Thursday, September 27, 2007

Val Verde, California

From the Los Angeles Daily News of September 27, 2007
Neighbors' dispute ends in death

Three woman stood Wednesday alongside a narrow road praying the rosary in Spanish, their eyes fixed on the large blood stain on the asphalt.

When they were finished, they splashed holy water from a gallon plastic jug onto the spots that had trickled down the street. The death the night before of Hermilo Talamante, 34, marked the second fatal shooting in rural Val Verde in less than a week.

"It's sad, it's so sad," Prescilla de la Rosa said in Spanish, her granddaughter Jessica Garibay serving as interpreter. Talamante was the boyfriend of Garibay's mother.

Talamante and Clarence Pullum were neighbors on Arlington Street, and had been involved in a long-running dispute regarding family members, Sgt. Martin Rodriguez said.

The shooting happened about 8 p.m. Tuesday after the two were involved in a fistfight, and both went home to retrieve handguns.

Talamante was shot in the lower torso and pronounced dead a short time later at Henry Mayo Newhall Memorial Hospital.

Pullum, 38, was interviewed and released, and the case initially was deemed to be self-defense.

However, it is still under investigation and will be reviewed by the District Attorney's Office,

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