Gang Shootout Kills Bystander, Injures 1

A 68-year-old man out for a walk with his grandchildren was killed and a tamale vendor wounded when they were caught in the cross-fire of a gang shootout in a South Los Angeles neighborhood Friday morning.

Police arrested two men within half an hour of the 8:40 a.m. killing, and extra platoons of specially trained officers were sent into the area because of the potential for retaliation.

Police said the two victims were shot as the final volleys of shots rang out in a gang shootout in the neighborhood. Black gang members in a car and Latino rivals on foot exchanged gunfire.

The men in the car kept firing as they sped away, pointing an assault rifle out the window, police said. Detectives believe their final bullets struck bystanders Carmelo Montes and a 35-year-old woman selling tamales, they said. The tamale vendor was expected to recover, police said.

Ana Maria Montes, wife of the slain victim, said the retired construction worker was entering their house when the shots were fired. He was struck behind an ear.

“He never had any problem with anyone, never got involved with any trouble,” said Montes, weeping in the street in a housecoat -- a few feet from a pile of bloody clothing -- after emergency workers removed her husband’s body.

Montes’ daughter Rosa Hernandez said he had stepped outside to watch the two grandchildren, ages 3 and 6. When they ran back into the house, their grandfather lagged a little behind, walking toward the house from across the street. It was then that he was shot, she said.

Ana Maria Montes wailed repeatedly in distress as she described her husband, an immigrant from Guanajuato, Mexico, as an unassuming family man.

Less than half an hour after the shootings, police acting on a tip arrested two men as they climbed out of a rusted, light-blue Chevrolet Caprice on a side street near South Main Street about a mile northwest of the slaying scene.

Brandon Charles Nichols, 20, and Lawrence Randel Fuller, 19, were held in connection with the killing.

Police credited the swift arrests to a single witness, said Cmdr. Jim Tatreau of LAPD’s 77th Division. He saw the shooting and followed the suspects in his car, calling police to tell them the suspects’ location.

“A break from a witness is what it is all about,” Tatreau said.

Police are seeking additional information in the case, and they have not yet found a weapon. They have asked people with information to call (213) 485-1385.

Montes’ death came after a moderately busy night in South Los Angeles, in which police responded to at least three non-injury shootings Thursday night and Friday morning.

“I’m so sick of this,” said Sgt. Kevin Scroggins. “It’s always the ones who had nothing to do with it who suffer.”