Man and woman injured in apparent car-to-car shooting in La Puente
Man and woman injured in apparent car-to-car shooting in La Puente
by Jonah Valdez
A man was critically injured while a woman was hospitalized and stable Saturday evening after an apparent car-to-car shootout where one of the suspects fired at the pair with an AR-style rifle, authorities said.
The man and women had been the targets of a previous shooting on Monday in front of a home on Tonopah Avenue, said Lt. James Long with the Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Department. In that shooting, a gunman, riding in a Dodge Challenger, had fired at least eight shots at the pair, but missed before driving off.
Saturday’s shooting took place in a dense residential area of La Puente, next to the Dwight D. Eisenhower Golf Course, Long said. Two silver sedans made chase of the victims’ Dodge Avenger, zigzagging through the area, possibly exchanging gunfire.
Investigators found bullet casings that belonged to an AR-style rifle and a 9 mm handgun scattered along Pleasanthome Drive and Banbridge Avenue, where the chase ended, Long said.
After authorities received a call about the shooting at 8:13 p.m., deputies found the victims’ Dodge resting on the property of a home on 105 Banbridge Avenue, where the car had crashed through the home’s metal gate.
Bullet holes riddled the car and paramedics rushed the two victims to a local hospital, Long said. While the woman was stable, the man underwent surgery at USC-County Medical Center, where he remained in critical condition.
Though it was unclear where the chase had begun, they believe the cars had raced along Main Street and turned into Banbridge where the they believe the shooting started, Long said.
Long said deputies would hold the scene while they awaited the fate of the male victim.
Authorities were investigating the shooting as gang-related, Long said. Gang unit detectives with Sheriff’s Department were called to the scene.
The shooting may be the latest incident of gang-related gun violence, which began to surge in late June in La Puente and in surrounding neighborhoods, such as Valinda, East Valinda and West Valinda, which are patrolled by the sheriff’s Industry station.
Since June 28, three people have been killed and nine injured in shootings.
The gun violence is believed to be the result of an internal conflict within a local gang, Lt. David Auner of Operation Safe Streets, the sheriff’s gang unit, said following a July 23 shooting where bullets narrowly missed an 8-year-old boy. Investigators don’t know yet what started the internal clash.
In response to the shootings, the sheriff’s Industry station created a task force. More gang investigators were assigned to the area, and the Sheriff’s Department has put more deputies on patrol in La Puente and in the unincorporated communities, Lt. Rick Rector who heads the task force has previously told the San Gabriel Valley Tribune.
Despite the increased amount of law enforcement resources pouring into the area, concerns of safety within the community continue to persist.
On Tuesday, Aug. 13, the city of La Puente held a town hall meeting, the second in as many months, where gang-related crimes and the community’s safety topped the agenda.
In the previous town hall meeting in July, sheriff’s department supervisors fielded questions from worried residents, including a mother of one of the men slain in a shooting where a gunman had fired on him in his garage in broad daylight.
To date, there have been no warrants filed for arrests related to the shootings, Long said.
All credit goes to Jonah Valdez
Originally published on https://www.dailynews.com
