Crowd Grows After Man Shot to Death at Gas Station Pump in Hyde Park

A crowd had amassed at a Hyde Park Arco gas station in the South Los Angeles area after a man was shot to death at a pump Wednesday night.

Family members, believing they were related to the victim, had gathered amid the crowd, pleading with officers to allow them behind the crime tape so they could identify their loved one. Emotions ran high as they wept at the crime scene.

The Los Angeles County Coroner identified the victim as 51-year-old Dermelle Davenport.

About 20 or more officers were called the scene as the crowd grew restless over the shooting death. 

Officers responded to am Arco station at the intersection of Florence Avenue and Crenshaw Boulevard around 7:20 p.m. for an assault with a deadly weapon call, according to the Los Angeles Police Department.

When they arrived, they found a man lying between gas pumps next to his white Porsche Cayenne. He was not breathing and suffered gunshot wounds.

The LAPD said they believed the shooter tried to rob the man. Officers had no reason to believe that the shooter and the victim knew each other.

"We do have a person of interest in custody that was stopped nearby by LAX police," Detective Chris Barling of the LAPD said.

Police did not provide a description of the shooter. 

Surveillance footage from the gas station was to be reviewed by police.