Woman Killed and 6 Injured in Drive-By Shootings

One woman was killed and six people were injured in a spate of drive-by shootings Sunday.

Bernice Simpson, 64, was standing on the porch of her house at 1169 W. 36th Place about 1:30 p.m. when she was hit in the chest by bullets fired from a passing car, detectives said. She died at County-USC Medical Center.

Simpson’s husband told detectives she had just purchased the home and was spending the day cleaning and painting.

Although police were not immediately able to determine that gang members were responsible for the slaying, drive-by shootings are common in gang assaults, police said. Such shootings occur about twice a day in Los Angeles.

In the first of Sunday’s attacks, three men and a woman were hit by bullets as they sat outside playing dominoes around 2:25 a.m. along Western Avenue.

The shots came from a red car carrying two men, police said. Officers did not have the names of the victims, but said none of their wounds were critical.

About 30 minutes later, an unidentified man was struck by shots fired from a passing car carrying three men along Brynhurst Avenue, police said.

Five minutes later, a man about five blocks away on 8th Avenue was hit by a shotgun blast fired from a car, police said. The unidentified man was hospitalized in stable condition.

No arrests had been made. Detectives were trying to determine if the attacks were linked and gang-related.