Phillip Franklin Niles Jr., 25

Phillip Franklin Niles Jr., a 25-year-old white man, was fatally shot Saturday, June 25, in the 1600 block of The Midway Street in Glendale, according to Los Angeles County coroner’s records.

About 4 a.m., Niles was shot and ran a short distance before collapsing on the front lawn of a home, police said.

Niles, of Daytona Beach, Fla., was pronounced dead at the scene at 4:32 a.m., according to coroner’s records.

Investigators spent hours canvassing the neighborhood, searching for leads.

“They went from not knowing the victim to a complete ‘whodunit’ case to seriously putting some good work into it,” Glendale Police Sgt. Robert William said.

Hours earlier, police discovered that Niles was out with friends and met Dezerea Lyons, an 18-year-old woman, and her friend.

Eventually the group moved the party to an apartment in the 1700 block of North Verdugo Road in Glendale, where Lyons felt insulted by comments Niles made, police said.

“You don’t know me,” she told him, according to police. “You don’t know what I’m capable of.”

After Lyons sent some text messages and made phone calls, two men arrived, and she grabbed her friend and left the apartment.

Niles walked them out and two gunmen, later identified by police as Laquan Dontae Parker, 24, and Brandon Jamal Perkins, 26, were waiting.

Lyons and her friend, who investigators say was not involved in the attack, climbed into a car, while police said the two men confronted Niles.

Neighbors heard multiple gunshots, and investigators are trying to determine who pulled the trigger.

Detectives discovered that the two men jumped in the car and fled to a Comfort Inn in Monrovia, where they had rented a room.

Lyons’ friend had reportedly asked Parker and Perkins to let her go, but they held her against her will. The friend eventually made it home.

Parker, Perkins and Lyons were arrested Saturday after investigators spotted them leaving the Monrovia hotel. Police said they recovered two handguns from the car.

Parker and Perkins were each charged with one count of murder and possession of a firearm by a felon with priors and carrying a loaded, stolen firearm, according to the Los Angeles County district attorney’s office. The two men, who are black, pleaded not guilty to the charges; they are each being held on $3-million bail, according to court records.

No charges were filed against 18-year-old Napa resident Lyons. Lyons, who had been arrested, was released from custody June 28 after police were satisfied that there were insufficient grounds for making a criminal complaint, according to the district attorney’s office.

Anyone who may have information about the investigation is asked call the Glendale Police Department at 818-548-4991. Those who wish to remain anonymous can call Crime Stoppers at (800) 222-8477.

Contact the Homicide Report. Follow @latimeshomicide on Twitter.

Alene Tchekmedyian writes for Times Community News