Man due in court in fatal car-to-car shooting in Hawthorne

A Gardena man is expected to be charged with murder Friday in the fatal Hawthorne shooting of the boyfriend of a woman he used to have a relationship with, authorities said.

Los Angeles County Sheriff’s investigators arrested Dante’ Bay McNeil, 22, Wednesday afternoon in the fatal shooting of 31-year-old Azzaam Stallsworth, who CBS2 reported was driving behind a South Bay church, with his girlfriend in the passenger seat, when he was shot.

The shooting occurred shortly after 2 a.m. in an alley in the 12600 block of Prairie Avenue in Hawthorne as Stallsworth drove down the alley.

That’s when McNeil drove next to Stallsworth’s vehicle, “produced a handgun” and opened fire, the sheriff’s department said in a news release.

Stallsworth drove forward several feet before crashing into a wrought iron gate and coming to a stop, sheriff’s officials said.

McNeil is being held in lieu of $1 million bail and is due in court Friday.

In the three previous homicides in Hawthorne over the last 12 months, the victims were either stabbed or beaten to death, according to the L.A. Times Homicide Report.

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