2 Teenage Girls Shot to Death While Walking to High School

Two teenage girls were shot to death by a young man Tuesday as they walked to school in a quiet Lynwood neighborhood, Los Angeles County sheriff’s deputies said.

The gunman, who was on foot, fired numerous times at the girls, identified as cousins Olivia Munguia, 17, and Jessica Yvette Zavala, 15.

Investigators were looking into the possibility that the shooting was motivated by a dispute between the older girl and an ex-boyfriend, sources said.

“We have not ruled out the possibility it was gang violence or domestic violence,” said Deputy Robert Killeen.

The girls were shot about 7:45 a.m. as they walked along Muriel Drive toward Lynwood High School. They were rushed to a hospital, where Olivia died on arrival and Jessica died several hours later.

With the help of a department bloodhound, deputies combed the area looking for a man described as in his late teens or early 20s. After picking up a scent from a discarded handgun magazine, the hound led deputies to the high school.

“Someone connected with the crime scene came to this school,” Deputy Ted Hamm, a dog handler, told reporters. But the trail went cold, and the killer was still at large Tuesday evening.

Family members said Olivia’s ex-boyfriend and several of his friends--described as gang members--tried to crash Jessica’s 15th birthday celebration Saturday night. They became angry when Jessica’s father told them to leave the quinceanera party, the relatives said.

Deputies were called to the party after receiving a report that the ex-boyfriend and his companions were causing a disturbance, sheriff’s officials say.

Juan Ontiveros, a cousin of the girls, said Olivia received a series of threatening phone calls the next day. One caller said simply: “It ain’t over yet.”

Friends at school said they had often heard Jessica talk about Olivia’s “jealous boyfriend.”

“He was real obsessive,” said one friend. “He always wanted to be with her. He told her if she wasn’t his, she wasn’t nobody’s.”

School officials declined to comment, referring questions to the Sheriff’s Department.

Ontiveros said the cousins, who lived in the same house, left for school later than usual Tuesday because they “had a strange feeling” that something terrible was going to happen.

“It was like they had a premonition,” he said.

The girls were gunned down on the sidewalk in a residential area about three blocks from their home.

According to friends and family, the two girls were inseparable. “They hung real close together,” said one ninth-grader at Lynwood High, where Olivia was a junior and Jessica was a sophomore.

Family members said both of the teenagers--described as outgoing--loved banda music and dreamed of becoming soap opera actresses in Mexico, where their families were from. They were taking drama classes at the school.

“They were always together,” Ontiveros said, “even to the end.”

The circumstances of the shooting may mirror those surrounding the recent slayings of teenage twins in Inglewood. In that case, a former boyfriend of one sister is accused of shooting the girls to death in their home. He later turned himself in.

Times staff writer Tina Daunt contributed to this story.