Shots Ring Out in Pico Neighborhood

By Lookout Staff

Nov. 18 -- After a two-and-a-half month lull, shots rang out once again in the crime prone Pico Neighborhood Monday night, police said.

The shots were fired at around 8:30 p.m. on the 1900 block of 17th Street, several blocks from where a young black man was fatally shot on September 2 in what marked the city's only homicide this year.

Witnesses said they heard several shots being fired in the area, but after an extensive search, responding officers turned up no victims or suspects, said Lt. Frank Fabrega, the police department spokesman.

The shooting occurred in a violence-riddled pocket of the Pico Neighborhood where five shootings took place between May 9 and June 5. No one was injured in the shootings.

Police arrested eight suspects in the shooting spree on charges ranging from parole violations to attempted murder. None of the suspects arrested face prosecution, although other charges stemming from their arrests have been brought against two of the suspects.

Three months after the last shooting incident, Jalonnie D. Carter, a 19-year-old black resident of the Pico Neighborhood, was shot in the back in the alley on the 1800 block of 20th street.

A suspect was arrested for murder and parole violation, but was released after the District Attorney's office found there was not enough evidence to file charges