Woman sentenced in killing of man at Metro Blue Line station

A woman was sentenced March 28 to 17 years in prison for fatally beating a 65-year-old man after a dispute on a Metro Blue Line platform in South L.A., according to the Los Angeles County district attorney’s office. 

On Sept. 8, 2015, a jury found Tracy Joy Gomez guilty of voluntary manslaughter for killing John Wayne Whitmore. Gomez had been charged with murder, but jurors opted to convict her of the lesser charge after three days of deliberations.

On the afternoon of June 13, 2014, Gomez got into an argument with Whitmore at the Willowbrook/Rosa Parks light rail station, prosecutors said. 

During the fight, Gomez beat Whitmore, prosecutors said, and then fled the scene. 

Prosecutors said authorities were called and the victim was taken to a hospital for treatment. Seven days, later, Whitmore died of his injuries, prosecutors added. 

Sheriff’s deputies later found and arrested Gomez, and she was charged with the killing, prosecutors said. 

A second woman, Virginia Butler, was also arrested and charged in the case, but jurors acquitted her, according to a spokeswoman for the district attorney’s office. 

Contact the Homicide Report. Follow @jeromercampbell and @latimeshomicide on Twitter.