TORRANCE, Calif. (AP) — A lawyer says two women delivering newspapers had no warning before they were mistakenly shot by Los Angeles police officers searching for triple murder suspect Christopher Dorner.
Investigators say 47-year-old Maggie Carranza and her 71-year-old mother Emma Hernandez were in a Toyota Tundra pickup truck similar to Dorner's vehicle.
They were delivering newspapers in Torrance when LAPD officers guarding a target named in Dorner's manifesto peppered the pickup with bullets, wounding the women, before dawn on Thursday.
Police Chief Charlie Beck says the pickup's headlights weren't on and it was a case of mistaken identity.
The women's attorney, Glen Jonas, tells KCBS-TV there were no warnings and no orders. Just gunshots.
"The vehicle is a different color. The license plate doesn't match. There's nothing there for you to start shooting people," said Jonas. "And even if they had the person in question… Mr. Dorner…you still have to give them an opportunity to get out. You can't just start administering street justice."
Carranza had minor hand injuries. Hernandez is hospitalized with a gunshot wound in the back.
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Information from: KCBS-TV
Copyright 2013 The Associated Press.
