A WEEK OF HOMICIDES

Over a typical seven days in summer of 1994, a slaying occurred every five hours on average in Los Angeles County. The killings matched the modern profile of homicides in the county. Most killers went unpunished.

“The effect of murder ripples and goes far beyond what you first believe, the lives it affects. In fact, it tears a little bit our of our society.”

--Sheriff’s Det. Sgt. Joe Purcell

Who, What, Where

* Willful Homicides: 32

* Victims: 14 Latinos, 13 Blacks, 4 Whites, 1 Asian

* Causes: 14 gang-slayings, 10 arguments/brawls, 2 domestic disputes, 2 robberies, 2 drug-related, 2 others.

* Primary location: 23 outdoors or on the street

* Times: Half on Friday and Saturday alone, two-thirds during the evening and early-morning hours.

* Outcomes: No prosecutions in nearly half the cases. Dismissals, acquittals or suspects released in almost 20% of arrests. Convictions in 9 cases. One court case is pending.

* Bottom line: Two-thirds of the killers escaped punishment

****

Sunday, July 31

1) 9 p.m.: Francisco Robert Vasquez, 20, is shot numerous times in an East Los Angeles alley. Vasquez may have been killed by fellow gang members, police say. Empty shell casings are found at the scene. But no gun is found and no suspects are arrested (Gang-related).

2) 10 p.m.: Ryan Joseph Gago, 27, is hit by gunfire while talking with a friend in a crowd at a South-Central Los Angeles street corner. He dies a short time later. Police are still searching for his killer (Gang-related).

3) 11 p.m.: After a dispute with gang rivals over neighborhood graffiti, Louis Glover, 15, is shot while standing outside a Gardena apartment building. A suspect is arrested but released when eyewitness recants identification. Case is unsolved (Gang-related).

****

Monday, August 1

4) 9 p.m.: During an argument in Lancaster over a $25 baby-sitting debt, Toriano Remone Jackson, 24, is stabbed by a cousin and dies hours later. The cousin is convicted of voluntary manslaughter (Arguments).

5) 9 p.m.: Three gunmen chase Kevin Hosea Barron, 16, who had been standing with friends outside a Pomona apartment house. The pursuit ends in an alley where Barron is shot and killed. Witness descriptions are vague, and no suspects are arrested (Drug-related).

6) 11 p.m.: Near MacArthur Park, at a drug sales corner controlled by 18th Street gang members, Louie Herrera, 27, is killed in a burst of gunfire. A suspect is identified, but charges are dropped after a witness becomes uncooperative, then disappears (Drug-related).

****

Tuesday, August 2

7) 1 p.m.: During a violent struggle, Richard Truong, 29, is stabbed dozens of times in his San Gabriel home. Initially, sheriff deputies link the killing to Truong’s heavy gambling debts, but then a family member becomes the suspect (Arguments).

8) 3 p.m.: An argument at a Westside eatery over a financial dispute ends with Dmitri Sokolov, 31, being fatally shot in the chest. A Santa Monica man, 41, is convicted and sentenced to 19 years in prison (Arguments).

9) 9 p.m.: Alleged Five Tray Gangster Crips member Danny “Crazy Ray” Nichols, 30, is hit by gunfire near a liquor store at 51st Street and Avalon Boulevard. A former friend of the victim is found not guilty after defense argues that sloppy police work led to the arrest of the wrong man (Gang-related).

****

Wednesday, August 3

10) 2 a.m.: As his wife and 10-year-old son look on, Hector Lopez Hernandez, 24, is gunned down in a South-Central Los Angeles garage by an armed robber as Hernandez pleads for his life. A gang member is found guilty in the shooting (Robbery).

11) 6 p.m.: A business dispute at a Wilshire Boulevard mortgage company office ends with Daamu Jamal Hill, 24, fatally shot. His killer is sentenced to 11 years in prison (Arguments).

Thursday, August 4

12) 2 a.m.: As his wife watches from the window of the family home in Compton, Luis Olivo, 54, and his brother-in-law head out to work and are confronted by a would-be robber, who shoots both men, fatally wounding Olivo. No suspect is identified (Robbery).

13) 3 p.m.: Suffering physical and mental health problems, Alice Davis, 78, of Downey is shot in bed by her husband, 75, who then calls police. The man shoots himself and dies six hours later (Domestic).

14) 9 p.m.: Halting his car at a stop sign in Bell, motorist Ali Tehfeh is struck by gunfire from another vehicle. The 18-year-old guides his car to the curb, then dies from a gunshot wound. His passenger is uninjured. No arrests are made (Gang-related).

15) 9 p.m.: Using a phone booth outside an East Los Angeles liquor store, one-time gang member Robert Henry Galindo, 35, is fatally wounded by a gunman who steps from a car. Murder charges are filed against a 19-year-old rival gang member (Gang-related).

16) 11 p.m.: Ricky Delgado Torres, 36, walks along an Azusa alley notorious for drug deals. He encounters two men in a Jeep and smashes a glass beer mug against the side of the vehicle. Torres is shot half a dozen times. One man is convicted of first-degree murder and another is acquitted (Arguments).

****

Friday, August 5

17) 12 a.m.: Carvin Williams, 33, is fatally shot during an argument reportedly involving the price of drugs at a crack cocaine sales spot in South-Central. A man police suspect of distributing crack at the location is convicted of second-degree murder (Drug-related).

18) 5 p.m.: Howard Earl Jones, 19, is shot in the head after an altercation in East Rancho Dominguez near Compton. Investigators say Jones had been arrested two weeks earlier on drug charges and suspect that the killing is drug-related. No arrests have been made (Drug-related).

19) 8 p.m.: An argument over sunglasses near a drug sales corner in Pico-Union ends with a transient, Ferney Moreno, 41, killed by gunfire. An alleged gang member is convicted of murder and sentenced to 30 years to life in prison (Arguments).

20) 9 p.m.: Freddie Donnel Ross, 39, is shot in the leg after an apparent argument in a South-Central Los Angeles home. He bleeds to death waiting for paramedics. Suspect is acquitted of murder and manslaughter charges. Jury deadlocks on assault charge (Arguments).

21) 9 p.m.: In what apparently began as a parking dispute, Jorge Gracia Jr., 24, confronts several men attending a party next door to his Bell Gardens home. The confrontation ends with Gracia dead from stab wounds. Suspects are believed to be gang members (Arguments).

22) 10 p.m.: Driving his van in the northeast San Fernando Valley, John Black, 28, a Van Nuys floor installer, is killed by gunfire from a pursuing car. The suspect, an ex-boyfriend of a woman Black had befriended, remains at large (Domestic).

****

Saturday, August 6

23) 1 a.m.: Viola Pirtle Woods, 51, mother of a key witness in the 1993 killing of two Compton police officers, is shot on a street near the Nickerson Gardens housing project. The son contends that the shooting was revenge, sues police for not protecting his family. But investigators say Woods’ death appears accidental, the result of gang activity. No arrests are made (Gang-related).

24) 2 a.m.: Man steps from a car at a 18th Street gang hangout north of Koreatown and fires a gun at close range, killing Rigoberto Rodriguez, 27. Witnesses refuse to cooperate. No suspects are identified (Gang-related).

25) 10 a.m.: A transient, Jaime Garcia, 50, is stabbed in the neck while standing in a Los Angeles skid row phone booth. With little evidence and conflicting testimony, jury finds another transient, 45, not guilty (Other).

26) 27) Noon: In Compton, a man exchanges words with Benjamin Rodriguez, 19, right, an alleged gang member, then shoots him. Gunman also kills a neighbor, Juan Vega, 30, who is not linked to gangs. Suspect is released when witnesses fail to pick him out in a lineup (Arguments).

28) 1 p.m.: Melvin Ray Auston, 14, is hanging out with friends at a residence southeast of downtown when he is shot in the head by another teenager clowning with a gun. A 15-year-old pleads guilty to manslaughter (Other).

29) 3 p.m.: An altercation between rival gangs at a Long Beach housing project erupts in gunfire. Deon Sanders, 19, is fatally shot and another man is wounded. Weeks later, Sanders’ killer, 17, is arrested and later pleads to manslaughter (Gang-related).

30) 9 p.m.: Claudia Urrutia, 13, a junior high school student living on the street where Rigoberto Rodriguez was gunned down earlier in the day, becomes the unintended victim of bullets fired at passing car similar to one used in the earlier killing. A gang member, 19, is convicted of second-degree murder (Gang-related).

31) 10 p.m.: Police say gang members, seeking retaliation for an earlier shooting, see Jaime Medina, 31, outside a friend’s home and open fire. The friend rushes out to help Medina, a non-gang member, but Medina dies. No arrests are made (Gang-related).

32) 11 p.m.: At a party in Long Beach, a gunman walks up to Rodney Bonner, 26, and kills him, then chases another party-goer and wounds him with automatic gunfire. Despite having 50 to 100 onlookers, no one admits seeing anything. Case remains unsolved (Gang-related).

Researched by NONA YATES, RICH CONNELL and VICTOR MERINA / Los Angeles Times

Note: Some photos unavailable