4 Fatally Shot in Flurry of Attacks Over Wide Area

Four people were shot to death--two within 10 minutes of each another and all with a span of less than two hours--in a night of violence that spread from a bus stop in Inglewood to a residential neighborhood in Altadena, authorities said Thursday.

Victims included a 17-year-old high school student shot at a bus stop; an 18-year-old killed near his home, and a 36-year-old man who was sprayed with gunfire as he and a group of friends sat on a wall near Lynwood, officials said.

Only one of the shootings was considered gang-related by investigators.

Hit by Shot From Handgun

Malcolm Dwight Jones, 17, was waiting for a bus shortly after 9 p.m. Wednesday at Imperial Highway and Van Ness Avenue, when an unidentified man approached, Inglewood Police Sgt. Harold Moret said.

The man fired a single shot from a handgun at Jones, Moret said. The Jefferson High School student was treated at the scene by paramedics, but died before he could be taken to a hospital, Moret said.

Jones, an 11th-grade student and basketball player, was not affiliated with a gang and there was no indication that the shooting was gang-related, Moret said.

Less than 10 minutes after Jones was shot, Jose Valencia, 36, was killed in a gang-related drive-by shooting, Los Angeles County sheriff’s deputies said.

Valencia and a companion, Victor Martinez, were shot as they sat on a wall with some friends in an unincorporated area west of Lynwood, Sheriff’s Sgt. Terry Judge said.

The men were sitting on a wall in the 2600 block of East 130th Street when a blue pick-up truck occupied by four or five men drove by, investigators said.

Shouted Gang Slogans

“They shouted gang slogans and opened fire with unknown types of guns,” Judge said.

Valencia, hit several times in the chest, died at the scene. Martinez, who was struck in the elbow, was reported in good condition at Martin Luther King Jr./Drew Medical Center, hospital officials said.

Investigators said they did not know whether the two victims were gang members.

Less than an hour after that shooting, 18-year-old Reginald Wallace was gunned down near his home in the 500 block of West Harriet Street in Altadena, Judge said. Deputies did not know if the shooting, shortly before 10 p.m., was gang-related.

In South Los Angeles, a man was killed and another seriously wounded when they approached a car on East 90th Street and Wadsworth Avenue, said Los Angeles Police Lt. Robert Kimball.

Theotis Williams, 19, and Van Steel, 26, both identified by police as gang members, were standing in the 900 block of East 90th Street at about 11 p.m. when a blue 1972 Camaro approached, police said.

Occupants of the car called to the victims, Kimball said, and when the two men came forward, “one of the suspects began firing several shots at the victims.” The car then drove off.

Williams was shot several times in the chest and died at the scene. Steel was in serious condition at Martin Luther King Jr./Drew Medical Center on Thursday.

Despite the victims’ gang affiliations, police said they did not believe that the shooting was gang-related.

“Right now we’re looking at it as a personal (conflict),” said Kimball, who offered no other details.

No suspects were in custody in any of the shootings.