Jason Jose Cortez Nativi, a 29-year-old photographer from Virginia, was shot and killed on September 10, 2021, while hiking in Ernest E. Debs Regional Park in the Montecito Heights area of Los Angeles. He had traveled to Los Angeles to work on a photography project with a friend. The Los Angeles County Medical Examiner-Coroner confirmed he died at the scene from a single gunshot wound.

Witnesses said the shot came from a rifle fired by a suspect hiding in the bushes about 75 to 100 feet away. A witness described the shooter as a Hispanic male in his 20s or 30s, about 5 feet 11 inches tall, wearing a blue hooded sweatshirt. The LAPD called the killing senseless and said there were no known connections between Jason and the suspect; investigators have treated it as a random act of violence. A composite sketch and a $50,000 reward were released, but no arrests have been reported.

Jason’s wife, Corina Solorzano, and his parents have made public appeals and the family created a website in his memory seeking justice. If anyone was in Ernest E. Debs Regional Park on September 10, 2021, or has information about the shooter, please come forward.