2 Killed, 5 Wounded in Gang-Related Attacks

Shots fired from passing cars in apparently gang-related attacks left two young men dead and five others wounded, two of them critically, authorities reported Friday.

The four attacks, all of which occurred on Thursday, came on the eve of an announcement by some Los Angeles church leaders that they will hold a “truce summit” next week with the leaders of eight major gangs in an effort to stem the violence. It was not immediately determined whether any of those eight gangs were involved in Thursday’s attacks.

Los Angeles police and Los Angeles County sheriff’s deputies gave these accounts of the four attacks:

- Jose Mejia, 25, and Rudy Ulloa, 39, both known gang members, were struck by shotgun blasts as they stood talking to friends in the 4700 block of Orange Avenue in Pico Rivera about 8 p.m.

Mejia was dead on arrival at Beverly Hospital in Montebello. Ulloa was admitted to the hospital, where his condition was listed as critical. The assailants sped away in a compact car. There were no arrests.

- Ramon Quezada, 18, and Manuel Oliva, 26, were standing in the 3600 block of East 54th Street in Maywood about 11 p.m. when the occupants of a passing car opened fire with handguns.

Quezada, who suffered multiple chest wounds, was dead on arrival at Santa Marta Hospital in East Los Angeles. Oliva was listed in satisfactory condition there after treatment for a wound in the right hand. The attackers, who drove away, were not apprehended.

- Gang members Eddie Flores, 16, and Robert Ontiveros, 24, were standing in the 6800 block of San Carlos Street in Paramount about 10:15 p.m. when two men pulled to the curb in a late-model car and fired two blasts from a shotgun.

Both victims were taken to Long Beach Memorial Hospital, where their condition was listed as critical. The two men shouted gang slogans before speeding away. There were no arrests.

- A 17-year-old suffered multiple wounds in the upper body when someone fired a shotgun blast from a passing car as the youth and a 15-year-old friend stood on the sidewalk in the 3600 block of West Beverly Boulevard in the Ramparts area.

The 17-year-old, whose name was withheld because of his age, was later listed in stable condition at Hollywood Presbyterian Hospital. The 15-year-old was not injured. The gunman shouted gang slogans before speeding away. There were no arrests.

The Rev. Charles Mims Jr., pastor of the Faith Baptist church in Watts, said next week’s truce meeting follows six years of working with gangs.

“We didn’t come from somewhere else and do a study,” Mims said. “We live here. They know us.”

Representatives of the National Assn. for the Advancement of Colored People will attend the meeting to stress the dangers of drug abuse, the NAACP said.

LAPD spokesman Fred Nixon said his department has no plans to participate in the summit but supports the efforts of the clergy to bring gang members together to talk rather than fight.

“We believe the leadership these ministers are showing in calling this summit is the kind of leadership that has to occur in every sector of the community if we’re ever going to get this thing completely under control,” Nixon said.

“We welcome anything that might lessen the level of violence, anything that might give the people of Los Angeles the peace they deserve.”

The LAPD will not send a representative, Nixon added, because “we don’t believe the objectives would be pushed forward by our presence.”

Dan Woolf, a spokesman for Los Angeles County Supervisor Kenneth Hahn, said a representative of the supervisor will attend. “Supervisor Hahn has been advocating meetings with gang members for a while. . . . This is the kind of thing he feels is worth trying. He feels we’ve tried a lot of other things and apparently they haven’t worked.”

A spokesman for Hahn said his office will provide security for the meeting.