Six people died and four others were wounded in separate weekend gang activity, including a knife fight that broke out when a gang crashed a "Sweet 16" birthday party.

The slayings late Friday through Sunday increased the record gang-related death toll for the Los Angeles area.For the first nine months of the year, 245 people were killed by gang violence in areas patrolled by the Los Angeles police and sheriff's departments, up from 215 slain during the same period in 1987, according to the most recent statistics.

Migel Cruz, 21, was fatally stabbed Saturday in a fight that broke out when several local gang members crashed the birthday party for two girls in Valinda, about 20 miles east of downtown Los Angeles, Deputy Gabe Ramirez said.

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