EL MONTE (CNS) - A man who was shot and killed while driving a vehicle that crashed in El Monte earlier this week has been determined to be a suicide, the Los Angeles County coroner's office said.
Officers from the El Monte Police Department responded to a two-vehicle collision in the 2600 block of Meeker Avenue about 7:35 p.m. Monday and found the man bleeding from his head in the driver's seat of one of the vehicles, according to the Los Angeles County Sheriff's Department, which assisted El Monte police in the investigation.
The 25-year-old El Monte man was pronounced dead at the scene, according to the coroner's office, which listed the cause death as “gunshot wound through the head'' and the manner of death as “suicide.''
According to the sheriff's department, a handgun was found in the vehicle.
Detectives initially suspected the man had died from a self-inflicted gunshot wound prior to the collision, but deferred to the coroner's office to make that determination, the sheriff's department reported.
“During the investigation, it was discovered a female, possibly an occupant inside of the vehicle, exited prior to the collision,'' a sheriff's statement said. “She was transported to a local hospital and was treated for non-life threatening injuries.
“The four occupants of the other vehicle -- a mother, father and two children -- were transported to a local hospital for non-life threatening injuries,'' the statement said.
Copyright 2021, City News Service, Inc.