Car Passenger Fatally Shot by Bicyclist

Antoine Tobias was the latest victim of what Lynwood residents and authorities on Friday were calling an unusual and frightening outburst of violence in the area.

Tobias, 31, was a passenger in a car when he was shot by someone riding a bicycle about 9:30 Thursday night, said Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Deputy Alba Harrison.

The bicyclist rode up to the car in the 12300 block of Long Beach Boulevard and said something to its two occupants, Harrison said. He then shot into the car, striking Tobias.

The driver took Tobias to Compton, where paramedics treated him, Harrison said. He was then taken to a local hospital, where he died of his wounds.

Meanwhile, a deputy who heard the gunshots on Long Beach Boulevard went to the shooting scene, Harrison said.

The deputy saw the assailant, still riding his bicycle, with another man running beside him, Harrison said.

The assailant had one hand on the handlebars and the other clutching something in his waistband, Harrison said.

The deputy twice ordered the two men to stop, but they did not comply and the man on the bicycle appeared to pull something from his waistband. Fearing for his safety, the deputy fired a shot at the bicyclist but apparently missed, Harrison said.

The bicyclist fled and the other man was detained for questioning, Harrison said.

The deputy was not injured.

Sheriff’s Deputy Harry Drucker said seven of the 12 killings this year in the area policed by the sheriff’s Century Station, which includes Lynwood, Willowbrook, Athens, Walnut Park, and parts of Florence, happened in Lynwood. Of those seven, five happened on or near Long Beach Boulevard.

Several were gang-related.

“Gang shootings, when they’re at their peak, tend to follow a retaliatory fashion,” Drucker said.

Sgt. Gary Miller of the sheriff’s homicide division said there has been a noticeable increase in cases believed to involve gangs.

In other violence in the area in recent days, a teenager was fatally shot Wednesday on Long Beach Boulevard near the Century Freeway.

A day earlier, the driver and passenger of a white minivan apparently grew impatient as the car in front of them waited for a stoplight to change at Long Beach Boulevard and Euclid Avenue. They stepped from the van and fired at least five shots into the car, killing the 43-year-old driver and wounding a passenger.

Authorities called the fatal attack a case of road rage.

They said no arrests had been made in those cases as of Friday night.

“It’s a very dangerous area,” said Jose Frayre, who works at Don’s TV VCR Stereo Shop. “I’d like to have more police around.”

Michael Baca, who founded Earn Respect, a nonprofit gang intervention program, said young people in the area need more activities to keep them out of trouble.

“It’s not just a law enforcement problem,” said Baca, who knew some of the recent shooting victims. “These guys go to jail and when they get there, there’s no alternative but for them to become worse.”