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A man who allegedly murdered another man with his own car in a rapidly escalating road rage incident is still at large, and the LAPD is hoping the public can help find him. On Sunday night at about 9:50 p.m., officers responded to reports of a car theft in the 7400 block of Sepulveda Boulevard in Van Nuys, according to a release from the LAPD. There, they found a man sprawled on the ground and a witness, who told them that she and the man had been headed north on Sepulveda in a car when they encountered a man pedaling a bicycle towards their car at a slow rate of speed. According to KTLA, the witness was the man's wife, who had been riding in the passenger seat at the time. When the driver of the car honked at the cyclist, the cyclist punched the driver’s windshield. The driver then stopped and got out of the car, where the the cyclist allegedly punched the driver and knocked him over.
The witness said that the cyclist then jumped into the car and began to drive away. She was able to escape the car, but the driver ran after his car, grabbing the driver's side door. The cyclist than allegedly rammed into nearby parked cars, smashing the driver in between his own car and the parked cars. As the driver fell to the ground, the cyclist drove away in the man's car.
The victim, whose identity has not been released, later died at the hospital. He was 37 years old.
The alleged attacker has been described as a Hispanic man between 20-30 years old, who is 5'1" and about 140-160 pounds. He was wearing dark colored pants and a dark colored hoodie at the time of the incident.
Anyone with information should call Valley Bureau Homicide Detective Steve Castro at 818-374-1925.
