Driver Shoots Three, Then Is Beaten by Victims’ Relatives

A driver who opened fire on a group of people in a Watts frontyard early Sunday was chased down by the victims’ angry relatives and beaten, authorities said.

A group was standing in front of a house on East 112th Street when a car with at least two men inside drove up. “There was a verbal exchange,” said a Los Angeles police officer who refused to give his name. The driver fired several shots, wounding two men and a woman.

When the gunman began driving off, “the car stopped,” possibly because of engine trouble, the officer said.

Family members of the wounded caught up to the car, pulled the driver and a passenger out and beat them in the street, police said. Witnesses told police the family members were not armed.

The three gunshot victims and the two beaten men, whom police identify as suspects, were all in their early 30s. They were taken to area hospitals, where one gunshot victim was reported in critical condition late Sunday.