Authorities have identified the man killed in a shooting on 10th Street East in Palmdale last Sunday as 32-year-old Kelton Mendoza, who died of multiple gunshot wounds after being rushed to a hospital by ambulance. A witness described the attack as a possible road-rage incident, though investigators had not confirmed that account as of the latest update.
The shooting was reported at 4:57 p.m. in the 37900 block of 10th Street East, south of East Palmdale Boulevard, according to the Los Angeles County Sheriff's Department. Mendoza was taken to a hospital, where he was pronounced dead, and his death was later ruled a homicide by the Los Angeles County Medical Examiner's Office, according to MyNewsLA.
Witness Describes a Chase Before the Gunfire
According to a witness, Mendoza was driving a black Mercedes-Benz when he passed a slower-moving white vehicle, which then caught up to him. Words were exchanged between the occupants of the two vehicles before about six shots were fired from the white car, which then left the scene, the witness said. The Sheriff's Department said it was not immediately able to confirm that account.
No suspect description, vehicle details beyond the witness's description, or motive confirmed by investigators have been released. Authorities are asking anyone with information about the shooting to call the Sheriff's Homicide Bureau at 323-890-5500, and anonymous tips can be submitted to Crime Stoppers at 800-222-TIPS (8477).
A National Surge in Gun-Involved Road Rage
While investigators work to confirm what happened on 10th Street East, the possibility of a road-rage motive fits into a broader pattern tracked nationally. The number of people shot in road-rage incidents across the country jumped more than 400 percent between 2014 and 2023, rising from 92 to 481, according to The Trace. Road-rage shootings tracked by the Gun Violence Archive climbed by an average of 23 percent a year over that decade, the outlet reported.
By 2023, someone was being shot in a road-rage incident roughly once every 18 hours nationwide, up from once every four days in 2014, per the same analysis. Of the more than 3,000 people shot in such incidents from 2014 through 2023, about one in four — 777 people — died. California alone recorded 321 gun-involved road-rage incidents during that span, the report found.
Similar scares have surfaced elsewhere in Southern California recently, including a road-rage incident that reportedly escalated into a shooting in Van Nuys in May, according to ABC7 Los Angeles.
For now, Mendoza's death remains an open homicide investigation. No arrest has been announced, and the Sheriff's Department has not said whether it has located the white vehicle described by the witness.
