Driver, 3 Passengers Shot in Car-to-Car Altercation

Four young men were wounded during a car-to-car shootout early Sunday morning while they were waiting at a stoplight in a popular cruising area, Los Angeles Police said.

The victims, ages 16 to 24 and all from Pacoima, were stopped at Laurel Canyon Boulevard and Chatsworth Drive at 2:30 a.m. when another carload of young men pulled up and asked where they were from, said LAPD Foothill Division Det. Bob Brophy.

After a short argument, a man in the second car pulled out a 9-millimeter pistol and starting firing, Brophy said.

Despite being shot in the neck, the driver managed to speed away. Three of his four passengers were also hit.

He drove to Providence Holy Cross Medical Center in Mission Hills, where the passengers were treated for gunshot wounds and released. The driver remained at the hospital in serious condition, police said.

The suspect was driving a gray American-made sedan and remains at large, police said.

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In the same neighborhood three hours earlier, a 25-year-old man was shot in the leg during an argument with a motorist, police said.

The two incidents were not related, police said, but the area of the northeast San Fernando Valley where they occurred is a popular cruising spot and was especially rowdy over the weekend because of many high school graduations.