Multiple late-night shootings leave several dead, wounded

LOS ANGELES - At least five men were killed and five people were wounded in a rash of late-night shootings Saturday and early Sunday in Los Angeles and Orange counties, authorities said.

At one point, police themselves came under fire from a crowd gathered in the Crenshaw area, but no one was injured in that shooting.

Emergency crews responded to an unusually high number of shootings during the night, said city fire spokesman Jim Wells, but police did not release the total number of attacks in Los Angeles.

''The number was high, and there did seem to be an increase,'' Wells said.

It was unclear whether any of the attacks were related.

The earliest shooting occurred in Orange County, where a man was shot to death at a Fullerton bar about 10:30 p.m., Fullerton police Lt. David Stanko said.

The killing was under investigation, and no other details were released.

Another man was shot to death in Rosemead while taking a shower, said Los Angeles County Sheriff's Deputy Carlos Lopez.

Fernando Tellez, 23, was killed about 11 p.m. when a masked gunman broke into his home and fired several rounds into Tellez's upper body, Lopez said.

Authorities said the attack was apparently gang related, but they had no suspects.

Two shootings in South Los Angeles left multiple people wounded and one man dead.

Three gunmen opened fire on three people in front of a South Los Angeles apartment building about 11:40 p.m. Saturday, police said. Maximo Marias, 20, died later at a hospital, but the two people with him were uninjured. The gunmen ran away and remained at large Sunday.

Later in South Los Angeles, five people were wounded in an attack about 2 a.m. outside a taco stand truck, Los Angeles police Officer Eduardo Funes said.

Three men were listed in critical condition, Wells said. Two others, a man and a woman, were in serious condition, he added.

Investigators were trying to determine whether the shootings were gang related, Funes said.

Sheriff's deputies said an unidentified man was shot and killed in Rancho Dominguez about 3:20 a.m., but his identity and other details of the crime were not released.

Another unidentified man was shot and killed in El Sereno about 3:40 a.m., said Los Angeles police Sgt. Tony Silva. The man, who was in his mid-20s, was shot multiple times, he said.

Police had no suspects in the killing, Silva added.

Finally, several Los Angeles police officers were shot at while investigating reports of gunfire in the Crenshaw area about 5:10 a.m.

When they arrived on the scene, the officers noticed a large crowd of people gathered on the street, Capt. Mike Chambers said. Someone in the crowd then fired at the officers, and the group quickly dispersed, he added.

No one was injured and police did not return fire, Chambers said

SWAT officers searched the area for the gunman early Sunday, and about six people were taken into custody for questioning, Chambers added.

The attacks follow a meeting last week between Los Angeles police and community leaders to discuss ways to combat a recent spike in violent crime that included nearly a dozen gang-related killings over seven days at the end of May.

Among the dead was the 20-year-old granddaughter of Los Angeles Police Chief Bernard C. Parks.

Police statistics show violent crime in Los Angeles has begun rising again after five years of decline.

Overall, violent crime increased 9 percent, from 14,580 cases citywide during the first four months of last year to 15,938 during the same period this year. Murders increased 8 percent, rapes 9 percent, robberies 5 percent and assaults 11 percent.