COMPTON — A 30-year-old reputed gang member was charged today with fatally shooting a woman and pushing her from a car during a chase, the District Attorney’s Office announced.
Juan Diego Valencia, is scheduled to be arraigned sometime after 1:30 p.m. at Compton Superior Court, Department 12, said Deputy District Attorney Kenneth Lynch, assistant head deputy of the Hardcore Gang Division.
Valencia was charged with the Sept. 6 murder of Selene Mayoral, 24, and evading police. The complaint includes gun and gang allegations. Prosecutors are asking bail be set at $2.05 million.
Authorities said when sheriff’s deputies tried to stop a green Mercury Cougar for an unspecified traffic violation in Lynwood about 11:15 p.m. Thursday, the driver took off.
At one point, the driver pulled the car over at the intersection of Josephine Street and Harris Avenue in Lynwood, allegedly opened the door and pushed the body of a female passenger out and sped away. She had been shot once in the head and died at the scene, authorities said.
Valencia was arrested early Friday after barricading himself in an apartment in Hawthorne at the end of the chase.
If convicted, he faces up to life in prison.
