Alfred Louis Beserra was 29 years old when he died on Sunday, August 8, 2010, in Rosemead. According to the Los Angeles County Medical Examiner-Coroner, he died after sustaining blunt force trauma at 8501 Garvey Avenue. His death was ruled a homicide, and it is listed as a Los Angeles County Sheriff's Department case.
The Los Angeles Times Homicide Report said the incident occurred "sometime before 10 a.m." Deputies "arrived at the scene to find a compact car that had hit a wall and was in flames." A man who had been shot was standing outside the car. A second man in the passenger seat, later identified as Beserra, had also been shot. Deputies pulled him from the car, and he was declared dead at the scene. According to coroner's records, he "suffered possible head trauma, an apparent gunshot wound to the back, as well as smoke inhalation and thermal burns."
The San Bernardino Sun reported that two men "in a possibly stolen Honda were shot and then chased by another vehicle before their car crashed and burst into flames." Witnesses saw the Honda Accord being chased by "a dark-colored sport utility vehicle or a pickup truck with a camper shell," and estimated that the two vehicles were going about 80 or 90 mph, according to sheriff's Homicide Lt. Don Slawson. The Honda slammed into a wall in the 8500 block of East Garvey Avenue. Deputies from the sheriff's Temple Station had been called to a traffic collision. The surviving man, described as being in his mid 20s, had been shot in the upper body and was listed in stable condition. Investigators did not yet know when and where the shooting happened, and the vehicle that had been chasing the Honda "was last seen driving away from the crash scene."
Coroner's officials told the paper they did not have a last known residence for Beserra, but that his family lived in the San Gabriel Valley. A public genealogy listing gives his birth date as November 16, 1980. A Rose Hills Memorial Park & Mortuary obituary page from Whittier carries the name Alfred "Freddie" L. Beserra, which may be his, though the saved listing gives no dates.
Rosemead is a city in the western San Gabriel Valley, east of downtown Los Angeles, and it contracts with the Sheriff's Department for police services. Garvey Avenue is one of its main east-west commercial streets. The details reported in 2010, a chase at high speed and a car crashing into a wall, suggest that whatever began the shooting may have happened somewhere else before the Honda reached Rosemead.
Hundreds of people are killed in Los Angeles County every year, and a large share of those killings end without an arrest.
No arrest, criminal charge or court case connected to the death of Alfred Louis Beserra could be found in news archives or public records. More than 15 years later, there is no public sign that anyone has been held responsible. Anyone who was on or near Garvey Avenue in Rosemead early on the morning of August 8, 2010, who saw a dark SUV or a pickup with a camper shell chasing a Honda Accord, or who knows where the two men had been that night, may hold information that matters. Even a small detail, such as a name overheard, a vehicle seen nearby or a conversation remembered, can help detectives move a case forward. Anyone with information can contact the Los Angeles County Sheriff's Department Homicide Bureau at 323-890-5500, or leave an anonymous tip with Crime Stoppers at 800-222-TIPS.
