Gunmen Enter House, Slay 1 and Wound 4

SAN BERNARDINO â€”  Police are seeking three gunmen who forced their way into a house, demanded money from five men inside and then fired on them, killing one and wounding the other four.

Officers were dispatched to the scene shortly after 2 a.m. Monday when an anonymous caller reported hearing gunshots in the house in the 500 block of West Evans Street, San Bernardino Police Sgt. Dan Hernandez said.

When officers arrived, a man ran out of the house screaming, “I’ve been shot,� Hernandez said. The dead man, identified as Carl Allen Whiteside, 25, of Panorama City, was found on the kitchen floor.

The wounded all were listed in fair condition at San Bernardino County Medical Center. They were identified as Matthias Pollard, 19, of Pomona, who rents the house; Reginald L. Ellis, 18, of San Bernardino; George Phelps, 18, of San Bernardino; and Robert Walker, 28, address unknown.

No Suspects Known

“No clear suspects have been identified in the case,� said Hernandez, adding “but we are following some leads.�

Investigators believe “the motive was robbery because there was a demand for money and there was some ransacking of the house,� Hernandez said. “We have not finished interviewing the victims and have not ruled out other potential motives such as narcotics or gang activity.� A small amount of rock cocaine was found in the house, he said.

Hernandez said the gunmen knocked at the door and were met by Whiteside. The intruders went to the back of the house, where the others were watching television, he said.

“The suspects demanded money from the victims and told them to lie on the floor,� Hernandez said. “All of the victims were shot in the upper torso . . . with a small-caliber firearm.�

Investigators were probing the possibility of a link between the shooting and a triple slaying in Ontario June 24. In that case, Ontario officers found a man and two women dead of gunshot wounds in a small house. Ontario investigators have not yet determined a motive for those murders.