A 24-year-old man who was found shot to death at the bottom of an embankment in the San Gabriel Riverbed was identified Monday by coroner's officials and his family as Duke Herrera.
The man's body was found Saturday by a couple walking on a path about 10:30 a.m. in the riverbed north of Carson Street in Lakewood, the Los Angeles County Sheriff's Department said.
When deputies arrived, they found Herrera suffering from a single gunshot wound to his upper body. He was pronounced dead at the scene.
Herrera's father, Phillip Herrera, said his son was a special needs student who attended a vocational school in Lakewood and had taken a different route home the day he was found dead.
"Duke was a little naive and too innocent and that's what probably led to his demise," the father said. "(Duke) wouldn't even kill a bug in the house."
Detectives were looking into the possibility that he was lured to the riverbed.
