Shooting Victims Were Ambushed

A shooting that left three men dead and two teenagers wounded in Lake View Terrace was an ambush by a rival gang member, police said Monday.

Killed Sunday were Alex Garibay, 19, Raul Silva, 18, and Arturo Becerra, 20, all of Lake View Terrace, said coroner’s spokesman Scott Carrier.

The injured teenagers, a male and female, were recovering in hospitals from wounds that were not life-threatening, police said. Police declined to identify them because of their age.

According to Los Angeles Police Det. Frank Bishop, Becerra and one of the underage teenagers were working on a white Ford Explorer at 11 a.m. in the 11400 block of Wheeler Place, a cul-de-sac, when a gunman walked up and asked where they were from.

About the same time, a car carrying five of Becerra’s acquaintances drove up beside him. The gunman pulled out a semiautomatic pistol and fired at least 15 rounds at both cars, Bishop said. The killer, who ran away, remains at large. He is described as Latino, 5 feet, 10 inches, 160 pounds with dark hair and dark clothing.

Bishop said the victims, who had gang affiliations, had experienced previous problems with another gang.

“We’ve had worse and bigger shootings in the recent past, but we haven’t had a lot of multiple killings like this,” Bishop said. “People generally assume that because people don’t die, we don’t have a problem.”

Of the 33 slayings this year in the Foothill Division, which covers the northeast San Fernando Valley, 23 were gang-related, Bishop said. Last year, eight of 22 killings involved gangs, he said.

Anyone with information is asked to call the LAPD Foothill Division at (818) 834-3115 or after hours at (818) 756-8861.