Brandon Keoni Taoipu, 27

Brandon Taoipu, a 27-year-old Samoan man, was fatally shot Friday, April 22, near Figueroa and 223rd streets in Carson, according to the Los Angeles County Sheriff's Department.

The shooting occurred about 3:25 a.m., said Lt. Dave Coleman.

Taoipu, a Carson resident, and two other men were riding in a sedan on Figueroa when they were struck by several rounds of gunfire from another vehicle, Coleman said.

“We don’t know the cause of the shooting,” Coleman said. “None of our victims have been identified as gang members, but that’s not to rule out that these guys may have been going through a gang area.”

The other two victims, a 29-year-old Samoan man and a 27-year-old black man, were in serious condition at a hospital but were expected to survive, Coleman said.

He said the residential neighborhood where the men were shot is surrounded by a school and apartments and single-family residences. Several residents heard the gunfire and called the Sheriff’s Department.

At least 28 homicides have been reported within two miles of the shooting since January 2007, according to coroner’s data collected for The Times’ interactive Homicide Report.

In 2009, Shakari Taylor, a 26-year-old black man, was shot to death at the intersection closest to the location of Friday's shooting.

Anyone with information about the incident is asked to call the Sheriff's Department homicide bureau at (323) 890-5500, or Crime Stoppers at (800) 222-TIPS.

-- Sam Allen