Man Found Dead At Debs Park In Montecito Heights; Homicide Investigation Underway
LOS ANGELES (CBSLA) -- A body was found on Friday at Ernest E. Debs Park in the Montecito Heights neighborhood of Los Angeles.
A family member identified the victim as 29-year-old Jason Cortez, a newlywed who just celebrated his birthday last month.
"It's not fair what happened to my cousin," said Delores Cortez. "He was a good guy."
The call into the Los Angeles Fire Department came in around 3:30 p.m. from a person who found a man unresponsive and not breathing on a trail at the park.
The caller began performing lifesaving measures on the man, and when paramedics arrived, they did the same.
While administering CPR, paramedics noticed the man suffered from a wound.
"Upon further examination of the body, we determined some type of wound," said LAPD Lt. Ryan Rabbett. "We're looking into that wound to determine exactly what that is. Right now, this is being treated as a homicide investigation."
It was not immediately clear where the shooting occurred, police said.
The LAFD dispatcher instructed the caller to perform lifesaving measures on the man as paramedics were sent to the scene.
(© Copyright 2021 CBS Broadcasting Inc. All Rights Reserved. City News Service contributed to this report.)
Correction: A previous version of this story stated that police reported the victim was shot.
