3 Guardian Angels Shot During Patrol

Three members of the Guardian Angels were superficially wounded by gang members who fired birdshot at the volunteer group, police said.

Francisco de la Cruz, Francisco Galvez and Derek Thompson, all of Los Angeles, suffered minor injuries Friday night when they were fired upon by members of the 18th Street gang, according to Guardian Angel spokesman Danny Lewis.

The three were part of a 10-man patrol canvassing the downtown area near 3rd and Witmer streets, Lewis said, in response to a number of recent shootings there. The Guardian Angels, known for their treks into troubled neighborhoods to deter crime, had just begun their patrol when armed gang members surrounded them and ordered them to leave.

The patrol ran into the street, Lewis said, where gang members opened fire and blasted de la Cruz, Galvez and Thompson in the buttocks, neck and back. The three were treated and released from Good Samaritan Hospital, where an emergency room nurse said doctors were “picking birdshot from their backsides.� Although the Guardian Angels have been fired on before, Lewis said, Friday marked the first time that any had been hit.