Local News in Brief : Pacoima Suspect Held in 2 Shooting Deaths
A Pacoima man has been arrested on suspicion of killing a member of a gang that is no longer active and a transient in separate shootings last weekend, Los Angeles police said Thursday.
Javier Cano, 20, identified as a gang member, was arrested Monday on suspicion of murder in the shootings of Joe Tony Venegas, 20, of North Hollywood about 11:15 p.m. last Friday and transient Woodrow Nourse, 36, early Sunday, Detective Cliff Ruff said.
Venegas was shot in front of a Pacoima convenience market, Ruff said. He tried to defend the reputation of a gang that hasn’t been active in two years, “and it cost him his life,” Ruff said.
Nourse was shot sometime between 2 and 4 a.m. Sunday in Roger Jessup Recreational Center in Pacoima, Ruff said. Police have recovered a sawed-off, semiautomatic .22-caliber rifle and are awaiting the ballistics tests to determine if the weapon was used in both shootings, he added.
Cano is being held without bail in the County Jail.
The shootings have been classified as the third and fourth gang-related killings in the northeast Valley so far this year, Ruff said. There were four gang-related killings in the northeast Valley during 1985, Ruff said.
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