Drive By Shooting

Three alleged Thousand Oaks gang members who will be retried in connection with an April drive-by shooting pleaded not guilty Monday to felony charges of conspiring to commit battery. Entering pleas during their arraignment in Ventura County Municipal Court were Adolfo A. Alvarez, 19, Wade Caddin, 19, and Joseph Cruz, 23.

A 16-year-old Baldwin Park youth has been arrested on murder charges in connection with a drive-by shooting of a Cerritos teen-ager attending a birthday party Saturday night. The juvenile, one of two suspects sought for the killing of 15-year-old Tina Kang, is being held without bail at Los Padrinos Juvenile Center in Downey. Authorities are withholding the name of the youth, who was arrested at his home Monday evening by Los Angeles County Sheriff's deputies.

At least one gunman in a car sprayed bullets at two men in their early 20s who were standing in front of a Baldwin Park house Monday, killing one and critically wounding the other, a sheriff's deputy said. The attack on Ledford Street, shortly after 2 p.m., appeared to be gang-related, said Deputy Bruce Thomas.

Six people were wounded, two seriously, in a drive-by shooting Sunday night as they talked and drank beer outside a house in an unincorporated area of South Los Angeles, authorities said. The victims were taken to nearby hospitals with shotgun wounds in what Los Angeles County sheriff's deputies said was a gang-related shooting. Witnesses reported that as a group of people stood outside a house in the 6800 block of Miramonte Boulevard shortly before 10 p.m.

A 3-year-old Inglewood girl killed in a drive-by shooting was identified Tuesday by police, who released a revised description of the gunman's truck. The toddler, Erma Esquerra, died Monday at Centinela Hospital Medical Center, less than a day after a gunman sprayed bullets into the car in which she was riding, said Police Sgt. Alex Perez. Police said they have no motive for the shooting and do not believe it is gang-related.

Police were seeking the gunmen responsible for a drive-by shooting early Sunday that left a 22-year-old man dead and two others wounded. Authorities on Monday identified the deceased as Mario Humberto Figueroa, 22, of Santa Ana. Another man, identified as Jorge Nolasco, 22, of Santa Ana, suffered a gunshot wound to the lower body. A 15-year-old boy also was hit once in the lower body. He was not identified by police because of his age.

In the first-ever drive-by shooting at a Fullerton high school, a 16-year-old student was grazed in the forearm by a ricocheting bullet as she was standing across from the school after class Monday afternoon. The student--whose name was not released by police--suffered only a minor wound from the shooting and probably was not the intended victim, Fullerton Police Lt. Jeff Roop said. Police late Monday were questioning a group of male high school students who were standing near the victim at the time of the shooting, he added.

Three youths were wounded Sunday in a drive-by shooting that was apparently gang-related, Police Lt. Jack Nelson said. Rudy Padilla, 18, was reported in stable condition Sunday at Western Medical Center in Santa Ana, and two male juveniles, ages 16 and 17, were stable at Coastal Communities Hospital in Santa Ana.