3 Men Killed in Gun Battle at Girl’s Party : Violence: As many as 11 shots are fired near children and adults celebrating a 3-year-old’s birthday. It is the fourth such deadly incident in L.A. County since April 30.

A 3-year-old’s late night birthday party at a house near Vernon ended when a shootout among armed party-goers killed three men, Los Angeles police said.

With as many as 11 shots being fired so close to the crowd where children were playing and people were dancing late Saturday, “it’s very lucky that no one else got shot,” said Los Angeles Police Detective Eric Campos.

It was at least the fourth such deadly incident in Los Angeles County since April 30--a loud party ending in gunshots. The other three shootings claimed six lives and left 20 wounded.

The latest deaths occurred during a gun battle on the sidewalk in the 4800 block of Long Beach Avenue, in front of a house where a family celebrating a daughter’s birthday had hired a band that could be heard for blocks.

On Sunday, signs of the partyremained scattered in front of the tiny house--a broken beer bottle, crumpled cigarette packages, paper plates piled with jalapeno peppers. And in one stucco wall was a quarter-sized bullet hole.

About 40 people showed up at the party, most of them relatives, according to a man who answered the door Sunday. He asked not to be named but said he was the father of the girl whose birthday was being celebrated. Police, however, said 60 or more people, many of them uninvited, turned out.

Just before 11 p.m., two men began to argue, continuing a dispute that had begun earlier, Campos said. As guests danced and children played, each man pulled out a semiautomatic handgun and began firing.

As one lay wounded, Campos said, his friends, seeking vengeance, chased and shot the other man, who managed to kill one pursuer before dying. The first wounded man died en route to the hospital.

The identities of the dead, who were 30, 34 and 36 years old, were not released pending notification of relatives, Campos said. He said all of the men involved knew one another and the family. None had been invited, he added.

Patricia Tarango, 17, who lives next door, said she called police 30 minutes before the shooting to complain about the loud music and was told that officers were too busy to come out.

She said she was on the telephone to police a second time when the blasts from at least 11 shots pierced the still-blaring music. Then, according to Tarango, the officer on the phone said, “All right, all right, the police are on their way.”

Campos said he was not aware of how the crime was reported.

Investigators believe that alcohol played a role in the killings, Campos said.

In the earlier incidents, two teen-agers were killed and seven wounded June 4 when suspected gang members walked up to an end-of-school party at a million-dollar house in San Marino, and began blasting away with semiautomatic weapons. No arrests have been made.

On May 15, three teen-agers were killed and three others wounded when they were attacked by Laotian gang members while leaving an outdoor birthday party in Long Beach. Two youths have been charged in those shootings.

On April 30, a 25-year-old woman was killed and 10 young men wounded during shooting that began after carloads of gang members pulled up to a party in the Firestone area.