Gunfire Claims Nine Men on Night of Southland Violence

Three men traveling on the San Bernardino Freeway died of gunshot wounds early Tuesday after men in a passing car opened fire on them near El Monte, Los Angeles County sheriff’s deputies said.

The victims, all in their late teens or early 20s, drove to nearby Rosemead, where paramedics met them at Temple City Boulevard and Loftus Drive. One man died at the scene. Two others died at a hospital. A fourth man in the car was treated and released, said Deputy Gabe Ramirez. The motive was not known and deputies were seeking further information on the slaying.

The freeway shooting was one of six incidents reported during an unusually deadly night. Gun violence across the county resulted in nine deaths, according to the county coroner’s office.

In another incident, a 19-year-old suspected gang member identified as Jose Gonzalez and three friends were outside a home in El Sereno at 11:40 p.m., when a car pulled up. One person emerged from the car and opened fire, then sped away, Los Angeles Police Detective Charles Markel said.

Wounded by gunfire, Gonzalez and his companions managed to get to their car and began driving to County-USC Medical Center. But the car ran into a fire hydrant at Valley Boulevard and Eastern Avenue. Gonzalez was pronounced dead at the scene.

“The shooting was a continuation of a war between rival gangs,” Markel said.

Meanwhile, detectives in Long Beach were investigating the deaths of two men who were shot while sitting in a parked car.

Police said a gunman emerged from a light-colored car on 67th Way near Long Beach Boulevard and shot into the driver’s side of the parked car, killing the driver and passenger.

In East Los Angeles, two men--one 19 years old and the other 20--were killed in separate drive-by shootings. In the sixth overnight incident, a 20-year-old man was killed in North Hollywood.