Man killed in daytime shooting inside Palmdale McDonald’s

A man was shot to death inside a McDonald’s restaurant in Palmdale while he was eating, authorities said.

The man, who has only been identified as being in his 30s or 40s, was sitting down and eating inside the restaurant about 12:26 p.m. when the gunman walked up to him and shot him, said Homicide Lt. John Corina of the Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Department.

The gunman fired at least one shot in front of more than a dozen patrons, striking the man in the upper torso, he said. The man was pronounced dead at the scene.

Corina said the gunman “walked through one door,” shot the victim and walked out another.

Detectives don’t have a motive for the shooting inside the East Palmdale restaurant in the 37200 block of 47th Street East.

Witnesses told police that the men were not arguing before the shooting and that the victim was eating alone.

A description of the gunman was not available. But authorities said they plan to review surveillance footage.

Still, authorities said they don’t think there was anything random about the killing.

Patty Hodges, 53, of Palmdale rushed to the restaurant believing her sons were inside. Her sons are fine, but the level of violence stunned Hodges.

“These things shouldn’t be happening out here,” she said.

The restaurant shares a parking lot with a Chevron gas station near the busy intersection of 47th Street and Avenue S in East Palmdale.

The man’s death marks the ninth homicide in Palmdale in the last 12 months, according to The Times Homicide Report.

Four of the nine victims died from gunshot wounds.

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