Oscar Ernesto Ayala, 30, was killed in a drive-by shooting in the Vermont Knolls neighborhood of South Los Angeles on the evening of October 17, 2021. The shooting happened shortly before 8 p.m. in the 500 block of West 82nd Street, near 538 West 82nd Street. A vehicle pulled up and someone inside opened fire. Ayala was struck and pronounced dead at the scene; a 13-year-old boy nearby was also shot and taken to hospital with stable vital signs.

Contemporaneous reports did not describe the vehicle, identify the shooter, explain any relationship between Ayala and the teenager, or state whether either victim was specifically targeted. The Los Angeles County Medical Examiner-Coroner listed Ayala’s cause of death as a gunshot wound, and the case was assigned to the LAPD South Bureau Homicide unit.

There are unresolved details about motive and the shooter’s identity. Did anyone in the Vermont Knolls area see the vehicle or hear anything that night?