Monrovia Man Shot To Death in North Hollywood

A Monrovia man shot in the head and killed during a gang-related altercation in North Hollywood early Saturday morning has been identified by coroner's officials, according to City News Service.

Deon Michael Bastian, 22, of Monrovia was found dead in the backyard of a North Hollywood home with a gunshot wound to the head, City News Service reported. Wilson Pierre, 22, of Pasadena, was also shot in the head during the altercation and later died from his injuries, according to the news service.

A Los Angeles Police Department spokesman said a camcorder recovered from the scene could aid detectives in identifying the shooter.

"A Sony High Definition handheld camcorder was removed from the party, which may contain evidence that could be crucial in identifying the suspects responsible for this crime," said Officer Cleon Joseph of the LAPD Media Relations Section.

At approximately 1:40 a.m., the LAPD North Hollywood Division received several calls reporting that a shooting occurred at a home about two blocks south of Roscoe Boulevard. Residents in the North Hollywood neighborhood reported hearing several gunshots, and some witnesses recalled seeing two black males in a "white, unknown make and unknown model 4-door vehicle, with black rims" speed away from the crime scene.

About ten patrol cars arrived at the residence, where a party had been going on until the gunfire disrupted it. Rival gang members tried to get into the party, and shooting broke out, an officer said.

Several other calls to police reported another possible gunshot victim at a gas station at the corner of Roscoe Boulevard and Coldwater Canyon Avenue, which is just a block away from the scene of the shooting and across the street from the Wat Thai Buddhist Temple. When Patch arrived at the location, it appeared that the police did not find a victim there, nor did they find any witnesses or people who knew anything about that possible incident.

At the single-family dwelling where the shooting occurred, several witnesses at the scene were being questioned by the police officers outside the property, then later brought inside the house and questioned further. From the transmissions on the police scanner, it sounded like the residents of that house did not allow the police to enter or search the property for a good amount of time after the patrol cars arrived on the scene. Many of these possible witnesses were not cooperating with the police.

After some negotiation with the people responsible for the property, and maybe 10 or 15 minutes after the police arrived at the scene, the officers were allowed to search the property and found the shooting victim in the backyard area, close to the rear alleyway. Bastian's contorted body was lying on the ground near the open gate to the back alley.

Over the police radio, LAPD learned that another possible shooting victim, related to the homicide incident, was taken to Kaiser Hospital in Panorama City. That victim turned out to be Pierre, who later died.

City News Service contributed to this story.