Feb. 08--Two people who were fleeing a gunman were killed Sunday when their speeding vehicle went airborne and crashed into an unoccupied home in Boyle Heights, police and fire officials said.
A black SUV pulled up to the victims' white sedan near the intersection of East Cesar Chavez Avenue and Echandia Street about 11 a.m. A person with a gun stepped out of the passenger side of the vehicle and shot into the car, LAPD Sgt. Frank Preciado said.
The driver of the SUV then fled west on Cesar Chavez, Preciado said. The driver of the sedan drove several blocks down Echandia Street at a high rate of speed before the vehicle went airborne and crashed into a home in the 1500 block of Pleasant Street, he said.
A male occupant was removed from the vehicle and taken to Los Angeles County-USC Medical Center, where he later died, LAFD spokesman Brian Humphrey said. A female victim, who remained trapped in the sedan lodged under a collapsed porch, was pronounced dead at the scene, he said.
The woman was three to four months pregnant, according to another male occupant of the vehicle who sustained minor injuries, Preciado said.
Authorities believe the driver was killed in the shooting and that his foot was stuck on the gas pedal, causing the car to plow into the house, Preciado said. The male passenger in the sedan was sitting in the backseat and was unable to stop the vehicle, he said.
The identities of the victims have not been released.
ben.poston@latimes.com
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