Bystander Killed in Drive-by Shooting
A woman shot to death while on a shopping trip in Van Nuys may have been the accidental victim of a gang shooting, police said Monday.
Police identified the victim of Sunday afternoon’s gunfire as Magdalena Sandoval, 32, of Panorama City. Witnesses told police she was walking to a store when someone driving by fatally shot her, said Det. Richard Yep of the Los Angeles Police Department’s Van Nuys Division.
Yep said investigators have not determined a motive for the shooting, which occurred between Blythe Street Park and the Van Nuys Boulevard shopping district. The gunmen were probably aiming at a group of young men standing near Sandoval, he said.
“She was an innocent, we believe,” Yep said.
Police are looking for four men believed to have been involved.
Authorities said they have not yet identified the victim of a second fatal shooting Sunday in Van Nuys. A homeless man who was killed after a disagreement in a transient encampment under the San Diego Freeway at Victory Boulevard and Haskell Avenue.
Police have no suspects, Yep said.
A resident of the encampment, Pepe Jaramillo, said the victim argued with another man shortly before the shooting.
Anyone with information regarding either shooting is asked to call Van Nuys Division homicide detectives at (818) 756-8377.
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