Del Rey was one of the last neighborhoods on the west side of Los Angeles where the middle class could still afford a home. Today there are real estate listings in the area between Culver City and Playa Vista priced near $1 million – and higher.

But gentrification is not a guarantee against violent crime, at least not presently. Mar Vista Gardens, a housing project, still exists and so do the Culver City Boys, an active neighborhood gang.

Police are looking for a gunman who opened fire in the home of an 8-year-old boy, leaving the sleeping child with a gunshot wound to the head as his father tried to shield him.

Detectives also sought a motive for the attack that sprayed bullets through a wall and into the bedroom in the Del Rey neighborhood.

This comes only days after a shooting occurred in Playa Vista. Police again report they are probing possible gang ties to the shooting of an 8-year-old boy who was sleeping in his bedroom overnight yesterday when he was struck by a stray bullet.

“The incident is being considered a gang-related shooting” for now, Los Angeles Police Department Officer Sara Faden told us. “Our gang experts are looking for a connection.”

The shooting was reported “a few minutes shy of midnight” Sunday at a home in the 11900 block of Wagner Street, she said. That’s just about three blocks from the projects that the local gang has called home for decades.