Two More People Shot at Housing Project

Two people were shot and critically wounded Sunday night at the Carmelitos Housing Project in Long Beach, just 16 hours after a resident was killed and two others were injured in another attack there, police said Monday.

The shootings appear to have been drug-related, though not connected, police said.

In the latest shooting, the two victims, Robert Savage, 38, of Wilmington and Howard Demery, 28, of Long Beach, were critically wounded during a robbery attempt “that occurred during the selling of drugs,” Long Beach Police Detective George Fox said.

“A victim, who was apparently selling drugs, was robbed and shot,” Fox said.

It was not immediately clear which man was allegedly selling drugs or if any money was taken.

The two men were taken to Long Beach Memorial Medical Center, where they were being treated for multiple gunshot wounds. No arrests were made, the detective said.

In the earlier shooting, Ana Lechuga, 20, and her boyfriend, Mario Garcia, 20, were shot at their Carmelitos apartment at 4:30 a.m. Sunday.

Police said the couple argued about “money owed for drugs” with a visitor, who then shot them both in the head, Fox said. Garcia died shortly after being taken to the hospital. Lechuga was in critical condition Monday with three gunshot wounds in the head and neck. A third victim, Deborah Thomas, 27, was in stable condition with arm and leg wounds. Montie Harvey, 29, who lives in the housing complex, was arrested custody and booked on charges of murder and attempted murder.

Officials at the Los Angeles County Community Development Commission, which oversees the Carmelitos complex, said they have known for months about drug activity at Carmelitos, which until a few years ago was considered a model public housing project. Officials said security measures have been put in place to try to stem the drug problem.

Although the commission said that drug activity has abated somewhat, residents say that five shooting victims in 16 hours does not bode well for the crime prevention efforts.

“I’ve been here for 25 years and I’m at the point where I’m scared to walk around outside, anywhere, even the parking lot,” said a 27-year-old mother of one, who lives close to the apartment where Sunday’s first shooting took place.

“When I grew up here, I felt safe. People used to say bad things about us because we lived in the project. But Carmelitos wasn’t half as bad as it was talked about. Now, it’s much worse than they talk about. People on the outside don’t know what to make of it. They are getting scared, too, so they just keep quiet.”

Carlos Jackson, assistant executive director of the commission, said, “I admit that at Carmelitos, like other major (public housing) sites, we are having a problem with drugs. But we have identified the main players and we are in the process of arresting or serving eviction notices to the residents who are creating the problem.”

Jackson added that criminal activity at the project has decreased since October when the commission contracted with the Long Beach Police Department to send in a nightly two-car, four-officer patrol.

However, the police patrols at Carmelitos had to be dropped recently because of the costs, said Milton Patterson, manager of several county housing projects including Carmelitos. Because of the recent violence, the commission plans to renew the contract, Patterson said.