3 DIE IN WEEKEND DRIVE-BYS GUNFIRE CLAIMS VICTIMS IN VAN NUYS, SOUTH LOS ANGELES, PACOIMA.

Byline: Staff and Wire Services

At least five people were shot in drive-by shootings over the weekend, including four in the San Fernando Valley that sparked a massive manhunt by police, authorities reported Sunday.

One man died in Van Nuys and one in Pacoima, raising the toll of San Fernando Valley homicides this year to 54. A woman was declared brain-dead following a drive-by shooting in South Los Angeles.

Los Angeles police erected a barricade around Pacoima's sprawling San Fernando Gardens housing project Sunday night hoping to arrest a dozen members of one or two gangs suspected in two earlier Pacoima shootings, one of them fatal.

``We're trying to determine whether or not this is a fallout between those two gangs, or there's a possibility it may be an internal strife within the original gang,'' Los Angeles police Capt. Ron Marbrey told the TV station KTLA (Channel 5).

The shootings began late Saturday and ended Sunday evening in a rash of attacks that were not clearly related, police said.

In Pacoima, a man was shot and killed at a gas station Sunday during what appeared to be a gang-related attack, police said.

The man was shot while gassing up his car at about 1:20 p.m. Sunday at Van Nuys Boulevard and Herrick Avenue, said Los Angeles police Sgt. R. Alaniz.

Witnesses said the man was filling his tank when occupants of a white SUV began arguing with him, Alaniz said. Someone from the car then opened fire, hitting him in the chest, he said.

The man was taken to a hospital, where he died of his injuries. Police did not identify the victim.

About four hours later, occupants of the same white vehicle shot another man in the head in the same neighborhood, police said. He was listed in satisfactory condition at a nearby hospital.

Earlier in Van Nuys, a man was shot at a party just past midnight as he stood within a large crowd that had gathered to raise money for a rugby team, Los Angeles police Sgt. Jeanne Harris said.

Frank Anthony Rodarte, 27, of Los Angeles was killed at 12:34 a.m. Sunday by shots fired from a car into the crowd in the 6900 block of Valjean Avenue.

Witnesses said the shots appeared to be fired by gang members in the area.

Rodarte, suffering from at least one gunshot wound, was taken to a local hospital, where he was later pronounced dead, Harris said.

About an hour before Rodarte was killed, another man was hit at 11:30 p.m. Saturday in a Van Nuys drive-by attack in the 15800 block of Sherman Way, Harris said.

The victim, hit by a single shot to the chest, was taken to Northridge Hospital Medical Center, police said.

In the South Los Angeles area, an 18-year-old woman who was shot during a drive-by shooting Saturday was declared brain-dead, a police lieutenant said.