More than three years after 30-year-old food delivery driver Nestor Tlahuel Mendez was gunned down in an apparent road rage attack near La Mirada, the person responsible is still out there. The Los Angeles County Board of Supervisors voted unanimously Tuesday to extend a $20,000 reward for information leading to an arrest and conviction in the case, keeping the cold case in front of the public as investigators continue searching for the shooter.
Mendez was driving westbound on Rosecrans Avenue between Valley View and Marquardt Avenues, in the 13900 block near the La Mirada and Santa Fe Springs border, when he was struck once in the left shoulder by someone in another vehicle at about 9:15 p.m. on March 29, 2023, according to MyNewsLA.com. Emergency responders located him at the scene at approximately 9:16 p.m., per the County of Los Angeles. Mendez later died from his injury. Riding with him was his 15-year-old cousin, who was not injured in the shooting, investigators said.
Authorities believe the shooting was motivated by road rage. The suspect vehicle, described as an older black sedan, was captured on surveillance cameras leaving the area via Alondra Boulevard and the Santa Ana (5) Freeway toward Firestone Boulevard in Norwalk, the same getaway route previously detailed by the Norwalk Patriot.
Supervisor Says Family Was Shattered by the Act
Supervisor Janice Hahn, who authored the original motion establishing the reward in August, said the person who killed Mendez remains at large and needs to be held accountable. Hahn said the act of road rage shattered a family and urged any witnesses or others with information to contact the Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Department…