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Daniel Leon, 22

Daniel Leon (2008-02-21)

Daniel Leon, a 22-year-old Latino, was shot by Los Angeles police at the intersection of Drew Street and Estara Avenue in Glassell Park about noon Thursday, Feb. 21 and died about three hours later, according to coroner's records.

Authorities said Leon had been involved in the drive-by shooting of , a 36-year-old Latino, near Aragon and Roseview avenues in Cypress Park a short time before his confrontation with police.

Salas was holding the hand of his 2-year-old granddaughter when he was shot multiple times by people in a passing car, police said. The girl was not hit and did not suffer any major injuries, authorities said.

Police said officers from the Northeast Division pulled over a white Nissan sedan near the intersection of Drew Street and Estara Avenue. Three men got out and began shooting; Leon, they said, was armed with an AK-47 rifle.

Friends mourn at the site of a makeshift memorial to Daniel LeonThe officers fired back, killing Leon and injuring another man; who was taken to a hospital and was being held for allegedly killing Salas.

A third suspect fled on foot, but was later found underneath a vehicle. He was arrested on suspicion of murder, authorities said. The fourth man fled in the white Nissan and is still at large. The men were members of the Avenues gang, police said.

Leon had a history of violence. He was arrested for killing a drug buyer at the house in 2004 and was ultimately convicted of being an accessory to murder. In 2005, he was arrested in a case in which prosecutors alleged "he brutally beat and robbed a 43-year-old man . . . as his wife looked on." The wife would not speak to prosecutors out of fear of retaliation.

-- Joe Mozingo, Richard Winton and Sam Quinones

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