Woman Killed, but Shields Son

Los Angeles police appealed for help Monday to find a gunman who killed a 20-year-old Cerritos woman as she tried to shield her toddler, authorities said.

Krystle Tashell White died after being confronted by a group of teenage boys near the intersection of 83rd Street and Avalon Boulevard in South-Central Los Angeles about 7:20 p.m. Wednesday. She was riding in a car with a 26-year-old male friend and her 22-month-old son.

According to LAPD Detective Rudy Lemos, four or five young people, 16 to 20 years old, rode alongside the car on bicycles and confronted the occupants, issuing gang challenges.

White got out of the car, told the youths that neither she nor her companion was a gang member, asked them to leave her alone and got back in.

One of them then fired several shots through the window, striking her in the lower torso. At the moment she was shot, White was leaning over toward her son in the back seat, apparently trying to shield him.

White died from her wounds. Police said her companion was cut by glass and her son was unhurt.

White was a devoted mother who took her son everywhere, her aunt, Ramona Fluker, said.

She worked as a caregiver in a group home for developmentally disabled people, Fluker said.

Family members said Monday that the family is stricken, and eager for the killer to be caught.

“You have no idea the devastation,” said an aunt, Tina Rosado. “You don’t know what this does.”

White is survived by her son Corey Walker Jr.; fiance Corey Walker Sr.; parents Kevin White Sr. and Tracy White; and siblings Kevin Jr., James, Taylor and Tyler.

Lemos asked anyone who has any information about the killing to call (213) 485-1383, or call after hours, (213) 485-2504.