German Servin, 37

German Servin, a 37-year-old Latino, was fatally shot Friday, Dec. 23, in the 400 block of Harps Street in San Fernando, according to Los Angeles County coroner’s records. 

Servin, who lived in Palmdale, was visiting his brother when the shooting occurred at 2:07 p.m. in the backyard of a home in the neighborhood, said Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Sgt. Marcelo Quintero. 

His younger brother was renting a room in a converted garage behind the house, Quintero said. A woman was also visiting the two men that afternoon, but investigators don’t yet know her relationship to the brothers. 

San Fernando Police officers responded to a 911 call from a cellphone regarding someone in medical distress, Quintero said. The woman who called didn't know the address of where she was, so officers had difficulty finding the right location, he said. 

Simultaneously the department began receiving 911 calls from other residents in the neighborhood, reporting that a Latino adult in dark clothing was jumping over fences in their back yards, carrying a handgun.

When officers arrived at the residence, they found the woman standing out front with a gunshot wound in her abdomen. She told officers that more injured people were in the backyard. 

Officers discovered Servin lying on a walkway in the backyard, unresponsive. He was pronounced dead at the scene at 2:50 p.m. with multiple gunshot wounds, according to coroner’s records. 

A short time later, the officers discovered Servin’s brother lying unconscious in a shed that had been converted to a bathroom, Quintero said. It appeared he had been shot through the door, or as he was opening the door.

The man was taken to a nearby hospital, initially in critical condition, Quintero said. His condition has since stabilized, Quintero said, and both the brother and the woman are expected to survive. 

San Fernando police requested help from other nearby departments to surround the neighborhood where the gun-toting man had been seen jumping over fences, but delays in deploying the needed manpower and the stormy weather hampered their efforts, Quintero said.

“It just rained like crazy that day," he said, "and nobody was found.” 

Servin used to live in the area and had tattoos that indicated past involvement with local gangs, Quintero said, but investigators don’t know if the shooting was gang related. 

“We can’t make assumptions,” he said. “The story is so murky ... it was a great dark day, and we don’t know just yet what was happening before the shooting.”

The sheriff’s Homicide Bureau typically investigators homicides for the San Fernando Police Department.

Anyone with information should call the Homicide Bureau at (323) 890-5500. Those wishing to remain anonymous may call Crime Stoppers at (800) 222-8477.  

Contact the Homicide Report. Follow @latimeshomicide on Twitter.