Separate Incidents of Gang Violence Kill 2 More Teens

Separate incidents of street violence claimed the lives of two more teen-agers as city police and sheriff’s deputies conducted mass arrests Friday of suspected gang members in South Los Angeles.

The deaths raised the number of gang-related fatalities in the city and county to more than 50 this year.

One teen-ager was killed and three were wounded by a spray of bullets fired from a speeding car Thursday night in the Lennox section of Los Angeles County. Deputy Eric Smith, a sheriff’s spokesman, said that Ronnie C. Easley, 19, was killed while he stood in front of a house in the 1600 block of West 120th Street.

In Monrovia, a 19-year-old man was gunned down during what Smith described as a “suspected gang shooting.” Taken to Arcadia Methodist Hospital, the man died just before midnight Thursday. Police withheld details of the case and the victim’s name until his relatives were notified.

And in a third incident linked to turf battles between rival gangs, two 17-year-old youths were wounded from gunshots fired near the Los Angeles Harbor.

On Friday morning, deputies from the sheriff’s Operation Safe Streets division and Lakewood Station raided a Paramount condominium and arrested seven suspected gang members on a variety of cocaine sale and receiving stolen property charges. Deputies seized two .38-caliber handguns and five ounces of cocaine.

The sheriff’s raid came several hours after city police fanned out through the Harbor area and three other South Los Angeles police districts during a midweek version of the department’s weekend gang sweep operation. More than 110 officers in the Harbor, 77th Street, Southwest and Southeast bureaus swarmed over targeted street corners between 6 p.m. Thursday and 2 a.m. Friday.

Police arrested 30 suspected gang members and 13 others for felony warrants, narcotics offenses, driving under the influence violations and a variety of misdemeanors, South Bureau Detective Tony Celli said. At least 7 suspects were jailed at the Southeast station, 8 at 77th Street, 13 at Southwest, 8 at Harbor and the rest in undisclosed local detention centers.

“Obviously, if you come out every Friday night, they’re going to start expecting you,” said Celli, explaining the department’s change of tactics. “They obviously didn’t know we were coming.”