Police Have Possible Getaway Car Description but Little Else in Case of Gardener Shot in Backyard

Aside from a possible description of the shooter's getaway car, Los Angeles Police Department detectives have been unable to uncover any promising leads in the case of a gardener who was shot while working in the backyard of an Eagle Rock house on Aug. 31. 

Police are looking for an American-made sedan possibly 2007-2009 model, gray or silver in color, with a large dent in the right front passenger door, according to Det. Joe Rios of the LAPD Northeast Division. 

The male Hispanic victim in his 50s was shot on the 1800 block of North Avenue 51 on the morning of Aug. 31, which was a Saturday. The woman who lives at the residence reported that she came home around 10 a.m. and found the victim laying on the ground in her back yard suffering from multiple bullet injuries. 

Rios said new information will be needed to move the case forward. He also expressed skepticism that the victim is telling everything he knows. 

"I’ve been dealing with this guy back and forth and his wife, and he insists he doesn't remember anything," Rios told Patch. "But he does remember that $60 was stolen from him. I don’t know if that’s selective memory or what. His wallet is missing."

Rios added that the victim could be suffering from brain trauma as a result of his injuries and be unable to remember the shooting, but that he does not believe the crime was gang-related or motivated by robbery. When asked, Rios agreed that cases of someone being shot in a residential backyard and robbed by a stranger in daylight are very rare.  

"I personally believe it’s something more personal because it takes a lot of balls to go into a stranger’s backyard, especially, you don’t know the guy that lives there. It could be a policeman. And then you walk into the backyard and you do what you do," Rios said. 

Rios offered further details on the victim's injuries, and said he is still hospitalized. The victim was shot twice, not three times as was previously reported, and the shots came at close range. 

"He suffered a two-and-two gunshot wound, and when it exited his inner arm, his tricep or bicep area, it grazed his ribcage. The other shot was on the other side of his left eye, and it basically broke up into some fragments at the back of his inner ear," Rios said. 

Rios also said the case will likely be at a standstill unless some new information comes to light.

"Like I told his wife, I did as much as I could do on my end. I looked around for surveillance cameras, witnesses and everything else, and bottom line is this case is going to be inactive pending some new information." Rios aid. 

Anyone with information on the case is asked to call Det. Rios at (323) 344-5740.