3 Men Die in Unrelated Shootings in Same Area

NORTH HOLLYWOOD — Three men were fatally wounded Friday night in separate, apparently unrelated shootings, including two that occurred within 12 minutes of each other, Los Angeles police said.

In the first incident, at 8:20 p.m., Okon Nelson Offem, 37, was shot in the 11100 block of Otsego Street in North Hollywood, Los Angeles Police Department spokesman Officer Eduardo Funes said. Offem died several hours later at Providence Holy Cross Medical Center in Mission Hills. Police have made no arrests, but said the shooting may have resulted from a dispute between the victim and someone he knew, Funes said.

Twelve minutes later, in Toluca Lake, a 37-year-old man was gunned down by another man in the 10400 block of Riverside Drive, police said. The victim, whose identity was being withheld until relatives could be notified, was pronounced dead at the scene. Witnesses said the attacker fled eastbound on Riverside Drive on a yellow 10-speed bicycle.

And at 10:35 p.m., Gerardo Rodarte, 19, died at North Hollywood Medical Center after being dropped off by an unidentified friend. Police said Rodarte was wounded in an apparent gang-related drive-by shooting at Magnolia Boulevard and Tujunga Avenue. Police did not release any other details.

“It’s very unusual to get three unrelated homicides in such a short time span in the same police division,” Funes said. “There were 17 homicides in the LAPD’s North Hollywood Division all of last year.”