A 57-year-old man was shot and killed early Wednesday morning outside a burger stand in Hawthorne.
The shooting was first reported at around 2 a.m. at Fabulous Burgers in the 3300 block of Rosecrans Avenue, according to the Hawthorne Police Department. The victim’s family identified the man who was killed as 57-year-old Eddie McAllister.
Police confirmed an arrest in the shooting later Wednesday morning, but details were not immediately available.
"Based on statements and evidence collected at the scene, Hawthorne officers and detectives were able to quickly identify a possible suspect," Hawthorne police said in a statement. "That suspect was tracked to a nearby location in a neighboring city. At that location, the suspect was safely taken into custody without incident."
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The victim's family members said they learned about the deadly shooting at around 2:30 a.m. and rushed to the scene from their home in Norwalk.
“He said he hoped to see me soon,” Emani McAllister, the victim’s daughter, said while holding back tears. “He had texted me a couple of hours before it happened.”
The victim, who worked as a security guard, may have gotten off work shortly before the shooting, according to his family, as video footage showed him wearing his work jacket.
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“It’s very traumatizing to see your loved one taking the last breath,” said Tameco Lisby, Eddie’s former girlfriend, who saw the surveillance video of the shooting.
“There’s a very, very clear picture of the assailant,” Lisby described. “You can see punches being thrown. When Eddie got him down on the ground, the guy took out a gun out of his pocket and shot [Eddie] in the stomach.”
As the McAllister family tried to make sense of the sudden death, video from the scene shows the victim’s mother sobbing on her knees behind the police tape.
“Please help me. Help find out who did this to my son,” Marilyn McAllister tearfully pleaded. “He wasn’t a bad person. He was my oldest son.”
Anyone with information about the shooting was asked to call Hawthorne Police.
