Sharon Carter, 31

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Sharon Carter, 31, a black woman, was shot while driving her Nissan Pathfinder southbound in the 9600 block of South Compton Avenue at about 5 p.m. Sunday, Sept. 23. She was pronounced dead at the scene. Stephen Mark Picart, 33, her boyfriend, was later arrested on suspicion of murder after turning himself in. Her children, 4 and 14, were in the car when she was killed.

The two boys--Carter’s, not Picart’s--saw Picart shoot Carter in the head as they were arguing, police allege. Picart then jumped out and fled after the Pathfinder crashed into two parked cars.

The children were not injured by the crash, though a detective described them as ‘devastated.’ Picart, a black man, turned himself in shortly after at the headquarters of the Los Angeles Police Department’s South Bureau homicide unit, which is also 77th Street station. Picart has been driving students for a company that has an LAUSD contract, a district spokeswoman said. He had no documented criminal history of domestic violence against Carter in the past, police said. A relative of Carter’s said that she was pregnant when she died. Clearance goes to LAPD South Bureau homicide Dets. Nate Kouri and Sam Marullo.

Above, her brother-in-law Dwayne Loughridge, left, speaks at a news conference, with LAPD Det. John Radtke standing by. ‘If you was in a down situation, she would lift you up,’ he said of Carter.