4 Toting AK-47s Kill 2, Hurt 2 at Car Stereo Shop

Four people wearing ski masks and armed with AK-47 assault rifles barged into two shops in a business complex in Paramount, killing two men and wounding two others, authorities said Sunday.

Robbery could have been a motive when the assailants entered the two shops about 8 p.m. Saturday, but no details were available as to what, if anything, was taken, Los Angeles County sheriff’s spokesman Chris Wahla said.

The four assailants, who drove away in a dark-colored van, were still at large Sunday, he said.

The violence occurred at Somerset Business Park, 6826 Somerset Blvd., a U-shaped, one-story white-and-red complex where businesses face a common parking area.

The two men who were fatally wounded were in Precision Car Radio, a car stereo and alarm shop.

One man died at the scene. His name was withheld by investigators until relatives could be notified. The second victim, Jerry Morris, 26, of Los Angeles, died later Saturday night at Charter Suburban Hospital in Paramount.

Two other men in the store were wounded. One was shot in the abdomen and was in serious condition Sunday at St. Mary’s Medical Center in Long Beach. Another was wounded in the right ankle, treated Saturday night at Doctor’s Hospital in Lakewood and released.

At the same time as the shootings in the stereo shop, Wahla said, some of the armed assailants entered nearby Classic Auto Upholstery, but no one was injured.

Several other incidents of Southland violence resulted in deaths over the weekend.

Glendale police were investigating the shooting death of 21-year-old Frank Caldera of Los Angeles, whose body was found Sunday morning on a sidewalk in the 1800 block of Glenwood Road.

No suspects have been arrested and the motive for the shooting was unknown, police said.

In West Covina, two men were shot and killed Saturday night in a confrontation at a mini-mall at 100 N. Grant St., Police Lt. Dan Leonard said.

Robert Salazar, 25, of Pomona and Edmundo Ortega, 26, of Montclair were in a car when the driver of a small pickup truck got out and shot them both. The gunman and a companion then drove away.

Salazar died at Inter-Community Hospital in Covina. Ortega died at Queen of the Valley Hospital in West Covina.

No motive for the attack was known.

In South-Central Los Angeles, a man was found shot to death at 1608 W. 38th Place about 12:20 a.m. Sunday, Los Angeles police said. The victim, Darryl L. Copes, 29, had been shot several times.

Gang violence took at least two lives in La Puente, one a 17-year-old girl, sheriff’s deputies said.

Yvonne Ruiz of Baldwin Park was walking in the 14000 block of Beckner Street about 1 a.m. Sunday when she was shot by a gunman in a pickup truck who had earlier shot at her car and then drove by again after she parked.

Deputy Roger Hom said the gunman shouted gang slogans as he fired.

Ruiz died at Terrace Plaza Medical Center in Baldwin Park about four hours later, Hom said.

Late Friday, Peter David, identified as a 29-year-old gang member, was shot and killed by two men and a woman who knocked on the door of his friend’s Lynwood apartment, asked for him and then opened fire when he appeared, Deputy Van Mosley said.