The Los Angeles Police Department investigated two unrelated shooting deaths that occurred about the same time in Van Nuys and South Los Angeles Sunday.
About 5:15 a.m., officers responded to a ''shots fired'' call at Hazeltine Avenue and Emelita Street in Van Nuys where Jose Flores Ruiz, 30, was shot dead inside his home, said Los Angeles police officer Norma Eisenman of the Media Relations Section.
Neighbors heard gunshots and a suspect, described only as a white or Hispanic man, run from the resident, Eisenman said. A short time later Ruiz's mother and sister returned home and found Ruiz dead, she said. At about 5:30 a.m., officers responded to an ''assault with a deadly weapon, shooting call,'' in the 6400 block of Bonsallo Avenue in South Los Angeles.
Officers found a 35-year-old man shot dead during a drive-by shooting, Eisenman said. The victim had been standing in front of a house near Figueroa Street at Florence Avenue when someone drove by and fired several shots, striking the man twice in the head, police said.
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