Man Dies in Gang Shooting; Youth Held

A 21-year-old man was killed in a car-to-car shooting during the morning rush hour on a busy South Los Angeles street Thursday, police said.

The 7:40 a.m. shooting occurred on Central Avenue near the onramp of the Century Freeway, said South Bureau homicide Det. Jessie Linn.

The victim was traveling north on Central Avenue and had stopped at a traffic signal when the suspect, a 16-year-old, pulled up alongside and shot him in the torso, Linn said.

According to witnesses, “the victim kept staring at the subject with a gang-type stare and when they pulled up to the light, a few words were exchanged in gang vernacular,” Linn said.

The suspect fired three to five rounds into the victim’s car, which veered onto the freeway ramp before coming to a stop.

Los Angeles Fire Department paramedics transported the victim to a local hospital, where he died on arrival, Linn said.

Police refused to release the identification of the victim, pending notification of his family.

Central Avenue was closed for three hours as sheriff’s deputies questioned witnesses, whose descriptions of the suspect led them to arrest the teenager at the nearby Nickerson Gardens housing project.

When deputies drove into the project, they saw the suspect riding on the handlebars of a friend’s bike, Linn said.

He ran when he saw them, peeling off several layers of clothing. Deputies found the car he was driving at the time of the shooting in the housing project and confiscated it, Linn added.

The teenager was taken to the LAPD’s South Bureau, where “he admitted to his crime and was very remorseful,” Linn said. He was not identified because he is a minor.