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In an incident that is being treated as homicide, police discovered the body of a dead man inside a burning vehicle off the 210 freeway in Sylmar last night. Responding to a call around 7:30 p.m., firefighters found the body in the passenger seat of a blue 1993 Lexus that was burning in a dead-end section of Harding Street near Foothill Boulevard, underneath a pedestrian bridge.
The man's exact cause of death has yet to be determined, but it investigators believe he was not killed by the fire itself. "It appeared the man had bled a great deal, and we think he may have been shot prior to the fire starting," said Lt. Paul Vernon, according to ABC 7. The victim is described as a large Hispanic man in his mid-to-late 20s.
Investigators believe the car may have been burned in an effort to destroy evidence. Witnesses told officers that they saw an individual running across the bridge shortly after the fire started.
