CALIFORNIA BRIEFING / LOS ANGELES

By Carol J. Williams

Jan. 3, 2009 12 AM PT

Two days after an unknown assailant shot to death a motorist waiting at a light at 3rd Street and Occidental Boulevard, police Friday asked the public for help in identifying the shooter in what is a suspected gang-related homicide.

Sergio Chamale-Mendez, 21, was pronounced dead at a nearby hospital after being hit in the chest by gunshots from a vehicle described by police as a possibly tan, newer model Lexus with tinted windows and chrome wheels. The shooting occurred about 10 p.m. Wednesday.

“There is no clear motive for the shooting, except that it is believed to be gang-related,” said Norma Eisenman, a spokeswoman for the Los Angeles Police Department.

Anyone with information may relate it anonymously to Rampart Division homicide detectives at (213) 484-3650 or toll-free at (877) LAPD-24-7.

-- Carol J. Williams

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Carol J. Williams

Carol J. Williams is former senior international affairs writer for the Los Angeles Times. A foreign correspondent for 25 years, she has won five Overseas Press Club awards, two Sigma Delta Chi citations and was a 1993 finalist for the Pulitzer Prize in international reporting. She has served as Times bureau chief in Budapest, Vienna, Moscow, Berlin and the Caribbean. A native of Rhode Island and irrepressible Red Sox fan, Williams speaks Russian, German, French and Spanish, and has reported from more than 80 countries. She left The Times in 2015.

CALIFORNIA BRIEFING / LOS ANGELES

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