BALDWIN PARK— Coroner’s officials Sunday released the name of a 22-year-old Baldwin Park man fatally shot inside a car in the same manner his brother slain four months prior.
Steven Reyes died at a hospital shortly after Friday’s 1 a.m. shooting in the 3800 block of Maine Avenue, Los Angeles County Department of Coroner Lt. Cheryl MacWillie said.
Reyes was riding inside a car with another man and a teenage boy when they were fired upon by occupants of another vehicle, Lt. John Corina of the Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Homicide Bureau said.
The other man, also in his 20s, was also struck by gunfire and seriously wounded, officials said. A 16-year-old boy inside the car was not injured.
The car-to-car killing was believed to be gang-related, officials said. The vehicle driven by the attacker or attackers was described only as a dark-colored, compact car.
Two cars and a house were struck by gunfire during the car-to-car shooting, Corina said.
A handgun was found nearby where the victims ultimately pulled over on Paddy Lane, just around the corner from the shooting scene, Corina said. It was not immediately known whether the victims returned fire.
Steven Reyes 20-year-old brother, Guillermo Reyes, died following a strikingly similar incident June 25, officials said.
He, too, was driving in a car with another man when he became involved in a gang-related car-to-car gun battle while driving a stolen car in the area of Center Avenue, just south of Los Angeles Street, sheriff’s investigators said at the time.
After being wounded, Guillermo Reyes managed to drive himself to a hospital, where he was found in the driver’s seat with a gunshot wound to his left temple, MacWillie said. He was pronounced dead at the hospital a short time later.
The passenger who was with Guillermo Reyes was arrested on suspicion of possessing an unregistered handgun, carrying a loaded gun and auto theft, officials said.
The case remains unsolved.
Anyone with information on either slaying was asked to contact the Sheriff’s Homicide Bureau, which is assisting Baldwin Park police with the investigation, at 323-890-5500.