By Doug Miller
A North Park neighborhood activist was shot late Tuesday night by an unknown assailant who remains at large.
At 9:37 p.m., police said, Sammy Sloan, 57, of East Market Street was shot in the groin by a stray bullet that passed through his house.
Police said the shooter was chasing someone through the neighborhood, and the man being chased rang Sloan's doorbell looking for sanctuary. The shooter fired at least four times, and one of the bullets passed through the outer wall of the house and struck Sloan, who had not yet opened the door. The police did not release the identity of the man who rang the doorbell.
Sloan was described by friends as a man who frequently challenges and exposes the area's drug dealers and other criminals. In the 1990s his house was nearly burned down in what was believed to be retaliation for his activism.
But Lt. Bruce Meyer, the Long Beach Police Department's public information officer, stressed that this incident did not appear to be related to previous ones. "We believe this is a coincidence," he said.
Sloan, a retired custodian in the Long Beach School District, was transported in stable condition to South Nassau Communities Hospital.
