Suspect held in slaying of Compton wheelchair user, friend

Police have arrested one suspect and are searching for another in connection with the fatal street shooting over the weekend of two Compton men, including one in a wheelchair, authorities said Monday.

Rigoberto Vega, 23, and David Gallegos, 32, who was disabled, were attacked on the sidewalk in the 600 block of North Alameda Street about 1:30 p.m. on Sunday, said Lt. Dan Rosenberg of the Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Department. A car had pulled over, and at least one occupant got out and began shooting at the victims, who were unarmed, Rosenberg said.

Late Sunday, Andrew Lemus, 19, of Compton turned himself in to investigators who were serving search warrants in the 2000 block of 127th Street in connection with the shootings, Rosenberg said. Lemus was arrested on suspicion of murder.

Lemus and the other suspect appear to be gang members, Rosenberg said. He did not say whether the victims had any gang ties.

But Rosenberg said shooting a defenseless man in a wheelchair was just another example of how the county’s gangs have grown more brazen and vicious in their attacks, noting other recent incidents of assaults on noncombatants in Compton and Monrovia.

“As far as the rules go, whether it’s shooting a guy in a wheelchair or a woman or children, those rules are changing,” Rosenberg said.

Vega and Gallegos were the most recent victims in a spate of violence in Compton.

On Thursday, two others were killed in separate shootings. So far this year, the city has recorded 17 homicides – up from 11 for the same time period last year, according to authorities.

Relatives of Vega and Gallegos said the slain men were not gang members. They said the boyhood friends – who called each other primos, or cousins – had just attended church and were on their way to an IHOP restaurant when they were shot.

“I don’t know who would do that,” said Sylvia Gomez, Gallegos’ 17-year-old sister. “You just wonder why.”

She said her family stayed away from gangs and always felt safe in their neighborhood. “We don’t like to mess with nobody,” she said.

Father Stan Bosch of Our Lady of Victory Church, where Vega and Gallegos regularly attended services, met with relatives of the victims Monday.

“How many times are we going to have to go through this in Compton?” Bosch asked after meeting with Gallegos’ mother, Silvia Estrada. “Don’t the men of this community see what they’re doing to one another?”

Estrada said her son couldn’t run or defend himself. She said he had been using a wheelchair since he suffered 14 gunshot wounds in an accidental shooting six years ago. She declined to describe the nature of the shooting.

“I just hope they catch the people who did this to them, to us,” she said.

“We need to find the light amid the darkness,” Bosch said in Spanish to Estrada, who buried her head in his chest, trembling and crying. “We can just hope people this time will wake up and realize this is wrong.”

molly.hennessy-fiske@ latimes.com

francisco.varaorta@ latimes.com

Times staff writer Ruben Vives contributed to this story.