SAN DIEGO -- A young man and three juveniles were behind bars Monday for allegedly carrying out a spree of drive-by gang shootings that killed two people and wounded three others over the weekend, authorities said.
San Diego police arrested Ivory Harris, 19, and three boys, ages 14, 15 and 17, Saturday night in connection with the slaying several hours earlier of 16-year-old Lee Smith Jr. in the 100 block of South Meadowbrook Drive.
An assailant shot the teenager several times with a .380-caliber pistol from inside a white Ford Expedition that drove up next to him as he stood near a bus stop about 9:15 p.m., San Diego police homicide Lt. Mike Hurley said.
The youth died during surgery.
Investigators believe Harris and the other arrestees, whose names were withheld because they are minors, also were involved in two other weekend shootings, one of which left a man dead.
The first occurred shortly after 11:30 p.m. Friday on Gribble Street, in the same eastern San Diego district where Lee was slain. The attack wounded three people.
About an hour later, an assailant in a moving car shot 22-year-old Lemon Grove resident Robert Wilson in the head as he was driving on southbound State Route 163 at Interstate 8 in Mission Valley.
Wilson died several hours later at University of California, San Diego Medical Center.
Increases in violence between organized criminal groups have prompted police to beef up their gang-suppression details, San Diego police Assistant Chief Rulette Armstead told 10News Monday afternoon.
In the wake of the particularly violent weekend, those units are taking added measures in an effort to thwart any retaliatory attacks that could result from the shootings, Armstead said.
"We plan to be very visible," she added. "We plan to be out in the community, talking to people."
In addition, the department has announced plans to send letters to the parents of youths who are associating with people likely to lead them into lives of crime.
"So we're trying to be more proactive ... we want to get to (vulnerable youths) before they become gang members," the assistant chief said.
The city's roughly 85 street gangs have a total estimated membership of about 5,000, according to police.
