No arrests have been made, but the name of the woman killed in a deadly fusillade of gunfire near two different tour buses at the Santa Monica Pier was released Sunday.
Deommi De La Cruz, 28, of Compton, was killed, Investigator Rudy Molano of the coroner's office said.
Police Sunday asked for public help to find the two or three people who shot and killed one woman, and wounded two others, aboard a bus parked near the Santa Monica Pier.
The shots rang out just before 1 a.m. Saturday at Ocean Avenue and Colorado Boulevard, the Santa Monica Police Department reported.
A large group of people was in a bus parked along Ocean Avenue, when several people exited and got into an altercation with people who had been in another bus, also parked on Ocean Avenue.
Several suspects fired into the first bus, striking three victims and a fourth person on the street. The suspects jumped over a railing toward the cliff above Pacific Coast Highway, police said.
The bus driver pulled out and drove several blocks to the Santa Monica police headquarters, with three gunshot victims onboard.
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The three victims were transported to an area hospital, where De La Cruz died from a gunshot wound. Two were listed with stable life signs at an area hospital.
A fourth victim suffered minor injuries and was not hospitalized.
The tunnel linking the westbound Santa Monica (10) Freeway to Pacific Coast Highway was closed by the California Highway Patrol during the initial search for the suspects. It was reopened at 3:45 a.m. Saturday.
Apparently a group of men from another bus were harassing Deommi and others as they stopped for a restroom break by the pier.
The two groups were not traveling together but some passengers may have known each other, Santa Monica police Lt. Saul Rodriguez told the Los Angeles Times.
"I did hear that maybe one of the parties may have have recognized them from a previous encounter," Rodriguez told the newspaper. "Like they've known each other from some prior run-in possibly."
De La Cruz's family says she was a hero.
"Because my daughter was helping everyone get back on the bus that's why she got the bullet," mother Tomiekia De La Cruz said tearfully.
Alex De La Cruz, Deommi's younger brother, says his sister was strong and spoke the truth. She was a school bus driver and a former security guard.
"She was like the other mother I didn't have," he said. "I've been with her my whole life, as a kid she took care of me. She fed me and watched me when my mom had to work."
Deommi leaves behind a 2-year-old daugher, Desi, who was a premature baby.
"I want everyone to know how beautiful Deommi was. Looking at all the pictures now I didn’t know how beautiful my baby was," Tomiekia De La Cruz said.
Santa Monica police asked anyone with any information regarding the shooting to call them at 310-458-8495.
If you would like to donate to a GoFundMe account set up to help the De La Cruz family, you may do so here. Note that GoFundMe deducts 7.9 percent of all funds raised in the form of platform and payment processing charges.
NBC4's Gene Kang contributed to this report.
