UPDATED:
WEST COVINA — A man was shot to death early Sunday during a house party, marking the eighth homicide in the city this year, officials said.
Billy Eugene Howell, 33, died at the scene of the shooting, said Selena Barros, investigator with the Los Angeles County Department of Coroner.
Coroner’s officials had not determined Howell’s city of residency late Sunday, but a friend of the man said he lived in Washington and was in West Covina for the holidays.
The shooting was reported about 1:30 a.m. at a house in the 100 block of South Cherrywood Street, just south of the 10 Freeway, West Covina police Lt. David Rozeboom said.
A small group of people had gathered at the home for a party when the shooting occurred, he said.
Officers responding to several 9-1-1 calls found Howell had been shot several times, Rozeboom said.
“Following the shooting, those in attendance ran for cover and were not able to provide much information as to the suspect,” West Covina police Cpl. Rudy Lopez said in a written statement.
Two suspects in the shooting were described only as male.
Jennifer Pokrazywinksi, 36, lives in the home where Howell was shot and said she had been friends with Howell since they were teenagers.
He had arrived in town Saturday to spend the holidays with her and her family, Pokrazywinksi said.
She said about a dozen people were at the gathering including a friend of Howell’s, who in turn invited some other friends.
Two men whom nobody in the home recognized showed up about 30 minutes before the shooting, Pokrazywinksi said.
“It’s when those two (men) came is when the trouble started,” she said.
Pokrazywinksi — who did not actually see the three strangers — was in her bedroom when she heard gunshots.
“I ran out (of the bedroom). I saw him lying on the floor,” she said. “I just remember kneeling by him and doing CPR.”
Pokrazywinksi said the unidentified men fled immediately after the shooting.
A bullet hole was visible in her living room wall Sunday afternoon.
Pokrazywinksi said she believes someone must know who the shooter was, and she hopes they come forward.
“He had a really good heart,” she said of Howell, who is survived by two young children. “He had a rough life and he was trying to fight to make it better.”
Sunday’s shooting was the eighth homicide in the city this year, and the fourth violent attack to occur at a West Covina house party in less than a month.
*A 16-year-old Baldwin Park boy was shot and wounded on Oct. 31 when a fight erupted in front of a house party in the 1900 block of East Nanette Avenue.
*Ramiro Limon, 27, of East Los Angeles died and his brother was wounded Nov. 1 after he was shot outside a house party at Shadydale Avenue and Roxbury Street.
*Two men were wounded in a stabbing Nov. 7 outside a house party in the 3700 block of Garvey Avenue.