1 Killed, 2 Wounded in Apparent Random Shooting

In the second apparent random killing in the San Fernando Valley in two weeks, a man was shot to death and two others were wounded outside a North Hills apartment building Saturday, Los Angeles police said.

“It seems completely random,” Detective Steve Fisk said. “We have no motive for this crime. It’s really bizarre.”

About 4 a.m., a gunman shot Gregorio Andrade, 25; Mario Arteaga and Mario Miranda, both 23, as the three were drinking beer in front of Miranda’s apartment in the 8100 block of Sepulveda Place near Roscoe Boulevard, Fisk said.

“He just walked up to them, pulled out a handgun and started shooting,” Fisk said. “No argument. No demand. Nothing. He just shot them all.”

Andrade died at the scene from a single gunshot wound to the chest, Fisk said. The others were shot as they fled. Arteaga was wounded in the leg and was in stable condition at County-USC Medical Center. Miranda, shot once in the back, was in stable condition at Holy Cross Medical Center in Mission Hills.

“Miranda collapsed in his front door and was taken to the hospital by family members,” Fisk said. “Arteaga was able to get a neighbor to take him to the hospital.”

The victims are all day laborers who live in the vicinity and none speaks English fluently, which further puzzles detectives because the gunman was not Latino and did not appear to understand Spanish, Fisk said.

“If they don’t speak the same language, how can they argue?”

Neither victim had ever seen the gunman before the incident, Fisk added. Nor had anyone in the area ever seen a man fitting his description.

“We’ve also ruled out drugs as a motive and none of the victims are gang members,” Fisk said.

In an earlier killing that also left authorities perplexed, Ronald G. Kleker, 26, of West Hills was fatally shot in the head Jan. 13 as he drove along Victory Boulevard in a residential section of Woodland Hills.

Police have no leads or suspects in the Kleker case and have said it was also an apparent random slaying. Los Angeles City Councilwoman Joy Picus asked the council last week to post a $25,000 reward for information leading to the conviction of Kleker’s killer.