Drive-By Shooting Near Compton High Injures 5

Gunfire from a car sent a pickup truck carrying five teenagers crashing through a wrought-iron gate Wednesday at Compton High School, breaking a student’s leg, police said.

The shooting left the 18-year-old pickup driver, Florentino Reyes, in critical condition at a local hospital.

The 17-year-old student whose leg was broken was leaving school when he was struck.

A 37-year-old neighborhood resident, LaRonda Rucker, was shot in the leg as she stood outside the St. Timothy Towers senior housing complex, authorities said.

Two passengers in the pickup who are Compton High School students suffered superficial gunshot wounds, said Compton Police Lt. Shaun Mathers.

Although gunfire hit Reyes in the shoulder, his most serious injuries appeared to have occurred when the pickup crashed into the thick gate blocking the school’s rear exit, Mathers said.

The impact uprooted the gate, leaving large chunks of dirt exposed.

“The pickup was traveling fast, like a bullet, when it crashed into the gate,” said Crensensio Gomez, 60, who saw the incident.

The shooting occurred at South Oleander Avenue and Myrrh Street about 20 minutes after students were let out of Compton High for the day.

The pickup was southbound on Oleander when gunfire erupted from a beige Cadillac traveling north, Mathers said.

Bullets hit the pickup, the senior apartment complex and at least one parked car, sending residents and students scurrying for cover.

“I hit the ground hard,” said Deborah Berkbigler, a St. Timothy Towers resident who was at Oleander and Laurel Street when the shooting occurred. “The sound reminded me of the mini-submachine guns the mob used to use in St. Louis.”

Anyone with information on the shooting is asked to call the Compton sheriff’s station at (310) 605-6500.