Local News in Brief : L.A. Youth Is Killed in Drive-by Shooting

A 16-year-old youth from South-Central Los Angeles was killed in a drive-by shooting on an Elysian Valley street where he stopped to use a pay phone, police said.

Jose R. Escobar was fatally shot at 12:15 a.m. Saturday after he and two friends got lost on their way home from a Pasadena nightclub and stopped at a phone booth to call for directions, said Detective Sam Sanchez of the Los Angeles Police Department.

Sanchez said Escobar and the other passenger got out of a car to use a phone in front of a hardware store in the 2200 block of Riverside Drive while the driver turned the car around.

Another man was using the pay phone, so Escobar and his friend walked back toward the approaching car, Sanchez said.

Another car, a white Datsun 260 or 280Z, with possibly two youths inside, drove up alongside Escobar and his friend, Sanchez said.

One of the youths in the car yelled something, then pulled out a shotgun and shot Escobar, Sanchez said.

Escobar was taken to Childrens Hospital, where he died at 3:32 a.m. Saturday, said David Campbell, supervising investigator for the Los Angeles County coroner’s office.

No one else was hurt, Sanchez said. Escobar’s friends said the man in the phone booth, a Latino in his 30s, offered to help after the shooting, Sanchez said. Police are searching for the man as a possible witness.

Police have no suspects and do not know whether the incident was gang-related, Sanchez said.