Dieshelle Prescott, 30 [Updated]

Dieshelle Shande Prescott, 33, a black woman, was killed in a dispute in the 3600 block of West 59th Place, near Hyde Park, about 2:30 p.m. Friday, July 18.  Prescott was taken by ambulance to Centinela Hospital, where she was pronounced dead.

According to the Los Angeles Police Department, officers responded to a report of a traffic accident involving a pedestrian and a vehicle. When they arrived, witnesses told officers that Prescott had not been struck by a car, but that she had been in a fight with another black woman, later identified as 30-year-old Shandanna Danielle Donegan.  Witnesses told police that Donegan walked to her car, pulled out a broken broomstick and allegedly struck Prescott in the head. Donegan fled west on 59th Place but returned to the scene as detectives from the 77th Street Division were investigating. Donegan was arrested on suspicion of murder. She told police that she and Prescott were friends and had been fighting over a necklace. The weapon has not been recovered, authorities said.

[Updated Jan. 22, 2010: Ed Winter, a spokesman for the coroner's office, said Prescott's death is listed as undetermined. Winter said her death has not been officially ruled a homicide because she was under the influence of both alcohol and cocaine at the time of her injury. Winter said the drugs and alcohol, in addition to her injuries, could have caused her death.] 

--Ruben Vives