NBA Star’s Passenger Shot

A passenger in a rented $360,000 Bentley driven by Chicago Bulls basketball star Jalen Rose was shot in the face early Tuesday in what police described as a botched carjacking.

The man, whose identity was not released, suffered a wound that was not life-threatening, Los Angeles police spokesman Jack Richter said. Rose was unhurt.

The crime marked the second serious incident of violence in a week in the Police Department’s West Los Angeles Division, which has the lowest rate of homicides and serious crimes in the city.

Rose had stopped the 2002 Bentley Azure at a traffic light at Sunset Boulevard and Barrington Place about 3 a.m. when three men in a black, four-door Cadillac Escalade pulled up behind him, Richter said.

One of the men walked up to the passenger’s side of the Bentley, pulled out a gun and is believed to have said, “Give up the car,” Richter said.

Instead, Rose gunned the accelerator and the would-be thief fired several rounds at the car, hitting the passenger once.

The gunman was described as African American, 6-foot-6 and 160 pounds, with braided hair.

Investigators are pursuing several leads but have not made any arrests, LAPD officials said.

The 64-square-mile West Los Angeles Division includes some of the city’s toniest neighborhoods, including Brentwood, Pacific Palisades and Westwood.

Last week, less than a mile from the scene of the attempted carjacking, a lone gunman shot to death three men outside a Koo Koo Roo restaurant at Wilshire Boulevard and Bundy Drive. No arrests have been made.

Before the triple slaying Aug. 27, there had been only two homicides and a total of 750 violent crimes in the division this year, Richter said.