BLOODY WEEKEND; 1 KILLED, 8 WOUNDED IN MISSION HILLS.

Byline: Douglas Haberman Daily News Staff Writer

Eight people were wounded and one killed over the weekend in a series of shootings police say were fueled by drinking, gang rivalries and cruising.

The four apparently unrelated shootings occurred in Mission Hills along Laurel Canyon Boulevard, Chatsworth Street and Sepulveda Boulevard, thoroughfares notorious for late-night drinking and cruising, police said Sunday.

The outburst of violence - two shootings early Saturday, followed by another two early Sunday - underscored residents' long-held fears about cruising in the area around the San Fernando Mission.

``The LAPD or the San Fernando PD, someone's not doing their job,'' said George Garcia, who lives near where one of the shootings occurred and heard what he thought were automatic weapons early Sunday.

City officials have sought to curb cruising along Laurel Canyon by erecting barricades on weekend nights, but residents, many of whom were afraid to give their names, say there has been no letup in cruising.

Garcia said the cruising has prompted him to take side streets home. ``Sometimes you get home at night, you see someone who might shoot you,'' he said.

A 74-year-old man who considered moving after a bullet came through his living room window six years ago said as soon as the barricades are taken down, the cruisers come back, blaring their car stereos at each other.

``I could move, but I think they'll take care of this area. They'll guard it better,'' said the resident of MacNeil Street, who asked that his name not be used.

Benita Trujillo, captain of the Mission Hills Neighborhood Watch, said the violence was ``the worst in five years. It just sounds really bad.''

Sister Angelica Tiscanero, administrator of the Mother Gertrude Balcazar Home for Senior Citizens on Laurel Canyon, said the weekend's shootings will make it harder to convince residents that the neighborhood is safe.

``I've been here nine years, and this is the first time it's happened,'' Tiscanero said.

Lydia Duarte said the neighborhood had been largely quiet since she complained to police two years ago.

``We reported them because they would gather in the middle of the street,'' Duarte said.

Need for more police

City Councilman-elect Alex Padilla described Mission Hills as ``a relatively quiet neighborhood'' that could benefit, along with the rest of his 7th District, from expanded police presence.

As he campaigned recently, Padilla said he noticed ``in every part of this district there was a sense of need and a sense of urgency for more law enforcement.''

Police credited stepped-up enforcement measures, including barricades on weekend nights along Laurel Canyon between Rinaldi and Chatsworth until 2 a.m. for keeping the peace for much of the past three months.

``This weekend has been a real sore spot,'' said Detective Bob Brophy with the Los Angeles Police Department Foothill Division's anti-gang unit.

Brophy said the string of shootings - including two gang-related drive-bys the previous weekend in Sylmar - may be tied to high school graduation-related drinking and cruising by members of different gangs in the San Fernando Mission area.

Police had found no connections between any of the shootings. No arrests had been made, he said, but ``we have some leads.''

15 minutes apart

In the first incidents early Saturday, one man was killed and three more wounded in two shootings that police say happened 15 minutes apart at the intersection of Laurel Canyon and MacNeil Street.

Around 1:30 a.m., Roy Chavez, 17, of San Fernando was shot and killed. Police said that about 15 minutes later three other men were shot nearby. Their injuries were not life-threatening.

No description of the suspects was available.

Twenty-four hours later, a vehicle was stopped at a red light on Chatsworth Drive about 1:05 a.m. Sunday when a white Chevy pickup truck pulled up. With no words exchanged, a male in the truck opened fire on the other vehicle, striking a 25-year-old male victim in the leg, Brophy said.

The suspect was a Latino between 24 and 30 and with him was a Latina between 20 and 27, LAPD Officer Charlotte Broughton said.

The victim was treated and released at Providence Holy Cross Medical Center.

In the second shooting Sunday, about 2 a.m., a group of five males was northbound on Sepulveda Boulevard when they came to the light at Chatsworth Street. Another vehicle was already at the light in the right lane with four or more males inside. Brophy would only describe both vehicles as ``older model GM products.''

Somebody in the vehicle already at the light asked the group of five where they were from. The passenger in the right front seat responded that they were from a Pacoima gang, Brophy said.

Tensions escalated and someone in the vehicle in the right lane asked the other vehicle to pull over, a request the second vehicle ignored. At that point, an individual in the first car began firing off 11 rounds with a 9 mm semiautomatic pistol, striking four of the five people in the second car once each.

According to Brophy, the driver of the victims' vehicle was shot in the neck but managed to drive off as the shooting continued. He drove to Holy Cross. The right front passenger was shot through the forearm and chest, with the bullet exiting through a shoulder. One back seat passenger was shot in the arm and another back seat passenger was hit in the forearm with bullet fragments lodging in his temple.

The only passenger not hit was the one sitting directly behind the driver.

Brophy wouldn't release the victims' names.

In addition to the four bullets that hit victims, seven bullets struck the victims' car, and police recovered 11 shell casings at the scene.

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Map: (1 -- 3) Drive-by shootings 

Over the weekend, four drive-by shooting incidents occurred in Mission Hills.

Bradford Mar/Daily News