Woman Pulled From Car, Slain

A woman was dragged from a car and shot to death execution-style Tuesday in the midst of afternoon traffic on the Pomona Freeway in South El Monte, witnesses told authorities.

The unidentified woman, whose hands were bound, was shot several times in the upper torso and dumped in thick brush along the freeway just west of the Rosemead Boulevard exit, Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Department investigators said.

A married couple bicycling through the Whittier Narrows Recreation Area heard gunshots moments before coming upon the woman’s body near a fence separating the bike path from the Pomona Freeway, authorities said.

“They heard gunshots, and as they rode farther down, westbound, they looked and saw two males running up the embankment of the freeway,” said Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Lt. Frank Merriman.

The men escaped in separate BMWs--one gray, the other tan--driving west on the freeway, deputies said. Both are considered suspects, investigators said.

The couple was cycling on a path near the Rio Hondo River when they heard the shots at 3:30 p.m. and discovered the woman, described as being in her early 30s, deputies said.