Shaneca Marie Hughes, a 32-year-old black woman, was shot and killed Sunday, Nov. 18 in the 9500 block of Defiance Avenue in Watts, according to Los Angeles County Medical Examiner-Coroner’s records.
About 5:35 a.m., a woman called police requesting help because she had been shot, according to a video released by the Los Angeles Police Department. Officers said that when they arrived, they saw a muzzle flash and heard a shot, then saw a man wearing a black shirt and black pants running into a home.
An officer, believing that he was being shot at by the man, fired at him, hitting a parked vehicle, police said.
Officers surrounded and eventually entered the home, finding five people with gunshot wounds, police said. Hughes was pronounced dead at the scene at 6:14 a.m., according to coroner’s records.
Three others were taken to a hospital, and one died there. The gunman, who police believe to be Dereck Wilson, a 32-year-old black man, was also found inside the home with a self-inflicted gunshot wound, authorities said. His death was ruled a suicide.
The initial shooting was prompted by a family dispute, police said. Hughes was Wilson’s girlfriend, authorities said, and the other man who was shot and killed, Thomas McCoy, 54, was Wilson’s cousin. Eleven cartridge casings were recovered at the scene, police said.