A 30-year-old man shot to death on a quiet Van Nuys street earlier this month has been identified by the Los Angeles County Department of Medical Examiner as Jorge Hernandez Arteaga. Los Angeles police say a male suspect approached Hernandez Arteaga on foot, shot him, and then fled the scene, and the gunman remains at large more than a week later.
According to MyNewsLA.com, LAPD officers responded to a report of an assault with a deadly weapon at about 2:10 a.m. on August 3 near Murrieta and Hazeltine avenues, just east of the Van Nuys Boulevard commercial corridor. Officers arrived to find Hernandez Arteaga suffering from multiple gunshot wounds, and Los Angeles Fire Department paramedics pronounced him dead at the scene.
The intersection sits in a residential pocket of the central San Fernando Valley, tucked between the busy Van Nuys Boulevard corridor and surrounding side streets, according to FOX 11. That station reported that the initial dispatch had actually come in as an “ambulance cutting” before responding officers recovered multiple shell casings and determined the victim had suffered fatal gunshot wounds to the head. The station also reported that a passing motorist first discovered Hernandez Arteaga lying unresponsive in the middle of the street before emergency crews were called.
Suspect Still Unaccounted For
Investigators have not released a description of the shooter beyond confirming he fled on foot, and no arrests have been announced in the more than a week since the killing. The case remains open, with police offering no public statement yet on a possible motive or whether Hernandez Arteaga knew his attacker.
Homicide investigations in the area fall under the LAPD's Operation Valley Bureau Homicide Unit, which oversees seven community divisions across the San Fernando Valley from its Panorama City headquarters, according to LAPD Online. The department is asking anyone with neighborhood surveillance footage or other information about the shooting to contact Operation Valley Bureau Homicide detectives directly at (818) 374-9550, or to submit tips anonymously through LA Regional Crime Stoppers.
A Killing Amid Falling Citywide Homicide Numbers
The shooting comes as Los Angeles has been logging some of its lowest homicide totals in generations. The city's homicides fell 19 percent in 2025 compared to the prior year, reaching their lowest total since 1966, according to a crime data report released by the City of Los Angeles in February. The same report noted that LAPD solved 68 percent of its 2025 homicide cases and cleared an additional 76 cases from prior years through follow-up investigative work.
That local trend mirrors a statewide pattern. California's homicide rate dropped to 3.5 per 100,000 residents in 2025, the lowest state rate recorded since 1966, according to CalMatters. Still, for Hernandez Arteaga's family and neighbors near Murrieta and Hazeltine, the broader statistics offer little comfort while the person responsible for his death remains unidentified.
What a Conviction Could Mean
If the shooter is eventually identified, arrested, and convicted, California law lays out steep potential penalties. Under Penal Code Section 187, first-degree murder carries 25 years to life in state prison, while second-degree murder carries 15 years to life, a distinction Hoodline has detailed in a prior Van Nuys case. Separately, Penal Code Section 12022.53 imposes mandatory, consecutive sentencing enhancements of 10, 20, or 25 years to life for defendants who use or discharge a firearm during a felony that results in death.
For now, the investigation into Hernandez Arteaga's death continues, with detectives relying on the same combination of neighborhood video and public tips that has helped drive up the department's clearance rates elsewhere in the city. Anyone with information is urged to come forward to Operation Valley Bureau Homicide detectives or LA Regional Crime Stoppers.
