“It makes you not want to go outside,” said Edward Mackey, 26, who lives with his family at Sepulveda and 14th Street. “It seems like every block is having shooting. It’s like they’re working their way down,” Alma Angulo, 47, said.
It’s a neighborhood dotted with wrought-iron gated apartment complexes having no visible name except “For Rent” signs, and older homes, some dating back to the late 19th century.
Residents say they’re used to hearing gunshots along Sepulveda Avenue, but a recent escalation of violence has transformed indifference into nervousness.
“It makes you not want to go outside,” said Edward Mackey, 26, who lives with his family at Sepulveda and 14th Street.
An argument between four men ended in gunfire at 9:16 p.m. Wednesday in the 1400 block of North Sepulveda Avenue, about 1,000 feet from the site of a deadly drive-by shooting five days earlier.
When police arrived on Sepulveda, they found 19-year-old Roberto Elizarraraz Jr. of Highland and Angel Xavier Perez, 22, of Redlands dead in the driveway of a complex. The shooters ran south on Sepulveda and had not been caught by late Thursday.
Police have little information on the gunmen, except that they are in their 20s.
Patrols have increased in the neighborhood since the Jan. 28 death of 15-year-old Steven Guzman, who was shot in the 1500 block of North Belle Street the day before. Extra officers plan to continue roaming the neighborhood, police say.
“They will be taking care of the entire area,” Lt. Paul Williams said.
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