SAN BERNARDINO >> A Friday evening shooting at a crowded apartment complex sent four people to the hospital, including the suspected gunman, police said. Another man was shot in the foot earlier in the day. Around 7 p.m. gunshots erupted at an apartment complex in the 2900 block of North Mountain Avenue — a neighborhood where gang violence raged in 2005, peaking with the fatal shooting of an 11-year-old girl who was hit by a stray bullet. Friday’s victims included a woman who was shot in her chest, a man with a graze wound to his face, another man with a serious wound to his head and neck, and the suspected shooter, who shot himself in the leg while trying to flee, according to police Lt. Rich Lawhead. “We’re speculating that that happened when he was trying to get away,” Lawhead said. The suspect and other shooting victims were being treated at Loma Linda University Medical Center. Late Friday, officers were sent to the hospital to calm unruly relatives, police said. About a half hour after the shooting, Lawhead said there may have been a gun battle at the complex but he changed his statement after detectives investigated the scene. Police initially thought a gun found atop a carport may have been involved, but it turned out to be a BB gun, Lawhead said. When police first arrived, scores of residents were gathered outside the apartments between Loma and Mountain avenues just south of Lynwood Drive, where the shooting occurred. Police on the ground and above in a helicopter warned the people to disperse and threatened to use tear gas before the crowds faded. Sheriff’s deputies assisted, helping with crowd control and closing Loma and Mountain, which line the apartment buildings. One neighbor reported hearing 9 to 11 gunshots. Another resident said she heard 15 shots that “sounded like continuous, consecutive rounds.” Officers searched the apartment complex to ensure no other victims or suspects were hiding, police said. A manager of an adjacent apartment complex said she had just left at 5:30 p.m. when a panicked tenant called. It was the tenant’s first day. “They’ve been getting rougher,” said manager Robin Wasson, speaking of the complex south of hers. A woman who did not give her name said her brother called her, saying he was shot in the thigh. He was a non-resident “hanging here too much with some gangbangers,” she said, as she rushed to get to the hospital. The gun violence was reminiscent of the 2005 shooting that killed 11-year-old Mynisha Crenshaw just south of where Friday’s shooting was reported. At the time, a documented gang member had been shot outside a Mountain Avenue apartment complex, triggering a retaliation shooting at the neighboring Cedarwood Apartments in November 2005. Mynisha was fatally struck by stray bullets during dinner time in her apartment with her family. On Friday afternoon, officers received a call of a fight near 15th and Belle Streets. Shortly after, police identified a man with a bullet wound to his foot. He told police he was shot near 15th and Belle
Posted on: Sat, 29 Mar 2014 09:08:13 +0000
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