A 17-year-old from Houston was fatally shot in the parking lot of a shopping center near Marina del Rey on Wednesday evening, and police were searching for the gunman.
Officers received a call around 8 p.m. Wednesday regarding a shooting in a supermarket parking lot at Glencoe Avenue and Mindanao Way, a Los Angeles Police Department news release stated. The location is in the Villa Marina Marketplace shopping center in Del Rey, at the edge of Marina del Rey.
Police found a girl, later identified by the Los Angeles County coroner’s office as 17-year-old Kristine Carman, shot inside a vehicle.
Her sister wrote on Facebook that the girl was killed in front of her in a “robbery gone wrong.” She called the victim “beautiful smart and undeserving.”
She was pronounced dead at the scene by Los Angeles Fire Department personnel.
“There simply are no words to describe the loss of a child. Her family is devastated,” said her stepmother in a brief email to KTLA.
The gunman was described as a black man wearing a gray hooded sweatshirt and blue beanie. Police believe he fled the location in a dark-colored SUV, possibly heading toward the 90 Freeway.
Details about what led up to the shooting were not immediately available.
The shooting occurred in a parking lot near Jerry’s Deli restaurant and then the driver traveled across the lot — with the victim still inside the vehicle — and stopped in front a Panda Express, witnesses said. The vehicle appeared to be a Honda Element.
Carman was from Houston, television station KPRC in Texas reported.
“Kristine was exceptionally smart and wonderfully creative – she was a skilled photographer who loved taking photos. She was very close with her siblings, each of whom loved her immensely,” her father said in a statement provided to KPRC. “Her family is devastated by this senseless tragedy, and appreciates everyone’s prayers as we privately mourn this tremendous loss.”
Carman was the second eldest in a family of six, according to a GoFundMe page created by her sister.
Anyone with information was asked to contact homicide investigators at 213-382-9470. During nonbusiness hours or on weekends, calls can made to 877-527-3247.
Anonymous tippers were asked call Crime Stoppers at 1-800-222-TIPS (800-222-8477), text 274637 (C-R-I-M-E-S on most keypads) beginning with the letters “LAPD,” or visit www.lapdonline.org, and click on “Anonymous Web Tips.”
KTLA’s Irving Last and Jennifer Thang contributed to this report.