Who killed that Texas teen girl in Marina del Rey, and why?
That’s what police want to know as they continued their hunt Monday for the hoodie-wearing murderer with a blue beanie who gunned down the 17-year-old girl visiting from Texas in a Marina del Rey shopping center parking lot outside Jerry’s Famous Deli.
Cops still declined to confirm an earlier broadcast report that tied the killing to a drug deal gone bad. But they did ask anyone with knowledge of the murder to contact them, saying information may be provided anonymously.
Meanwhile, a social media campaign to raise funds for the victim’s family has brought in about $2,480 by midday Monday.
The shooting occurred around 8 p.m. Wednesday in the parking lot of the Villa Marina Marketplace mall at Mindanao Way and Glencoe Avenue, according to the Los Angeles Police Department. Kristine Carman of Houston was shot in the head while sitting in an SUV parked near Jerry’s Famous Deli on the south end of the shopping center.
Police said there were at least two people in the SUV. Following the shooting, the person behind the wheel drove across the parking lot, stopping in a parking space outside a Panda Express, where Carman was ultimately found dead.
The suspect was described as a man wearing a gray hooded sweatshirt and a blue beanie, according to the LAPD. He fled the location in a dark SUV, possibly heading toward the Marina (90) Freeway, police said.
Lacey Carman of Marina del Rey wrote on Facebook that Kristine was her sister. She said she was the one driving the SUV and that “my sister was just murdered in front of me in a robbery gone wrong.” Her sister, she wrote, was “beautiful smart and undeserving” of the fate that befell her.
“I pray that God is real and holding my sisters hand right now. I pray that you never have to feel this pain or this self loathing,” she said.
Police have not commented on a report by CBS2 that the shooting may have been prompted by an attempt by Lacey Carman’s boyfriend to sell 2 pounds of marijuana.
A GoFundMe page set up by Lacey Carman to raise money for the family had raised $2,480 as of midday today.
Anyone with information on the case was urged to call the LAPD’s West Bureau homicide office at (213) 382-9470, or (877) LAPD-247. All tips can be made anonymously.
—City News Service