New year met with a flare-up of shootings
Two killed; five injured
Another round of senseless shootings recently erupted in the South Central Los Angeles area, taking the lives of two and injuring five others.
A 17-year-old victim was taken to the hospital in critical condition on Dec. 29 when a passenger in a brown Buick ran up and shot him in the neck at 53rd Street at Normandie Avenue about 10 a.m., according to the Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Department.
The suspect, described as a Black male wearing a dark sweatshirt and pants, fled west on 53rd Street in the car. Anyone with information about the crime is asked to call (323) 789-4845.
Another shooting occurred on New Year’s Day near Century Boulevard and Figueroa Street and was reported about 12:20 a.m., according to the overnight LAPD watch commander at the Southeast station. The male victim was transported to the hospital where he was reported to have stable vital signs, but his name was not released nor was there a description given of a suspect or vehicle.
On Monday, Edwin Ray Johns Jr., 18, a former Jefferson High School football star, was killed in a drive-by shooting that involved two other victims. Johns was hit in the upper body multiple times and died at the scene. The shooting occurred near 52nd Place and McKinley Avenue at 2:41 p.m., said LAPD Officer Sara Faden. A 57-year-old Hispanic man was shot in the shoulder, and an 11-year-old girl was shot in the foot. Both were taken to hospitals, where they were listed as stable.
While Officer Faden said that the shooting could have possibly been gang-related, relatives and friends said that Johns was not a gang member. “He and my son … all they live for is football,” said his aunt, Glenda Trapp.
“He was a good kid. He wasn’t involved in gangs,” said a friend, Harvey Irvin. “He went to church. He went to school every day.”
Johns graduated last year from Jefferson High.
Less than an hour later, 21-year-old Jimmie Jackson was fatally shot during another drive-by.
The attack occurred about 3:20 p.m. in the 10600 block of St. Andrews Place, said Richard French of the LAPD.
Jackson died at a hospital a short time later, said coroner’s Assistant Chief Ed Winter. No arrests were reported. According to a preliminary investigation, the man was sitting in a parked vehicle when another vehicle rolled past and shots were fired at him, said French, who believed the shooting was gang-related.
Jackson’s aunt Toya said she didn’t believe that at all. “He really just happened to be in the wrong place at the wrong time. There have been a lot of shootings around here lately, and he and his friend were making a quick stop when it happened. He was supposed to just come right back home. We are kind of at a loss, now we have to start planning a burial,” she said.
< On Tuesday, a man was shot in the head at 73rd Street and 7th Avenue at around 5:43 p.m. LAPD Officer Karen Rayner said someone heard the man screaming for help, then shots, and called police. The man was conscious when taken to a hospital, where he was listed in critical condition.
Four suspects fled in a vehicle, which they abandoned at 76th Street and Van Ness Avenue. After the incident, an 18-year-old suspect was taken into custody and police are continuing to look for the other suspects.
Information from City News Service contributed to this story.
In the last several weeks local law enforcement officials have been involved in altercations with three African American males that have resulted in two fatalities and another young man clinging to life in a local hospital.
The first incident, involved 43-year-old Inglewood resident, Reginald Andre Linthicum, who according to his family had just been paroled from state prison in June after more than 11 years.
LOS ANGELES, Calif.—There were two non-fatal shootings in the Los Angeles Police Department's 77th Station area overnight, including one between gang sets, authorities said.
Around 12:30 a.m., at a dance hall at Western Avenue and 89th Street, one victim was grazed in the head and thigh, and shot in the stomach, said Sgt. A. McGee, watch commander at the LAPD's 77th Street Station.
—Nov. 16, approximately 3 p.m., a multi-victim shooting at 84th Place and Normandie Avenue.
Two male victims in their 20s riding together on a mini-bike. As they reach the corner of 84th Place and Normandie Avenue, a suspect (male Black 20-25 years old) fires multiple times, striking one victim in the head and another in the arm. Both victims are transported to a local hospital where the victim with the head wound dies. According to police, both victims are documented members of the Eight Trey Gangsters. The suspect entered a waiting vehicle and fled the scene.
LOS ANGELES, Calif.—A 16-year-old boy accused of fatally shooting another 16-year-old boy inside downtown Los Angeles’ Third Street Tunnel was a member of a rival gang, and the teens had been attending a continuation high school class designed for “at-risk youths,” police said today.
The shooting occurred about 3 p.m. Tuesday just west of Hill Street, according to the Los Angeles Police Department.
LOS ANGELES, Calif.—Twenty-two people were in custody today after hundreds of investigators raided 32 locations in seven Southland cities in a multi-agency operation targeting rival Compton gang members, authorities said.
The raids, involving more than 300 members of the L.A. County Sheriff’s Department, were carried out early Thursday by investigators assigned to the department’s Operations Safe Streets Bureau, said sheriff’s Lt. Richard Westin.
