A 19-year-old Marine who was shot in the head while visiting his girlfriend in South Los Angeles has been declared brain dead.
Carlos Segovia had just left his girlfriend’s residence when he was struck in the head with a bullet near 31st Street and Western Avenue at around 11 p.m. on Sept. 15. He was found unconscious in a Dodge Charger and was rushed to Dignity Health California Hospital Medical Center in grave condition.
He was declared brain dead by doctors, according to relatives.
In an interview with the Los Angeles Times, Claudia Perez, Segovia’s stepmother, said the marine was on his way to her residence when he was shot. Segovia wasn’t in uniform and was on military leave.
“He was on his way to my house,” Perez told the LA Times. “He texted my son that he was bringing pizza home. He never made it.”
Lopez added, “He’s fighting for his life.”
His mother, Sandra Lopez, wants to transfer him to another facility in order to keep him on life support.
“My son did not sign into the Marines to give up,” Lopez told KTLA. “A Marine never gives up. I know what my son is going through. So I choose to ask the doctor to take another test and they refuse to do that.”
Segovia’s family said he steered clear of trouble and was a pillar of his local community. They cannot fathom how such a tragic event could happen to such a good person.
“He was a motivator,” Perez said. “He was very positive. If you said you couldn’t do it, he said, ‘Yes, you can.’”
A family friend told KTLA, “He was here this weekend to help clean up streets or do whatever they were going to do.”
Investigators called on the public’s help in locating any suspects that may be involved in the shooting.
“At this point, it’s absolutely a mystery,” Capt. Peter Whittingham of the Los Angeles Police Department said. “Like so many cases in South L.A., we have nothing to go on at this point.”
Perez asked for anyone with information to say something to authorities, given the circumstances surrounding the shooting.
“They shot a Marine. They shot a community leader,” she said. “It was not gang-on-gang violence like you normally see on South L.A. streets. He left a base to see his family and was murdered in the streets.”
A fundraiser to help offset medical expenses has been set up by students from USC Troy Camp, where Segovia once served as a counselor.
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