A 31-year-old boxer has been shot dead in Los Angeles, where police are now searching for several gunmen.
Welterweight Mylik Birdsong was pronounced dead at a nearby hospital on Sunday evening.
Los Angeles police say he was standing outside his home in the city’s Florence-Graham neighborhood when a “dark-colored SUV drove by westbound on 87th and shot the victim.”
Birdsong tried but failed to escape to the safety of his home.
‘The victim then ran towards his home [when] two suspects from the vehicle began to chase him while shooting at him,” an LAPD spokesperson told KTLA 5 News.
Welterweight Mylik Birdsong was pronounced dead at an LA hospital on Sunday
Birdsong was shot on 87th Street in the Florence-Graham neighborhood of Los Angeles
Birdsong bought a new puppy the day before he was shot in Los Angeles
Birdsong fell into the driveway, where he was found by emergency workers. He suffered seven gunshot wounds to the torso.
Police said the suspects fled in the dark SUV.
Birdsong is not a well-known boxer, although he has an impressive record of 15-1-1 with 10 knockouts. He was scheduled to face Armenian Gor Yeritsyan (18-1) on October 26 at LA’s Commerce Casino.
A day earlier he showed off his new dog online.
“Good girl,” he said in an Instagram post while holding a gray and white puppy with two different colored eyes. “Look at that body.”
That message has attracted mourners ever since.
‘[I] I love you forever cousin, I am so heartbroken,” one person wrote.
“My GOD honey,” another added. ‘This world is sick!! Such a beautiful spirit. Always showing love from the day we met.”