Authorities Identify Shooting Victim

Authorities identified the man shot to death Friday in Chatsworth as Gabriel Gonzalez, a 50-year-old Reseda resident who police said was killed after an argument with a co-worker during a Christmas party.

Gonzalez, a supervisor at Western Screenprint, got into an argument about 6:30 p.m. with another worker at the business, said Det. John Fleming of the Los Angeles Police Department’s Devonshire Division.

“It was some kind of a Christmas party,” said Lt. Dan Aikin of the Los Angeles County coroner’s office. Gonzalez and others had gathered around a vehicle in the parking lot to celebrate and drink alcohol when the argument began, Aikin said.

Police said the co-worker left and returned moments later with several friends. The co-worker, whom police declined to identify, resumed the argument before allegedly shooting Gonzalez multiple times in the upper torso.

Gonzalez died at the scene. Four people were seen fleeing in a vehicle, LAPD spokesman Don Cox said. None was in custody Saturday night.

Anyone with information on the slaying is asked to call Devonshire homicide detectives at (818) 756-8291 or (818) 756-8285 on nights and weekends.

In a separate development, the coroner’s office identified a carjacking suspect shot to death Thursday night by sheriff’s deputies in Palmdale. He was identified as Michael Jaray Culver, 17, of Lancaster.

Deputies shot Culver after he allegedly pointed a handgun at them, authorities said.