2 killed, 3 wounded in unrelated shootings in South L.A., Compton

Two men were killed and three were wounded in three unrelated shootings that occurred in the span of a few hours this weekend in South Los Angeles and Compton, authorities said Sunday.

In the first attack, three men standing at the corner of East 79th Street and South Central Avenue were shot about 9:15 p.m. Saturday, said LAPD Officer Mike Lopez.

The suspects are three men who drove by in a vehicle -- possibly a beige Chevrolet Suburban -- and opened fire, wounding a 27-year-old man in the chest, hitting a 40-year-old man in the upper torso and grazing a 33-year-old man in the forearm. The victims, whose identities have not been released, were taken to the hospital.

Lopez did not know the conditions of the victims or whether the shootings were gang-related.

About an hour later, a 25-year-old man was killed in a shooting on the 100 block of East Indigo Street in Compton.

Four men approached the victim at 10:15 p.m. Saturday and shot him in the upper torso, according to the Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Department. The victim, who has not been identified, ran toward the area of Myrrh Street and Willowbrook Avenue, where he collapsed and died.

A little over two hours later, a man was fatally shot near East 71st Street and South Central Avenue in the unincorporated Florence area of South Los Angeles.

The victim was walking south through an alley north of East 71st Street about 12:35 a.m. Sunday when an unidentified suspect driving west on the street got out of a vehicle, shot him in the upper torso with a semiautomatic rifle and fled, the Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Department said.

The victim was 26 years old, according to the Los Angeles County coroner’s office, but his identity has not been released.

The Labor Day weekend violence comes as Los Angeles police are deploying more officers to hot spots of South L.A. to combat a recent uptick in homicides they say is fueled by gang-related violence in the area.

Los Angeles recorded 39 homicides in August -- the most since 2007 -- and police last week reported a 7% increase in homicides citywide since the start of the year, compared with the same period in 2014.

Police assigned more officers to South L.A. to reduce the chances of retaliatory attacks over the holiday weekend. Last year five people were killed in South Los Angeles over the Labor Day weekend.

Also on Saturday, a man died in a hospital from injuries sustained in an Aug. 21 shooting near Crenshaw Boulevard and West Adams Boulevard in South L.A.

The 60-year-old man, whose identity has not been released, died at 2:26 p.m. Saturday, said Lt. Fred Corral of the Los Angeles County coroner’s office.

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tony.barboza@latimes.com