It was a brazen attack right at the dinner hour. A relative said the home was occupied last night by a 21-year-old son of the owner, plus a group of friends probably playing video games, when suddenly a gunman kicked in the front door, walked right past them and headed for a back bedroom.
The gunman kicked in the bedroom door, leaving a large hole, and shot a 39-year-old man who had been sleeping on the floor. He was hit in the back and foot, and survived. Bullets pierced the wall and the door of the room.
The others in the house fled out the back and over the fence with the gunman firing from behind.
Chelsea Jeanette Markovich, 30, was struck and killed, falling just short of the fence.
West Covina police do not have a motive or suspects in the case.
"They're still doing the investigation, they're interviewing as many people as they can and trying to piece this thing together, but as of right now, it's really unclear," said West Covina Police Corporal Rudy Lopez. "We have concerns that number one, there's someone out there with a gun who's obviously not afraid to use it, and they're a threat, so we'd like to put that threat to rest," Lopez said.
The brother of the woman that owns the house said he arrived just a minute or two after the gunman fled. He said the wounded man staggered out the front door pleading "Help me, help me." He said he had been shot, but refused to say who did it.
A woman who lives on the next street over said she first thought the gunfire was firecrackers. Only later did she see that a bullet had hit her house just a few feet from where her 10-year-old daughter had been standing outside.
Workman Ave. parallels the Interstate 10 Freeway in West Covina, so it's heavily traveled at 7 p.m. Police are sure someone must have seen the gunman either going in or coming out of the house. If you have any information related to this case, please call the West Covina Police Hotline at (626) 939-8688.
Eyewitness News Reporters Lisa Hernandez and Gene Gleeson contributed to this report.
