Deputies were responding to a report of a person down around 12:30 a.m. when they found Malcolm Mency, 18, of Duarte, suffering from a gunshot wound in the 2000 block of Broderick Avenue.
Family members said Mency was walking home from his job at a nearby Sonic drive-in chain when he was shot five times. Mency was taken to the hospital, where he was pronounced dead.
Clutching her 4-week-old newborn son, Labreonna Moore struggles to comprehend the brutal murder of his father.
"He looks just like his dad so its hard," said Moore.
His mother, Alberta Lockhart, is pleading for the gunman to turn himself in.
"He was coming home from work and he got shot - to me the person who did it is a coward and I just want answers. I want whoever did it, I want justice, I want them to catch him," said Lockhart.
Lockhart says Mency had recently become a father and was working to turn his life around. He had just finished trade school and been hired at Sonic.
The motive for the shooting remains unknown, but the violence erupted in a neighborhood that has been a battle ground for rival gangs.
Mency's family and friends say the 18-year-old was not involved with gangs and was focused on his future as a medical assistant and as a father.
"He was almost done with school, we were supposed to graduate together in April and he gone - they took my baby away, like why," said Moore.
His co-workers at Sonic say Mency was a funny guy with a big heart.
"He was a really nice guy, he'd do anything for anyone here at Sonic," said co-worker Alyssa Harris.
Moore says she hopes the sight of her infant son will show the suspect or suspects just how much they have taken away.
"I want them to see the baby," said Moore. "I want them to picture my boyfriend, what they did to him and I hope that haunts them for the rest of their life."
Authorities say there is no suspect information. Investigators are working to determine if the homicide is connected to another shooting that occurred on Sunday afternoon in Duarte.
In that incident, deputies found a Hispanic man suffering from a gunshot wound to his lower back in the 2300 block of Bloomfield Street.
The victim was transported to a local hospital with non-life threatening injuries.
Two males were seen leaving the area in a dark-colored vehicle following the shooting.
Anyone with information on either incidents was asked to call the Los Angeles Sheriff's Department at (323) 890-5500.
