Los Angeles: On Monday, March 18, 2002, at 10:10 a.m., patrol officers responded to "Shots Fired" call at the 6500 Block of South 8^th Avenue, Los Angeles.

Officers arrived and located the victim of the shooting. The victim was pronounced dead as a result of a gunshot wound to the upper torso.

The investigation revealed the victim was the driver and lone occupant of a vehicle that was waiting for a slow moving train to pass, when one or more suspects shot at him from another vehicle. The suspects fled the scene immediately after the shooting.

The victim's vehicle collided with several other cars that were waiting in traffic for the train to pass, before colliding with the fence of the Hyde Park Boulevard Elementary School, 3000 Hyde Park Boulevard. No children were injured.

Two additional victims were injured as the result of the traffic collisions.

The victim of the shooting was identified as Jerome Mathew Joseph, twenty-two years of age, a resident of Los Angeles.

The motive for this crime is gang related.

Detectives from Harbor Operations Support Division, Homicide Unit, are investigating this incident. Anyone with information regarding this investigation is urged to contact Homicide detectives at 310-548-2835 or the 24-hour, toll free number at Detective Headquarters Division, 1-877-LAWFULL.

This press release was prepared by Public Information Officer Eduardo Funes, Media Relations Section, 213-485-3586.