A 38-year-old woman was shot and killed in her car following a dispute at a strip mall sports bar in Hawthorne Friday, and police were searching for a female suspect.
The shooting occurred just before 2 a.m. Friday in the 11000 block of South Inglewood Avenue, where officers from the Hawthorne Police Department found the victim in the strip mall’s parking lot suffering from multiple gunshots wounds, authorities said. She was pronounced dead at the scene.
Los Angeles County Sheriff’s homicide detectives were sent to assist Hawthorne police in the investigation.
Sheriff’s Homicide Bureau Lt. Steve Dejong said surveillance video showed 40 to 50 people in the parking lot of the VIP Sports Bar at the time of the shooting.
“We know there are witnesses,” he said, adding that the suspect fled in a silver luxury car.
It was not immediately known if the suspect and victim knew each other, police said.
The bar was hosting a weekly karaoke night on Thursday, according to a broadcast report that indicated the victim — who was celebrating a birthday — got into a dispute with the suspect inside the bar.
Hawthorne police requested a SigAlert from the California Highway Patrol to close Inglewood Avenue between 116th and 118th streets during the investigation.
Anyone with information that could help investigators was urged to call the Sheriff’s Homicide Bureau at 323-890-5500 or Crime Stoppers at 800-222-TIPS (8477).