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A vehicle belonging to second-year undeclared student Keith Merrill sits in Lot 8 after being hit

Police are investigating an incident that left one man wounded early Saturday morning and marked the second shooting in as many weeks in the UCLA area.

Shots were fired in front of the Sigma Nu fraternity house on Gayley Avenue at about 2:26 a.m. that morning, according to university police and eyewitnesses.

The victim was a male non-UCLA student, who suffered a wound to his ankle. He was transported to a local hospital Saturday and is in good condition, according to the Los Angeles Police Department, which is investigating the shooting.

The shooting occurred at the tail end of a party held in the fraternity house that was hosted by an outside group.

Shortly after, shots were fired in Lot 8, located about two blocks east of the fraternity house on Strathmore Avenue. No one was hurt, according to university police, who are investigating the incident.

Police would not comment on whether the two incidents were related, but according to eyewitnesses, this appears to be the case.

Eyewitnesses said police began clearing out partygoers in front of the fraternity house in the minutes preceding the Gayley Avenue shooting.

Jonathan Forney, social chairman of the nearby Beta Theta Pi fraternity, said he saw the events unfold from one of his house’s balconies. As police began to disperse the crowd, some ran toward Lot 8, said Forney, and he heard a gunshot come from the general area of the garage, followed by cars speeding out of it.

Though no one was hurt in the garage incident, some bullets hit students’ cars parked in the lot, including that of Keith Merrill, a second-year undeclared student.

Merrill’s vehicle had a bullet lodged in the right door following the Lot 8 incident.

The investigation of the Lot 8 scene led to the arrests of four individuals for charges ranging from possession of stolen property to grand theft. It is not clear whether those arrests were related to the shooting.

Sigma Nu did not sponsor the party where the Gayley Avenue shooting occurred. House Manager Sarman Bravo-Karimi said the building was rented to party management group 3 Tha Hard Way.

The group’s Web site billed the event at the Sigma Nu house as “The UCLA Blue and Gold Bash.” Calls to the group over the weekend were not returned.

Bravo-Karimi, who attended the party, added that it attracted people from throughout Los Angeles.

Derrick Klunchoo, a third-year economics students and Sigma Nu member, said most of the fraternity members were out for the night and were not present at the party.

Fraternity officials agreed the party was unmanageable for most of its duration, due in part to the amount of people present both inside and outside. According to rough estimates, the number totaled to as many as 800 partygoers.

“It was out of control from the get-go. There were too many people there,” said Mark Hardin, director of risk management for the Interfraternity Council, who stopped by the party.

Bravo-Karimi said the party inside the house was alcohol-free and drug-free, and security was instructed not to admit anyone who was under the influence.

The crowd outside the house – which Bravo-Karimi estimated to be as high as 200 people – was less regulated.

The aftermath of the scene – in which police closed off much of the west side of Gayley Avenue in front of the house – prevented many members of Sigma Nu from returning home that night.

Merrill said he was unaware of the shootings when he headed toward Lot 8 to retrieve a football ticket out of his car on Saturday morning, only to find the garage blocked off by police.

“The police would not let me get to my car, so I had to buy another ticket,” he said, adding that he probably won’t pursue compensation for his car damage.

Some students said the shootings were not typical of UCLA and served as a reminder to be more careful.

“I’m a little bit surprised that something like this could occur at a school like this,” said Steve Vicijan, a third-year history student. “It brings us back to reality.”

Other students took the shooting in stride.

“The shooting doesn’t make me feel any less safe,” said Megan Lee, a first-year political science student. “It’s not like where I’m from, in South Central L.A. ... It’s Westwood, not Bosnia.”

This was the second shooting incident at or near UCLA in the past two weeks.

On Oct. 5, a UCPD officer shot an alleged trespasser in Kerckhoff Hall, who police said attacked the officer. The alleged assailant, Willie Davis Frazier, plead not guilty Wednesday to charges of assault and removing an officer’s weapon. He now awaits a preliminary hearing while LAPD continues to investigate the incident.

With reports from Brad Greenberg and Brendan Kearns, Bruin Senior Staff.