Funeral services will be held today for a 19-year- old Marine who was fatally shot while driving in South Los Angeles by an assailant who remains at large.
Lance Cpl. Carlos Segovia-Lopez was found shortly after 11:30 p.m. Sept. 16 covered in blood and slumped over the steering wheel of a Dodge Charger in the 2100 block of 31st Street, according to Los Angeles police and witnesses. He was taken off life support three days later after doctors informed the family he could not be saved.
Police said the Marine, who was stationed at Camp Pendleton in San Diego County, was driving when an assailant shot him, causing him to lose control of the car and crash into a parked vehicle. LAPD Capt. Peter Whittingham said Segovia-Lopez was on his cell phone when he was shot.
“It is very possible that he might have seen some suspicious activity or even a crime in progress, and it appears to us that something happened in that instant where he was killed,” Whittingham said.
Whittingham said police have a recording of the call, and gunshots can be heard before the phone goes dead.
Segovia-Lopez was visiting friends and family for the weekend in South Los Angeles, according to family friend Claudia Perez, with whom the Marine worked at a nonprofit agency that provides services to the homeless. He was struck by gunfire after leaving his girlfriend’s home.
Perez is among those scheduled to deliver eulogies during today’s funeral at the Cathedral of Our Lady of the Angels in downtown Los Angeles. Mayor Eric Garcetti is also expected to speak, along with Marine Lt. Col. Cory Quinn and Segovia-Lopez’s friend and fellow Marine, Lance Cpl. Joseph Solorio.
The Rev. David Gallardo, pastor of the cathedral, will deliver the homily.
The Los Angeles City Council is offering a $50,000 reward for information leading to the killer.
