Weekend Violence Leaves 13 Dead : Crime: Man is arrested after allegedly wounding two people, kidnaping and raping a woman in North Hollywood. Seven are arrested in Burbank stabbing death.

In separate outbreaks of violence Sunday, an enraged gun man in North Hollywood shot two people before kidnaping and raping his estranged girlfriend at gunpoint, and seven reputed gang members in Burbank were arrested on suspicion of fatally stabbing a 44-year-old man, police said.

By late Sunday, the weekend death toll had reached at least 13, less than a third of the homicides registered the previous weekend, when 45 people died between 6 p.m. Friday and 6 a.m. Monday.

In Paramount on Sunday, five armed men burst into a house in the 6700 block of Caro Street, shot two residents and kidnaped a third, Los Angeles County sheriff’s deputies said.

Ruben Valdez, 25, and Jorge Cardenas, 22, were hospitalized at Long Beach Memorial Medical Center in critical condition, said Sgt. Robert Stoneman. The kidnaped man was released unharmed several miles away. Investigators have not determined a motive for the incident, Stoneman said.

In the North Hollywood shooting and kidnaping, police said they tracked the suspect, Troy Lee Sims, 24, of Los Angeles to an apartment house in the 3300 block of Castle Heights Avenue, where he had barricaded himself late Sunday.

Sims, who was believed to be armed with a semiautomatic handgun, surrendered without incident shortly before 10 p.m., said LAPD Officer Gail Russell. A SWAT team had positioned itself outside building, and a police mediator talked to Sims by telephone before his surrender, she said.

Sims, a parking enforcement officer with the Los Angeles Department of Transportation, allegedly began a violent rampage in the 11000 block of Hesby Street in a search for his estranged girlfriend.

Sims fired about four shots outside an apartment building at Sean Cameron, 25, who escaped the gunfire but sprained his ankle while fleeing, said Detective Mike Coffey.

Sims entered the building and continued his search, forcing his way into an apartment and firing about 15 rounds at three people, hitting two of them, Coffey said.

The two were taken by helicopter to Holy Cross Hospital in Mission Hills.

Kelly Walker-Banks, 28, of Sacramento was listed in good condition with a bullet wound to her abdomen and Anthony Pierson, 24, of North Hollywood was in fair condition with a gunshot wound to his chest, said nursing supervisor Holly Lyons.

“He thought she was at the apartment on Hesby,” Coffey said. “She wasn’t, but he decided to take it out on anybody that was there.”

Sims fled the scene and went to his estranged girlfriend’s apartment in the 11000 block of Otsego Street, where he kidnaped her at gunpoint, around 3 a.m., Coffey said. Sims drove the 20-year-old North Hollywood woman to a Santa Monica beach where he raped her and threatened to kill her, Coffey said.

The woman was released about three hours later at a park near her North Hollywood apartment, Coffey said. She was not hospitalized.

In the Burbank incident, police arrested seven suspected San Fernando Valley teen-age gang members on suspicion of fatally stabbing a man about 3 a.m. Sunday as he stood in front of a residence in the 3100 block of West Victory Boulevard.

The victim, whose identity was not released pending notification of relatives, died at 6:30 a.m. at St. Joseph Medical Center in Burbank, Burbank Police Lt. Larry Koch said. Police declined to say where the man lived.

Jenna Plazola, 19, of Burbank, the only adult arrested in the slaying, was being held without bail on suspicion of robbery and murder, Koch said.

Six juveniles--two girls from Burbank and four boys from Los Angeles--also were arrested on suspicion of robbery and murder. Four juveniles were released to the custody of their parents but two were scheduled to be booked in Juvenile Hall in Sylmar, Koch said.

Koch declined to say why the four juveniles were released, saying only that it was based on information gathered during the investigation.

“We know he was attacked by multiple suspects, and we know he was stabbed,” Koch said. “It appears their motive was robbery.”

After the attack, several area residents called paramedics, who took the man to the hospital.

About two hours later, a police officer saw four youths who fit the suspects’ description driving within a mile of the site of the attack, Koch said. Officers also found Plazola and the two teen-age girls walking in the area. Koch said he did not know what they were doing in the area.

Other details of the attack remained sketchy.

Koch said police do not know what the man was doing out at that hour or whether the teen-agers and the man knew each other.

The investigation may lead to additional arrests, Koch said.

In another incident that authorities believe is gang-related, Jose Valdez, a 19-year-old Van Nuys resident, died Saturday after he was shot in the head in Van Nuys. The shooting took place Friday at about 11 p.m. in the 6700 block of Hayvenhurst Avenue, Los Angeles County coroner’s investigator Nils Linder said.

In Pomona, a San Dimas man died of a gunshot wound at Pomona Valley Hospital Medical Center. Fernando Carlos Guerrero, 49, was dropped off at the hospital at about 11:30 a.m. Sunday by his girlfriend and another man who left without explanation, police said. Investigators have not determined where or when Guerrero was shot, Lt. Larry Todd said.

Times staff writer Mack Reed contributed to this story.