Mt. SAC football player killed in car-to-car shooting in Hawthorne

HAWTHORNE, Calif. (KABC) -- A local college football player was gunned down in Hawthorne Sunday morning while driving home from a church event.

Grieving friends visited a memorial at the intersection where William Fifita, 20, of Adelanto, was killed. Surveillance video captured the tragic car-to-car shooting that happened around 2 a.m.

It shows Fifita pull into the left turn lane on Rosecrans Avenue at Crenshaw Boulevard. Then a suspect in a sedan pulls up alongside the car and shots are fired.

"It was a good six consecutive shots at first, from what I can remember, and then at least another four more," one witness said.

The suspect then speeds away as Fifita's car careens into a parking lot and slams into the guardrail. Two other men in the car were wounded. A woman in the car was not injured. Fifita died at the scene, authorities said.

Fifita was a student and member of the football team at Mt. San Antonio College in Walnut. A family friend described him as a "bright light in everyone's life that he met."

He was also a member of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints. Fifita and his passengers, also players from the same football team, had attended a church social event in Torrance before the shooting happened.

Players and other members of the team held a meeting to speak with grief counselors. Team coach Iona Uiagalelei said Fifita never ceased to smile, and his teammates were were broken to hear he's gone.

Authorities hope that surveillance video captured at the scene can help them find the suspect or suspects involved in the deadly shooting. Anyone with information was asked to call the LASD.

"This is a senseless murder...you've got folks coming back from a church function. We don't know the exact number of suspects or a description at this point," Los Angeles County Sheriff's Department Lt. Steve Jauch said.

A GoFundMe page has been set up for the Fifita family. You can donate here: www.gofundme.com/3gv6qbm8.