Thread: L.A.: Woman Shot Dead on Harbor Freeway Offramp

Bratton is really trying to downplay these shootings...they are happening almost daily! He is so dismissive, and refuses to acknowledge that 99% of them involve gangs! The victim was also hispanic. RECALL BRATTON NOW!

Woman shot dead on Harbor Freeway offramp

Police say the 19-year-old's vehicle was fired upon several times. Chief Bratton notes that only a small percentage of homicides take place on highways.

By Francisco Vara-Orta, Los Angeles Times Staff Writer
1:10 PM PDT, April 10, 2008

A female motorist was fatally shot early this morning on a 110 Freeway offramp in South Los Angeles, authorities said.

The shooting occurred as the driver was exiting the northbound Harbor Freeway at West Slauson Avenue shortly after midnight, said Sgt. Mike Richardson of the Los Angeles Police Department's Newton Station.

The driver has been identified as Samantha Padilla, 19, of Los Angeles, said Officer Kate Lopez of the Los Angeles Police Department's Media Relations unit.

No arrests have been made, she said.

Police said that a brown Ford Bronco, either a 1990 or 1991 model, pulled up to Padilla's car at a stop light after she had exited the freeway, and someone inside opened fire, said Richard French, an LAPD spokesman. Padilla was hit several times, Lopez said.

At 12:15 a.m., Newton division patrol officers responded to a radio call in the area of Slauson Avenue and the 110 Freeway, police said. Upon arrival, they discovered Padilla shot, seated in her car.

She was taken to California Hospital, where she died, Lopez said.

Investigators have not ruled out the possibility that the shooting was gang-related, road rage, or whether Padilla knew the shooter, French said.
Police confirmed that Padilla worked at Los Angeles International Airport, but would not specify which company or what her job was at LAX.

California Highway Patrol closed the offramp for about four hours, reopening it at 4:17 a.m., said Officer Francisco Villalobos, a spokesman for the department. The scene has been cleared, he said.

Lopez said there was no evidence that today's freeway shooting is part of a trend, adding that her department has only seen three in the last few months. This year, authorities have already responded to shootings on the 10, 91, 101, 110, 605 and 710 freeways -- all unrelated.Asked this morning in an interview on KTLA if he believed some of the freeway shootings could be gang initiations, LAPD Chief William J. Bratton noted that only a tiny percentage of homicides each year take place on highways.

"Millions of people every day travel the freeways of Los Angeles and about 1% of our murders every year happen on the freeways," Bratton said.

"You have a better chance of getting struck by lightning than getting shot on the freeway," he said, adding that the motive of freeway shootings can include road rage, disputes among people who know one another, and gangs fighting among each other.

"Freeways are still safer than other areas," he said.

francisco.varaorta@latimes.com


http://www.latimes.com/news/local/la-me ... 9230.story

LA is such a great place.

Just another day in LA!

She was alive when they got to her, I hope she was able to at least give them a description or name of her killer. If it was gang-related, will THIS murder finally get Bratton to come down HARD on gangs?

Originally Posted by miguelina

She was alive when they got to her, I hope she was able to at least give them a description or name of her killer. If it was gang-related, will THIS murder finally get Bratton to come down HARD on gangs?

Yea, right! He is the Villians pocket.

"Millions of people every day travel the freeways of Los Angeles and about 1% of our murders every year happen on the freeways," Bratton said.

IMO, someone killed by a drunk driver is also a murder victim! Were the victims of drunk drivers figured into the 1% murdered on LA freeways?

I ♥ LA!

NOT!!

Originally Posted by MadInChicago

Just another day in LA!

You got that right!