighborhood where Estrada and Limon were killed. The shootings took place on Valerio Street between Van Nuys Boulevard and Hazeltine Avenue.

Limon and Estrada had apparently met with friends Friday evening when they were approached by six to 10 apparently Asian youths who shot them, said Detective Jim Tiampo of the LAPD’s Asian Crime Unit.

“The kids ran for safety and tried to get in an apartment building but the security gate kept them out of the courtyard,” Tiampo said. “They were cornered and that’s when they were gunned down.”

A third victim, Eugene Alonzo, 21, was listed in fair condition Monday with a wound to his buttock, Tiampo said. The incident appears to be the result of an ongoing conflict over territory between Latino and Asian gang members on Valerio Street.

“It would appear that this is an ongoing dispute between two factions that live on the same block,” Tiampo said. “It goes back several months, if not years.”

“Armando hung out with gang members, but he wasn’t one,” said Estrada’s mother, Maria. She said her 19-year-old son was a student at Monroe High School and had a girlfriend.

LAPD Capt. James McMurray, commanding officer of the Van Nuys Division, said there will be a stepped-up patrol presence in the area until the killers are arrested and until the department is confident that there will be no retaliation for Friday’s slayings. McMurray said he also believes the Valley’s gang truce is “alive and well.”

“Unfortunately, not every gang has bought into it,” McMurray said. “I wish that were so.”

LAPD Detective Frank Bishop of the Foothill Division said Sunday’s shooting that left eight youths injured may have involved gang members, but was not a gang action.

“There was a personal problem one guy had with another guy,” Bishop said.

Following a dispute, a 17-year-old youth apparently returned to the scene on Haddon Avenue between Sunburst and Kamloops streets with a shotgun and opened fire on the crowd, Bishop said. Police plan to ask prosecutors to charge the youth with attempted murder.

Steve Martinez, a former gang member who has worked to maintain the truce, said the shooting was particularly disturbing because all eight victims were participating in the truce, which he also believes is still in effect.

“We’re meeting with members of a Pacoima gang to see how we can resolve the situation,” Martinez said. “It was a terrible weekend.”

Indeed, Rafael Soledad Marron, 16, of North Hollywood, was added to the Valley’s homicide list when he was found dead Sunday morning, shot in the head on Dronfield Avenue between Art and Fenway streets. Bishop said police were called after a security guard reported hearing shots early that morning.

Marron’s mother, Soledad Marron, said her son had been involved in gangs since he was in junior high school. “I didn’t know much about what he did when he was with them,” she said.

She said her son stopped attending school a few months ago after he was put on probation for missing classes and would not let her enroll him in a new school, claiming his safety was at risk.

“He said in the other schools he wouldn’t live,” Soledad Marron said.

So far this year, gang-related violence has taken the lives of:

* Alex Boroomi, 18, who died Jan. 2 after being shot while riding in a car with friends in Northridge. Two youths have been charged with Boroomi’s murder.

* Alex Aguirre, 25, who was fatally shot Jan. 21 over a $20 narcotics debt in a North Hills apartment complex, allegedly by a fellow gang member who was arrested in February.

* Eric Bustamante, 21, who was not a gang member but was killed by possibly eight to 10 gang members who chased him down and shot him to death Jan. 28.

* Curtis Jefferson, 33, who was found shot in the head Feb. 4 in a North Hills apartment building. A 21-year-old Reseda man was arrested on suspicion of the killing.

* David Duran, 17, who was gunned down Feb. 26 outside a Pacoima apartment complex. Three other people were wounded.

* Salvador Ayala, a gang member who was shot to death March 1 at a Mission Hills condominium complex. Two others were wounded.

Times staff writer Jeannette DeSantis contributed to this story.