Drive-by Shooting of 2 Men in Cypress Park Gang-Related

The murders of two men found in Glassell Park minutes after a drive-by shooting in Cypress Park Saturday are gang-related, and the Los Angeles Police Department is seeking the community’s help in apprehending the suspected killers who were seen driving an older-model green or blue-colored Nissan Altima.

Homicide detectives from the LAPD’s Northeast Division spent Monday morning assisting with autopsy proceedings into the fatal shootings of Los Angeles residents Alfred Lopez, 32, and Juan Martinez, 18, Northeast Division Capt. Jeff Bert said, adding that it’s too early to tell which gang or gangs might be involved in the incident. 

The shootings took place at around 3:35 a.m. at Cypress Avenue and Future Street. The victims were traveling in a Ford Explorer along with a third occupant who escaped with minor injuries, Sara Faden, a spokesperson for the LAPD Media Relations section, said Sunday.

The Explorer continued to roll a few blocks before it crashed near the intersection of Eagle Rock Boulevard (Cypress Avenue becomes northbound Eagle Rock Boulevard) and Verdugo Road, Faden said.

Asked how he could tell if the murders were or weren’t the handiwork of some gang, Bert said that drive-by shootings of that nature are usually “looked at as a gang tactic.”

Saturday's murders raise to three the number of people killed in suspected gang-related drive-by shootings across Northeast L.A. in a little less than two months. On May 28, suspected gang members shot to death Ernesto Ramirez, a 21-year-old Highland Park resident, on the 4700 block of Benner Street, a leafy residential area near Avenue 57 where some of his relatives live. Ramirez's killers are still at large.

Bert said he does have an idea of what kind of weapon was used in Saturday's shootings of Lopez and Martinez but he isn’t at liberty to disclose the caliber of the weapon because the murders are under investigation.

“It wasn’t an elephant gun,” the captain said, adding that all he could say was that it was a small-caliber gun. Both .45-caliber or 9mm handguns are defined as small-caliber, Bert said. The autopsy report would reveal just what kind of bullets were fired and whether they were non-expanding, full-metal jacket bullets capable of penetrating the doors of vehicles, Bert added. 

Bert said that Lt. Sandoval of the Northeast station is in charge of the investigation into the two homicides. The station would release further information if the public’s help is needed in the investigation, Bert said.