The Los Angeles County Department of Medical Examiner-Coroner has identified the man shot and killed in Malibu on the afternoon of Friday, May 21, in an apparent homicide.
The victim was identified as Daniel Hernandez, age 29, of El Monte. According to information shared by the LA County Sheriff’s Department, deputies from the Malibu/Lost Hills Sheriff’s Station responded to a “shots heard call” on Friday afternoon, May 21, at about 4:25 p.m. The deputies discovered the victim “seated in his vehicle suffering with at least one gunshot wound to the upper torso.” He was pronounced dead on scene.
The vehicle was parked along the 27500 block of Pacific Coast Highway, west of Geoffrey’s Restaurant near Escondido Beach, Coroner PIO Sarah Ardalani confirmed to The Malibu Times. His official cause of death was “gunshot wound to the left arm and torso.”
On Monday, May 24, Lieutenant Brandon Dean of the LASD Homicide Bureau said in a phone interview that his bureau had no current leads on the shooter or the shooter’s motives, but said that deputies were still in the process of interviewing all nearby residents and possible witnesses, contacting the victim’s family, canvassing the area for surveillance footage and going through “hours and hours” of video.
“Hopefully, that can point us in the right direction,” Dean said.
He also said that investigators had not “come across information that shows [Hernandez] resided in Malibu or was working in Malibu.”
“That’s not to say we won’t,” Dean pointed out, “but we haven’t come across information that confirms that.”
Later on Monday evening, Lieutenant Jim Braden of the Malibu/Lost Hills Sheriff’s Station echoed Dean’s statement that a murder investigation was ongoing through the homicide bureau.
“I know a lot of people want to know things about [the investigation] but that’s just now how a homicide investigation is,” the lieutenant told the public.
He detailed the crime’s sequence of events to the meeting, confirming that deputies had responded around 4:25 p.m. on Friday where they found Hernandez in a truck with a gunshot wound. Braden said that deputies immediately checked and secured the area and noted that a “large number” of deputies responded to the incident. The scene was later held for homicide and evidence was collected.
Braden added that the homicide bureau was looking for “any information from the public that can help them in any way.”
Anyone with information should contact the Homicide Bureau by calling 323.890.5500.
Anyone who would rather provide information anonymously may call LASD Crime Stoppers at 800.222.8477. There is also an anonymous P3 Tips mobile app and a website: lacrimestoppers.org.