Los Angeles police are investigating a seemingly random and brutal murder of a woman walking with her boyfriend in Hollywood earlier this week.
Hollywood resident Carrie Jean Melvin, 30, was walking on McCadden Place toward Sunset Boulevard on Sunday shortly after 10 p.m. when an unidentified black male approached on foot from behind and shot her directly in the head with a shotgun, the Los Angeles Police Department West Bureau Homicide said.
The suspect left northbound on McCadden Place in a black sedan. The circumstances and motive for this homicide are still under investigation, although authorities have said the crime appears to be a random act of violence.
“A killer is on the loose,” LAPD detective John Skaggs told NBC News. “We don’t see any reason somebody would assault this woman or her companion. We’re look at all leads, right now.”
Her boyfriend, who was not injured during the attack, told police no words were exchanged before the hooded suspect — described as a man in his 20s — pulled the trigger.
When TheWrap contacted the LAPD on Tuesday, a spokesman said there was no new information available at the moment.
Melvin, who was pronounced dead on the scene, had been living in the area for the last four years after moving to Los Angeles to pursue a career in the entertainment industry.
According to her social media profiles, she worked at Web to World Media. Before moving to L.A., she studied film and digital media production at UC Santa Cruz.