CALIFORNIA BRIEFING / LOS ANGELES

Police made a plea Wednesday for the public’s help in solving the daylight killing of a 16-year-old boy in the Panorama City neighborhood.

The boy, whose name has not yet been released, was found dead Tuesday in the driveway of a residence in the 8900 block of Colbath Avenue, said Los Angeles Police Det. Jim Freund. Three friends were with him, and two of them also had been shot, Freund said.

The four friends were walking through the neighborhood around 12:40 p.m. when they were approached by two men believed to be in their teens or early 20s, he said.

“The two suspects asked them, ‘Where you from?’ ” Freund said. “And that’s a common thing for gangs to say when they’re claiming their territory. The boys responded that they weren’t from a gang, and that began the confrontation.”

One of the assailants fired on the four, who fled about 100 feet before three were shot. The fourth friend, 20, was unharmed, Freund said.

The assailants ran off before police arrived, he said. The two injured victims, ages 19 and 25, were shot in the torso; each was treated at a hospital and released, Freund said.

The boy who died had recently moved to Pacific Palisades but was a former resident of Panorama City, where the other three live, Freund said.

“We believe the deceased was just in Panorama City visiting his friends when the shooting occurred,” Freund said.

Anyone with information is asked to call LAPD’s Mission Area homicide detectives at (818) 838-9810 or text information to CRIMES (274637); text messages must begin with the letters LAPD.

-- Nathan Olivarez-Giles