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Man Shot and Killed in San Bernardino Strip Mall, Fourth Homicide in Five Days

Paramedics rendered aid, but the man was pronounced dead at the scene, San Bernardino Police said.

A 27-year-old man was shot and killed in San Bernardino Wednesday night, marking the fourth homicide in the city in five days.

San Bernardino Police received a report of shots fired around 11:30 p.m. at a strip mall on the 2800 block of West Rialto Avenue. When police arrived, they found the victim with gunshot wounds in the parking lot outside a Super 99 Cents Plus store.

Paramedics rendered aid, but the man died at the scene, San Bernardino Police said.

The victim "made contact with" occupants of a new model white car, possibly a Nissan, according to police. Gunshots were fired from the vehicle before its driver left the scene on Rialto Avenue, police said.

The victim was identified a Juan Carlos Villapudua, 27, of San Bernardino.

The city has seen three other homicides in the last five days. 

On Saturday, a 23-year-old man was shot and killed inside a boarded-up home in San Bernardino. 

On Monday night, one person was killed and four were injured in a shooting at a San Bernardino smoke shop near Baseline Street and Waterman Avenue.

The next night, a father was killed and his daughter was injured in a shooting in their apartment on South Copper Lane.

Lt. Rich Lawhead, a spokesman for the San Bernardino Police Department, says most of the people killed during this recent spike were involved in some kind of illegal activity, whether it be gang involvement or drug dealing.

He also blamed the uptick in bloodshed on a combination of factors -- an influx of gang members from from Los Angeles, a spike in the number of convicts released from prison under a plan to cut down the state's prison population and fewer cops on the streets due to budget cuts. 

Jason Kandel contributed to this report.

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