Detectives from the Los Angeles Police Department released surveillance footage Thursday in hopes that the public can identify two vehicles involved in the fatal shooting of a 57-year-old grandfather last month.

About 11:30 p.m. on Sept. 17, Eric Guillory was playing a game at a picnic table in the Rancho San Pedro housing development near West 2nd and South Centre streets when multiple vehicles pulled up.

A person opened fire, and Guillory was struck once.

Police were able to obtain video from the area that shows two vehicles — a black sedan and a gray four-door sedan — traveling together. The cars turned south on Palos Verdes Street from West 1st Street moments before the shooting.

The black sedan appears to have been following the gray sedan. 

LAPD Det. Matt Maffei said the two vehicles don’t have distinct features. He hopes someone saw the vehicles in the area or elsewhere.

“Maybe someone will see it and say, ‘Hey my neighbor has two cars like that,’” he said.

Anyone with information is asked to call detectives at (310) 726-7882 or (310) 726-7880. Those who wish to remain anonymous can call Crime Stoppers at (800) 222-8477.

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

Video: LAPD

Ricardo Russell Myers, a 62-year-old whitemale, died Wednesday, Oct. 30, in Lancaster, according to Los Angeles County Medical Examiner-Coroner's records. The cause of death is pending.

Chloe Summer Evans, a 18-year-old blackfemale, died Friday, Oct. 25, after being shot in Vermont Vista, according to Los Angeles County Medical Examiner-Coroner's records.

Alonso Avalos, a 18-year-old Latinomale, died Saturday, Oct. 26, in Sun Valley, according to Los Angeles County Medical Examiner-Coroner's records. The cause of death is pending.

Melvin Williams II, a 35-year-old male, died Tuesday, Oct. 29, in Long Beach, according to Los Angeles County Medical Examiner-Coroner's records. The cause of death is pending.

Maurice Poe Jr., a 25-year-old male, died Tuesday, Oct. 29, in Long Beach, according to Los Angeles County Medical Examiner-Coroner's records. The cause of death is pending.

Ricardo Torres, a 28-year-old male, died Tuesday, Oct. 29, in Long Beach, according to Los Angeles County Medical Examiner-Coroner's records. The cause of death is pending.

A Carson man will serve 35 years to life in prison for killing his wife last October after she presented him with divorce papers, authorities said.

Benjamin Christino Ramirez, 69, was sentenced Oct. 1 at the Compton courthouse for killing his wife, 67-year-old Fely Ramirez, prosecutors said.

Ramirez was convicted Sept. 10 of first-degree murder with the allegation that he used a handgun.

Ramirez filed for divorce and showed her husband the paperwork on Oct. 5, 2018, according to a probation report filed in court. The couple had been married for more than 40 years.

According to the report, Ramirez’s nephew went to his aunt’s home to check on her but found her lifeless on a couch with a blanket over her head and her feet on an ottoman.

The nephew then contacted authorities. Under the blanket, deputies discovered that she suffered two bullet wounds to the head and chest, and found divorce papers under her legs, according to the report. Deputies also found guns in a bedroom.

Investigators obtained a neighbor’s surveillance footage and saw that Benjamin Ramirez entered and left the residence earlier that day. Ramirez was arrested the next day when a neighbor notified authorities that he was at the home, according to the report.

Ramirez was scheduled to appear in court Oct. 31 for a restitution hearing.

Contact the Homicide Report. Follow @latimeshomicide on Twitter.

Alexis Garcia, a 22-year-old Latinomale, died Friday, Nov. 1, in Azusa, according to Los Angeles County Medical Examiner-Coroner's records. The cause of death is pending.

A 55-year-old man was sentenced Aug. 23 to 27 years to life in prison for the killing of a young man during an attempted carjacking more than 30 years ago, authorities said.

Pierre Alphonse Romain was convicted in 2017 of first-degree murder with special circumstances in the killing of Jade Maurice Clark, a 21-year-old Los Angeles man, according to prosecutors.

On June 29, 1987, about 2 p.m., Clark was shot while sitting inside his customized 1984 Nissan 300 ZX outside a Hollywood nightclub, police said.

Romain and another person walked up to the car and shot Clark.

"Before Clark was shot, he was able to reach under the seat retrieving his handgun. Gunfire was exchanged and the driver got the worst of it," records show. There was a passenger with Clark who fled and came back to check on his friend.

Romain was initially charged with murder in 1987, but the charges were dropped due to insufficient evidence. A spent bullet found at the scene contained blue fabric, blood and tissue. Forensic testing at the time could not connect Romain to the shooting.

A recent examination of the bullet found at the scene, along with other evidence, linked and confirmed that Romain was indeed the shooter and that he sustained a single gunshot wound to his right arm during the attempted robbery, according to the report.

The new findings were presented as evidence in his 2018 trial. It is not known if Romain sought treatment for his gunshot wound at the time of the murder.

Prior to and after the fatal shooting, Romain led a storied and sordid life. According to court records, Romain was a professed member of a gang.

In 1986, he was discharged from the Air Force. Despite being a suspect in the 1987 murder, Romain was able to work as a law enforcement officer, holding the position of sergeant with the Department of Defense Police at the Los Angeles Air Force Base in El Segundo, according to court records.

At the time of his 1987 arrest, Romain was being considered as a candidate for a police officer job with the Los Angeles Police Department, but was disqualified. Romain went on to become a federal police officer.

Romain managed to stay on law enforcement's radar partly because of his determination to become a police officer with a state law enforcement agency. Over a nine-year period starting in 1995, Romain applied on 19 occasions to 19 different police jurisdictions in California for employment as a police officer, but was rejected, according to the report.

In 2003, Romain applied to become an officer in the San Francisco area, sparking renewed interest in the case. A background check initiated by the San Francisco Police Department alerted the original investigator of the murder, L.A. police Det. Rick Jackson, who at the time had recently been assigned to the LAPD Robbery-Homicide Division's Cold Case Homicide Unit.

On Dec. 15, 2003,  Jackson and his partner, Det. Tim Marcia, collected reference samples from Romain, and a more modern DNA analysis determined that Romain’s profile was indeed a match to the bullet recovered from the crime scene in 1987, according to the report.

Romain continues to deny guilt in the murder, according to court records.

Contact the Homicide Report. Follow @latimeshomicide on Twitter.

Lathurman Williams, a 39-year-old blackmale, died Friday, Nov. 1, after being shot in Manchester Square, according to Los Angeles County Medical Examiner-Coroner's records.

Taron Raynell Rolison, a 45-year-old blackmale, died Saturday, Nov. 2, after being shot in Broadway-Manchester, according to Los Angeles County Medical Examiner-Coroner's records.

A 34-year-old Los Angeles man was sentenced last month to 37 years to life in prison for killing a 3-year-old girl, authorities said.

On Sept. 3, 2019, Ricardo Agusto Utuy was found guilty of one count of murder and one count of attempted murder after an incident involving a co-worker’s daughter.  

Utuy, who worked at a sewing factory in downtown Los Angeles, noticed the routines of his co-workers Maria Rodriguez and Javier Vasquez and thought about killing them, authorities said.

Rodriguez and Vasquez would pick up their daughter Ruby from daycare and return to work, according to court documents. 

On Oct. 31, 2016, Ututy stabbed Ruby Vasquez, 3, after thinking about it for weeks, records show. 

That day, Vasquez and his daughter had stopped to get some cookies on the way back from daycare. When they arrived back at work, Ruby greeted her mother and asked her if she could bring her father a cookie. 

As she ran over to her father’s workstation, Utuy followed Ruby and stabbed her twice in the back and once in her front torso.

Utuy fled and went home, where he used meth. Ruby died at a hospital.

Hours later, Utuy turned himself in at the Los Angeles Police Department's Rampart Division. He said he was a chronic methamphetamine user and confessed to murdering Ruby with a pocket knife.

Voices had told him to kill Ruby Vasquez, he said.

In March of that year, Utuy had stabbed another person at a different garment factory. The woman had gotten up from her sewing station to use the bathroom when Utuy attacked her. He fled immediately and went back to his house to use meth.

According to court documents, Utuy also had a history of violence with his domestic partner and once threatened to stab her with a pair of scissors after an argument. He also threatened to beat up a DCFS worker who had told him to stop doing drugs and get help.

A week before killing Ruby, he admitted he wanted to kill a roommate, records show.

Contact the Homicide Report. Follow @latimeshomicide on Twitter.

A Bellflower resident who shot and killed his estranged wife in front of their children on Christmas Day two years ago was sentenced on Oct. 3 to 40 years to life in prison, court records show.

As part of a plea, Santiago Palacios Salgado, 58, pleaded no contest in August to one count of second-degree murder with the allegation that he discharged a gun, according to the Los Angeles County district attorney’s office.  

Touting a red gift bag, Palacios Salgado went to the 9100 block of Rosecrans Avenue shortly after 3 p.m. on Dec. 25, 2017, where his former partner, Gabriela Romero-Garcia, 41, shared a trailer park home with the two children they had in common.

The gift bag caused neighbors to think that Palacios Salgado was there to give gifts to the children, records show. His visit, however, violated a restraining order.

The children, who were 6 and 8 years old at the time of the incident, told detectives that their father “pulled a gun from his pants and told them, ‘This is all your fault.' "

Then, Palacios Salgado shot Romero-Garcia five times across her torso, court records show.

The victim’s neighbor told detectives that she “rushed outside” after hearing the gunshots, her children trailing behind her. When she got to the trailer, the victim’s children ran out of the residence.  

The woman testified in court that when she looked inside, the victim lay wounded on the floor. When she asked the victim’s children what was going on, one of them simply responded: “Mommy.”

Romero-Garcia was taken to a hospital, where she was pronounced dead.

The neighbor told deputies that, after shooting his wife, Palacios Salgado then pointed the gun at her and all of the children, including his own.

To secure their safety, she said, they ran to her home, where they got on their knees and prayed, according to court records. Palacios Salgado then turned the weapon on himself.

Authorities took him to St. Francis Medical Center in Lynwood, where he was treated for his injuries. He had several 9-millimeter bullets and a suicide note with him.

The note, according to a probation officer’s report, was signed by Palacios Salgado and “expressed his anger toward the victim.” It also indicated that “there was no need for police to investigate because he had committed the crime.”

The children Palacios Salgado and the victim had in common were placed in the custody of their older half-brother.

In March of last year, the man told authorities that his mother “meant the world to him” and signaled that he might be suffering from depression. He also stated that his siblings were doing well in school, “considering the circumstances.”

Romero-Garcia’s death aligns with a recent Times analysis of coroner and law enforcement records, which revealed that the bulk of the women killed in Los Angeles County last year knew their assailant. In fact, nearly half of them had been in intimate relationships.

Contact the Homicide Report. Follow @latimeshomicide on Twitter.

Two Los Angeles women were recently sentenced to life in prison without the possibility of parole for killing a liquor store clerk in North Hollywood during an attempted robbery three years ago.

Rosa Manuela Barrientos, 26, and Maria Michelle Inzunza, 28, were sentenced Aug. 23 for killing Mohammad Kalam, a 61-year-old man from Bangladesh.

A jury in August 2018  found both Barrientos and Inzunza guilty of one count of murder with the special circumstance allegation that the killing was committed during a robbery and one count of attempted second-degree robbery, according to the Los Angeles County district attorney's office. 

Kalam was shot in the head Sept. 24, 2016, while working at the A&D Liquor Mart in the 12600 block of Sherman Way when he refused to give two assailants money, police said.

Surveillance footage reviewed by LAPD investigators showed that Inzunza slid a demand note to Kalam that threatened him to hand over money or they'd kill him.

Kalam, a father, slid the note back to them.

There was some unknown dialogue between the defendant and the victim, then Barrientos took the gun from her purse and shot Kalam in the head once, court records show.

Inzunza tried to open the register but was unsuccessful. Both fled the location empty-handed.

Hours before the shooting, a longtime friend of the women testified in court that she, her boyfriend and the two defendants drove around North Hollywood in her Hyundai Sonata looking for alcohol, according to trial transcripts. 

The woman testified that Barrientos and Inzunza, who were partners, finished drinking a bottle of vodka and then decided to buy more at a liquor store.

Inzunza, who has been convicted of possessing controlled substances, initially told officers she drank two shots of vodka that night but denied smoking any narcotics or being drunk, according to a probation report filed in court.

The woman testified that Barrientos and Inzunza previously entered a few liquor stores but didn’t buy anything because they had issues with their credit card. 

About an hour and a half later, the group returned to the same A&D Liquor Mart where they initially purchased a bottle of vodka, court documents show.

The woman said that Barrientos and Inzunza told her to park outside of the store’s lot. 

When Barrientos and Inzunza ran back to the car, the woman testified that “Maria had told me her girlfriend got in a fight with the clerk or whatever. I didn't really pay much attention to it."

The woman and her boyfriend denied knowing about the murder. 

Barrientos and Inzunza had a history of run-ins with police.

Barrientos was on formal probation for second-degree robbery at the time of the incident, according to the probation report. That was later terminated. 

Inzunza, who has a prison gang classification, had a prior conviction for possession of a controlled substance, according to the report.

Contact the Homicide Report. Follow @latimeshomicide on Twitter.

Lavon Allen Wright Jr., a 43-year-old blackmale, died Tuesday, Nov. 5, after being shot in Green Meadows, according to Los Angeles County Medical Examiner-Coroner's records.

Jose Santos Mendoza Martinez, a 69-year-old Latinomale, died Friday, Nov. 8, after being shot in Paramount, according to Los Angeles County Medical Examiner-Coroner's records.

James Lee Chambers, a 55-year-old blackmale, died Saturday, Nov. 9, after being shot in Adams-Normandie, according to Los Angeles County Medical Examiner-Coroner's records.

Ricardo Ramirez, a 17-year-old Latinomale, died Saturday, Nov. 9, after being shot in Boyle Heights, according to Los Angeles County Medical Examiner-Coroner's records.

A man who killed another man in front of a 6-year-old boy in Long Beach more than two years ago had a history of domestic violence combined with a pattern of threatening behavior, court records show.

The defendant, Jason Monroe Daniels, 35, was sentenced to 122 years to life in prison on Aug. 27 for fatally shooting William Luther Hayes while Hayes was visiting his estranged wife’s children in Long Beach on April 19, 2017.

Daniels was convicted in July of second-degree murder, child abuse and possession of a firearm by a felon, according to prosecutors.

Various court records portrayed Daniels as a man who was short-tempered, unpredictable and at times threatening.

Daniels was dating Hayes’ ex-partner at the time of the shooting, though the couple had a contentious relationship, according to court records.

The woman told police that Daniels moved in to her home in the 500 block of Cherry Avenue, but she kicked him out because of his verbally abusive behavior.

At one point in their relationship, Daniels told her that if she ever left him, he would kill her entire family, blow up her house and go to her workplace, court records show.

The day of the shooting, Daniels emerged from the car he was living in and confronted his girlfriend as she was leaving for work, records show. She told police that Daniels threatened to blow up her house, and as she began driving off to escape, Daniels tried opening her car door to prevent her from leaving.

Daniels then went inside his girlfriend’s house and was there with her brother, her mother and her two children.

Witnesses told police that the kids ran to the door when Hayes arrived about 9 p.m. Court records show that Hayes helped raise the two children and was considered their stepfather.

Hayes, who hadn’t seen the kids in six months, went to the front yard to spend time with them. Hayes was teaching the youngest child how to tie his shoes. The boy told police he sat on the fence by his stepfather when Daniels approached Hayes, whom he had never met before.

Witnesses told police that Daniels asked Hayes, “What are you doing here?” Hayes replied that he was there to visit his stepchildren.   

The older child, who witnessed the event from the front doorway, told police that Hayes said, “No disrespect, I’m just here to see the kids. I’m not here to start any problems.”

“Well it’s not your place to see the kids,” Daniels said. “They’re not your kids and you shouldn’t be here.”

Daniels then shot Hayes once in the chest.

Hayes collapsed on his way to the door, in front of the children. Screams erupted from the children and their grandmother, and the kids were rushed inside.

Hayes was taken to the hospital, where he was pronounced dead.

The children’s mother was on the phone with her brother when Hayes was shot. Her brother had called her out of fear that an incident would erupt between Hayes and Daniels. She heard the gunshot while on her phone.

Daniels has been convicted of multiple felonies over 15 years, according to a probation report filed in court.

In 2007, he was convicted of domestic violence resulting in injuries. He was also convicted of issuing terrorist threats in 2014 when he threatened to kill a woman and her family if she ever reported his violent behavior to the police.

Daniels escaped in his black Dodge Durango after the shooting. He was arrested in Las Vegas two weeks later.

Contact the Homicide Report. Follow @latimeshomicide on Twitter.