Deputies Seek Suspect in 2 Shootings

Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Department investigators are seeking the public’s help in tracking down a Pasadena gang member suspected in two shootings.

Elrader Ray Browning Jr., 20, is wanted in connection with the Aug. 31 shooting of a fellow gang member in a Palmdale apartment complex and the July 20 shooting of a rival gangster in Pasadena’s Villa Park, sheriff’s spokesman Paul Ullmann said.

“What concerns us is he doesn’t care who’s around when he gets ready to shoot,” Ullmann said. “In the Palmdale shooting, there were kids around and several people in the area. A bullet doesn’t care where it lands; he could have killed anybody.

“We are considering him armed and extremely dangerous.”

Officers interviewed Browning two days before the August shooting and discovered he was a gang member, said Antelope Valley sheriff’s Deputy Mark Machanic. The 26-year-old victim in that incident was struck six times by .38-caliber bullets after a disagreement with Browning over a dice game, Machanic said.

In Pasadena, Browning is suspected of gunning down a rival in retaliation in an ongoing dispute between gangs, said Sgt. Thomas J. Pederson of the Pasadena Police Department.

Browning, who was released on parole for weapons violations less than two years ago from the California Youth Authority, stands about 5 feet 4, weighs 140 pounds and has short brown hair, brown eyes and tattoos on his chest and arms.

Also known as “Lil Ray,” he reportedly has gang and family connections in Palmdale, the San Fernando Valley and Inglewood, Ullmann said.

Anyone with information on Browning’s whereabouts is asked to call the Sheriff’s Department at (661) 267-4300 or the Pasadena Police Department at (626) 744-4511.