Reward Offered in Slaying of Burbank Man

Frustrated by a lack of clues, Los Angeles police investigators and the City Council have offered a $25,000 reward for information leading to an arrest and conviction in the killing of a Burbank man who was shot on Mulholland Drive early Saturday.

Dario Torres, 32, was shot at least twice as he tried to flee “at least two unknown suspects” on the scenic drive in the Mount Olympus area, said Officer Angela Grant, a spokeswoman for the LAPD.

Torres, who was with an unidentified female companion in his Jeep Cherokee at about 4 a.m., was shot as he started his vehicle and tried to drive away from the assailants, Grant said.

“It appears the only information we have now is that two black males approached his car, and that at least one of them had a handgun,” Grant said. “When he tried to get away, he was shot and his vehicle went off an embankment.”

Torres’ Jeep was found nearly 170 feet down a ravine, where the vehicle came to a rest in scrub brush beneath Mulholland Drive.

Police were called to the scene by Torres’ female companion who used her cellular phone, Grant said.

Thursday’s reward announcement was made at a press conference outside the LAPD’s Parker Center headquarters. “The announcement was made to call attention to this crime, to ask for the public’s help,” Grant said of the City Council-authorized reward.