Man Dies in Sunset Strip Shooting : Attack Linked to Robbery Attempt; Three Others Also Slain

A would-be robber walked up to a vehicle parked near the Sunset Strip early Saturday, ordered the driver to roll down his window and shot him to death when he refused, Los Angeles police said.

Anthony John McCubbin, 32, an English national who resided in Los Angeles, died at Cedars-Sinai Medical Center minutes after the incident--one of four fatal shootings being investigated by Los Angeles County authorities during the early part of the weekend.

Police said McCubbin--a special effects technician who worked at rock concerts and other staged events--and two friends were leaving the North Kings Road home of a business associate, where they had spent the evening.

McCubbin and his friends--a man and a woman--had just entered his Jeep Cherokee, parked on the east side of the Hyatt Hotel, at about 1:50 a.m. when a man carrying a handgun walked up to the driver’s window, Detective Russell Kuster said.

“The gunman . . . ordered the victim to roll down the window,” Kuster said. “When the victim refused, he was summarily shot (through the window) by the suspect.”

The gunman fled in a small yellow vehicle, Kuster said, adding that detectives believe he had intended to rob his victims.

In a separate incident, a 17-year-old youth was shot to death while on his way to visit a friend late Friday night, police said.

Richard Timothy Wilson, 17, was gunned down moments after parking his car on 54th Street in South-Central Los Angeles, in what investigators said was a gang-related incident.

Wilson had left his car and was crossing Central Avenue at 54th Street about 11:05 p.m. when a man--armed with a shotgun--shouted a gang greeting mockingly, and then fired several shots at him, Detective Bernie Skiles said.

Wilson was hit in the chest and left side of his head. He staggered to a nearby alley, where he collapsed and died, police said.

The gunman ran from the area.

Wilson’s sister and a friend, both 14, witnessed the shooting from the car.

A few hours later, sheriff’s deputies were called to Will Rogers Memorial Park in Watts to investigate a shooting and found the bullet-riddled body of a young man. Deputies said the victim, who was shot in the upper torso, was Payton Johnson, 18.

No motive had been found for the slaying and there were no arrests. The shooting did not appear to be gang-related, Deputy Van Moseley said.

A teen-age boy was killed Saturday in a burst of gang gunfire from a car in South-Central Los Angeles, minutes before an anti-gang task force arrived in the area, police said.

The victim, whose name was not released, and a teen-age companion, were shot in the 300 block of East 78th Street. The surviving victim was taken to Martin Luther King Jr./Drew Medical Center, Sgt. Randy Minini said, adding that there were no further details.

About 250 Los Angeles police officers fanned out Saturday evening for another “Operation Hammer” anti-gang task force operation in neighborhoods plagued by gang violence.

“We will enforce every law we have available to us,” Detective Tony Celli said.

The last “Hammer” operation, during the July 4 weekend. netted 412 arrests, Celli said. Arrest figures involving Saturday night’s operation were not available, the detective said.

A similar operation is scheduled for tonight, police said.