Driver Fatally Shot While Changing Tire

A 29-year-old Canoga Park man was shot several times at close range by another motorist on the Golden State Freeway Saturday after he pulled to the shoulder to change a flat tire, police said. He later died from his wounds.

The shooting occurred near the Van Nuys Boulevard onramp, where the victim’s green Ford Explorer stood cordoned off and surrounded by police cars and investigators late Saturday. The victim, identified as Don Terrell Berry, was transported to a nearby hospital where doctors pronounced him dead.

Witnesses said a Latino man parked a beige or white pickup truck near the disabled Ford Explorer about 5:30 p.m., approached Berry and fired several shots from 2 to 3 feet away before climbing back in the pickup and driving off, Lt. Rick Papke of the Los Angeles Police Department’s Foothill Division said.

“Officers responded and found a male black slumped over a tire jack at the back of the vehicle,” Papke said.

“We have no idea what the motive was,” Papke said.

Police said they had no indication that the two men knew one another or had been involved in a dispute. The victim was traveling alone, Papke said.

Paramedics arrived at the scene shortly after a 5:23 p.m. call was made to 911 operators. Berry had no pulse and was not breathing, said Los Angeles Fire Department spokesman Brian Humphrey.

“We arrived on the scene to find the victim in extremely critical condition,” Humphrey said. “He sustained multiple gunshot wounds to his torso.”

As paramedics rushed Berry away in an ambulance, they performed “advanced life support measures” to try and restore his pulse and start his lungs, Humphrey said.

Freeway traffic backed up for hours after the shooting, and investigators closed the Van Nuys Boulevard onramp. The investigation is continuing.