SOUTHLAND : Driver Slain From Passing Car; Harbor Freeway Shut for Hours

A young male motorist was shot to death early today, reportedly by someone in a passing car, and authorities shut down a jampacked freeway into downtown Los Angeles for nearly two hours to search for the gunman.

The victim was shot in the head at about 5:45 a.m. while driving south on the Harbor Freeway about seven miles south of downtown, said Officer Don Lawrence, a Los Angeles Police Department spokesman. The victim’s name was withheld until relatives could be notified.

The victim’s red Pontiac Fiero drifted onto the right shoulder of the freeway before coming to a stop, police said. The driver, in his late 20s, was pronounced dead at the scene by paramedics.

Police said that two motorists reporting from car phones told them the shots came from a yellow Pontiac Trans-Am occupied by two men. No one was immediately arrested.

All north and south lanes between Manchester and Century boulevards were closed between 7:50 a.m. and 9:30 a.m., causing traffic backups for miles, said California Highway Patrol Officer Dwight McDonald.