The victim, 24-year-old Selene Patricia Mayoral of Cudahy, had been fatally wounded. She died at the scene.
Neighbor Vanessa Guzman says Mayoral had only known her suspected killer, 30-year-old Juan Diego Valencia, a short time. According to investigators, drug use was part of the relationship between Mayoral and Valencia.
Shortly before midnight, deputies said they tried to pull over Valencia for a routine traffic stop in Lynwood.
"The vehicle pulled over in the 4100 block of Alma Street, and as the deputy was approaching the car, he heard a gunshot and saw muzzle flash, and the car took off at a high rate of speed," said Lt. Holly Francisco of the Los Angeles County Sheriff's Department.
Minutes later, the suspect pulled over at Josephine Street and Harris Avenue and pushed a woman's body out of the vehicle.
The pursuit continued down the 105 Freeway and ended in Hawthorne, where Valencia ditched his car and barricaded himself inside an apartment complex near Rosecrans Avenue and Crenshaw Boulevard.
Dozens of residents in the area were forced to evacuate. A SWAT team was called in to deal with the situation. Valencia was taken into custody two hours later after he just walked out and gave himself up to deputies.
Lynwood residents are still trying to grasp what happened in their neighborhood. Residents were stuck in their homes until the coroner arrived at about 9 a.m. The body was dumped right in front of Willie Williams' home.
"It looked like something you see in a TV program or a movie. You don't think that would happen right here in this neighborhood," he said.
Anyone with information about this incident was asked to call the Los Angeles County Sheriff's Department's Homicide Bureau at (323) 890-5500.
