Homicide investigation underway in shooting death of man in San Pedro
Police on Friday were investigating the death of man who was found inside a bullet-riddled SUV that was driven to the parking lot of Providence Little Company of Mary Medical Center in San Pedro.
Authorities believe the actual shooting occurred some eight hours earlier, near West 14th Street and South Mesa Street.
The man who dropped the victim off at the hospital was being questioned by detectives, though they do not believe he was the shooter. Detectives, however, are still trying to figure out why it took the man more than eight hours to bring the victim to the hospital.
At the scene, near West 14th Street and South Mesa Street, there was mountain of evidence. Bullet casings were scattered on both sides of the road, along with shattered glass, clear signs of a shooting. What the scene was missing was a victim.
"The person was shot inside the vehicle, so that explains no blood at the scene," Los Angeles Police Department Capt. Adrian Gonzalez said.
According to LAPD, the first 911 calls came in about a shooting at 10:30 p.m. Thursday, but it wasn't until a second call from nearby Providence Little Company of Mary Hospital, more than eight hours later, that they found a victim.
"Officers did a follow to the location and determined that there was a homicide victim at that location," Gonzalez said.
At around 7 a.m. Friday, LAPD said a man driving a black SUV, riddled with bullet holes, rushed into the ER at Providence Hospital, saying his passenger was shot. Police said the shooting victim was a man in his mid-30's who was pronounced dead inside the vehicle.
Investigators believe the driver and his passenger were riding southbound on 14th Street Thursday evening when the passenger was shot by someone outside their vehicle, but why it took until the next morning for the victim to seek help, LAPD, said is unknown at this time.
"We don't know what happened in those seven or eight hours," Gonzalez said. "That's what we're figuring out right now."
Police also did not reveal how the driver and the shooting victim know each other, though said they are not residents of the area and that they do not believe that the shooting was gang related.
LAPD did confirm that inquiries with all local hospitals has so far not turned up any additional reports of injuries or gunshot victims.
A homicide investigation was launched early Friday morning when a man was found dead inside of a car outside of a hospital in San Pedro.
The incident was first reported a little before 7 a.m., when Los Angeles Police Department officers and Los Angeles County Sheriff's Department deputies were called to the scene in the 1700 block of West Seventh Street.
Circumstances leading up to the homicide were not immediately known, though with Sky2 over the scene, officers could be seen surveying a vehicle that had one door ajar in the parking lot of the Providence Little Company of Mary Medical Center.
According to Los Angeles County Sheriff's Department, a person suffering from a gunshot wound was driven to the emergency room at the medical center.
When deputies arrived, the person was dead in the front seat of the vehicle. The person who drove the victim to the hospital was detained at the scene for questioning. The car used to drive to the hospital was said to have sustained damage from gunfire.
The victim's identity has been withheld pending notification of next of kin.
"We have a victim who's a male African American, approximately 34, 35 years old. He has not been fully identified," said LAPD Captain Adrian Gonzalez. "He's still in the vehicle in front of the hospital. We don't know who the vehicle belongs to yet."
Upon investigation, they were able to determine that the scene of the shooting was likely to have happened on 14th Street and Pacific Avenue. It was believed that the shooting actually took place the night prior, a little before midnight, when shots were fired into the vehicle the victim was sitting in.
They were working to try and figure out what happened during the six hour time frame between the time of the shooting Thursday evening and the time when the victim as brought to the hospital.
When authorities made their way to the area they did not find a victim.
There was no suspect information immediately available.
