Motorist Killed in Harbor Freeway Shooting

A motorist was fatally wounded and his passenger injured Wednesday when a gunman fired at them on the Harbor Freeway, authorities said.

Authorities identified the dead man as James Wiggins, 47, of Los Angeles. His passenger was identified as Willie Burkes, 43, also of Los Angeles.

The car-to-car shooting, the second such incident along the freeway in two weeks, occurred just after 2 p.m. near the Redondo Beach Boulevard offramp just east of Gardena, said the Los Angeles Police Department.

Between five and eight shots were fired into the victim’s car, sending the vehicle slamming into a freeway sound wall, authorities said. Witnesses could not describe the gunman’s car.

Authorities, who blocked northbound freeway traffic for several hours, said the shooting appeared to be unprovoked.

“They had been shopping in Wilmington and were on their way to Bible study in L.A.,” said police Det. Sal LaBarbera. “There is no indication of a dispute here before the shooting.”

The windows of Wiggins’ white Pontiac Grand Prix were closed, and Burkes told police that neither he nor the driver had made hand gestures at the other driver.

“The first thing [the passenger] knew was when the window was blown out,” LaBarbera said.

Wiggins, who was struck in the head and upper torso, was taken to a hospital and died there of his wounds, LaBarbera said. Burkes was injured in the crash and hospitalized; his condition was not released. Wiggins was driving in Lane 3 when the gunman fired from Lane 1 or 2, the detective said.

The earlier Harbor Freeway shooting occurred March 29 about five miles north of Wednesday’s incident, killing Michael Livingston, 20, of Long Beach. That case remains unsolved.

LaBarbera said the killings appeared to be unrelated.

“There is nothing to indicate this is connected with the previous freeway shooting, apart from it was on a freeway,” he said. “We’ll, of course, examine the physical evidence.”