Teen-Ager in Pickup Fatally Shot at Signal

A teen-ager, thought at first to be the victim of an auto accident, had instead been fatally shot while sitting in his pickup truck at a traffic signal in Mission Hills, police said.

John Albert Avila, 19, who was believed to be from the Mission Hills area, was discovered by patrol officers at 10:50 p.m. on Thursday in his pickup truck, which had crashed into a utility pole on Bermuda Street near Sepulveda Boulevard.

But officers found that Avila had been shot in the chest. He was taken to Holy Cross Hospital where he died a short time later.

Lt. Bernard D. Conine said homicide investigators learned that before the truck crashed into the pole Avila had been stopped at a traffic signal at the nearby intersection of Sepulveda and Brand Boulevard when another pickup pulled up next to his.

Conine said a man got out of the second truck, walked over to Avila’s vehicle and fired a shot through the window. After being hit, Avila quickly accelerated his truck, turned onto Bermuda Street and crashed into the utility pole, Conine said.

Conine said no motive had been determined.