10 Shot to Death During Weekend

Ten people were killed and 15 wounded in weekend violence that began Friday evening and primarily involved gangs in South Los Angeles, police said Monday.

It was the bloodiest weekend in the city since 14 people were killed in four days last November, authorities said.

LAPD Deputy Chief Mike Hillmann said the amount of violence appeared to be an anomaly, but “we haven’t had a weekend like this in quite some time.”

Deputy Chief Earl C. Paysinger, head of operations at the LAPD’s South Bureau, said the violence could signal a violent summer.

“It causes me great concern. If what we saw in the last three days because of the weather or whatever factors that led to this explosive degree of violence are a precursor to what lies before us in the summer, then we’re going to have a tough summer,” Paysinger said.

Already, he said, the bureau plans an emphasis on putting more officers on the streets this summer.

Summer, he said, always tends “to be a bit of a challenge for us.” The first fatal shooting was reported Friday at 5:18 p.m. in the 1000 block of West 66th Street, when a group of people approached another group on the sidewalk and opened fire.

Semaji Omar Cryer, 20, died at a hospital. Three of his friends and a nearby woman were wounded.

Early Saturday, two people were killed by drive-by shooters in the 5800 block of Willoughby Avenue in Hollywood.

They were 18-year-old Javier Rangel of Hollywood and a 22-year-old companion whose name was withheld pending notification of his family.

In Southwest Los Angeles, a man who police said initially was trying to reconcile with his girlfriend about 9 a.m. Saturday asked his two teenage sons to step outside their Bonsallo Avenue home.

He then went back inside and shot Paula Portillo, 43, before turning the gun on himself.

A second double shooting was reported at 11:35 p.m. Jose Rodriguez, 16, and Emmanuel Montes, 18, both of Los Angeles, were shot multiple times by someone on foot as they stood in the 800 block of 95th Street in South Los Angeles. Both died at a hospital.

Ten minutes later in the same area, Carlos Perez, 19, of Los Angeles was killed by a drive-by shooter in the 10900 block of Avalon Boulevard, a police spokesman said.

On Sunday, Thomas Lee Campbell, 20, of Ontario and another man were in a home in the 1500 block of North Avalon Boulevard when the shotgun the other man was handling went off, killing Campbell. The shooter fled, police said.

At 8:20 p.m. Sunday, Jorge Guerra, 21, of Harbor City died after a gang-related shooting at 70th Street and Grand Avenue, police said.

On Monday, at 2:50 a.m., a carjacker trying to take 25-year-old Ryan James Groetkin’s Lexus fatally shot him in the 1800 block of North Cherokee Avenue in Hollywood, police said.