A family is in mourning and a gunman on the loose after a mother of 3 was shot and killed while she rode in the backseat of a car in South LA. Alex Rozier reports for the NBC 4 News at 5
A young woman was shot and killed while in the car with family late Monday night, according to the Los Angeles Police Department.
According to her family, BreYanna Bailey just turned 30 years old in August of this year, and leaves behind three children.
Her family was in the car, and they tried to get away and get help -- but the car crashed into a fire hydrant, sending a flood of water into the street.
Authorities were still at the scene early Tuesday morning collecting evidence and cleaning up after the crash.
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According to Captain Adrian Gonzalez with the LAPD, a black SUV crashed into the fire hydrant around 11:45 p.m. Monday. The hydrant was outside Fire Station 66 near the corner of Slauson and St. Andrew's Place in the Chesterfield Square community of South LA.
First responders rushed out to help and found one of three passengers in the car suffering from a gunshot wound. They tried to save Bailey's life, but she died at the scene.
The two others who were in the car with Bailey are also young women, believed to be her family members. They called other family members to the scene of the deadly crash, where they were grieving on Tuesday morning.
"That's what they're saying, that it was not meant for her," one relative said through tears. "How could a person just shoot into a vehicle? You don't even know who you're shooting."
Gonzalez said investigators are speaking with some of those family members to see what information they might have, and to try and piece together what exactly happened.
Officers have so far been unable to find the shooter. No description of the suspect is available.
Slauson is closed at Western through Wilton while police investigate, with two crime scenes in the area -- one where the woman was shot, and another where the crash happened.
