Bernardo Mendoza, 44

Bernardo Mendoza, 44, a Latino man, was shot in a bar at 129 Workman Road in the Bassett neighborhood of La Puente at about 10 p.m. Saturday, Nov. 3, and died at the scene. A woman and two other men were seriously wounded in this shooting but are expected to survive.

Mendoza was a hard-working family man who was a random murder victim, said Sheriff's Lt. Dan Rosenberg. He was one of the patrons that night at a small, local haunt called "My Place," a bar that has long catered to a Latino clientele in that area.

Earlier that night, a quarrel had erupted between the woman who managed the bar and a Latino man over payment for a mariachi band. The suspect left, came back with a gun, and shot the manager and wounded her. He then fired the gun indiscriminately into the crowd, striking Mendoza and two other men.

Mendoza died in minutes. He leaves a wife and two sons.

The suspect is still at large. He is a heavyset man in his 40s, possibly six feet tall and 225 pounds. Detectives are at (213) 890-5500.

The scenario for this homicide is familiar to readers of the Homicide Report. Rosenberg reiterated a warning: Parties, bars and gatherings are high-risk situations for homicide. If someone has an argument in a bar or at a party, leave immediately, he said.

"We see this so often," he said. "If you are at a bar or a party and there is some kind of incident, you need to leave. People come back, and they come back armed."

Tell your sons and nephews, he added.