Police are seeking a tan GMC SUV after the Feb. 15 collision that killed 50-year-old Javier Tamayo in Manchester Square.
LOS ANGELES, CA— A deadly hit-and-run in the Manchester Square area of South Los Angeles is drawing renewed attention after witnesses said the victim was hit a second time before the driver fled, leaving 50-year-old Javier Tamayo dead in the street.
The case has become a fresh test for investigators trying to identify a driver who police say left the scene without stopping, giving aid or identifying themselves. The Los Angeles Police Department has released video and a vehicle description and is seeking help locating a tan GMC SUV. At the center of the case is a gap between what police have publicly confirmed and what witnesses told local television: that Tamayo was not only hit once, but struck again as the SUV sped off.
Police said the collision happened about 9:30 p.m. on Sunday, Feb. 15, near Western Avenue and 82nd Street in Manchester Square. According to the LAPD, Tamayo was in a crosswalk when he was hit. Los Angeles Fire Department paramedics responded and pronounced him dead at the scene. Two days later, on Feb. 17, the department publicly identified him as Javier Tamayo, a Los Angeles resident, and said detectives with the South Traffic Division had taken over the investigation. In a report aired weeks later, witnesses who spoke to CBS Los Angeles described a more disturbing sequence. They said the SUV struck Tamayo, then hit him again before leaving the area. The station also reported witness accounts placing the impact in the 1700 block of Florence Avenue, while the LAPD release lists the location as Western and 82nd. Police have not publicly explained that discrepancy.
What investigators have released with certainty is a narrow but important set of facts. They believe the suspect vehicle is a tan GMC SUV with LED lights on the running boards. The SUV was last seen traveling eastbound on 81st Street from Western Avenue, according to police. The driver, the LAPD said, did not stop to identify themselves or render aid, which California law requires after a crash causing injury or death. So far, police have not publicly named a suspect, announced an arrest or said whether the driver was being sought on suspicion of felony hit-and-run, vehicular manslaughter or any other charge. The department also has not publicly said how fast the SUV was moving, whether traffic signals or street lighting played a role, or whether alcohol, drugs or distraction are suspected. The witness claim that Tamayo was intentionally struck a second time remains one of the most serious unanswered points in the case.
The killing happened in Manchester Square, a South Los Angeles neighborhood bordered in part by Florence Avenue, Manchester Avenue and Western Avenue, an area where wide arterial streets carry steady traffic through residential blocks and local commercial corners. The official location named by police sits near the western edge of the neighborhood. That setting matters because fatal pedestrian crashes in Los Angeles often unfold on major surface streets where people on foot must cross multiple lanes of traffic, sometimes at night and sometimes far from the kind of street design that forces drivers to slow down. In this case, police have said Tamayo was inside a crosswalk, a detail that sharpens the focus on the driver’s actions rather than on any suggestion that he stepped unexpectedly into traffic. The witness account of a second strike, if borne out by video or forensic evidence, would push the case beyond a routine fatal collision and toward a far more severe reading of what happened in the seconds after first impact.
The legal path ahead will depend on what detectives can prove from surveillance video, witness statements, vehicle evidence and any future identification of the driver. In its public release, the LAPD said the South Traffic Division is investigating the collision and circulated video in hopes someone would recognize the SUV. The city also tied the case to its standing Hit-and-Run Reward Program, which allows for a reward of up to $50,000 for information leading to the identification, apprehension and conviction of the offender, or to a resolution through civil compromise. That reward system was created by Los Angeles city law in 2015 as part of a broader effort to address the city’s long-running hit-and-run problem. As of Thursday, March 19, no arrest had been publicly announced. Police also had not released any court date, charging document or briefing schedule tied to the case. The next milestone is likely to come when detectives identify the SUV owner or driver, or when prosecutors decide whether the evidence supports criminal charges.
Even with the public appeal and the vehicle description, the story remains defined by a handful of stark images: a man in a crosswalk, a tan SUV moving through a South Los Angeles intersection at night, and witnesses left to describe a death investigators are still trying to piece together. The CBS Los Angeles report gave the case a sharper emotional edge by focusing on what bystanders said they saw in real time. Their account suggested not just a fleeing driver, but a victim run over twice. Police have not publicly repeated that claim, and that caution is significant. It suggests detectives are either still reviewing footage and physical evidence or are limiting what they say while the case remains open. For Tamayo’s family and for neighbors in the area, the result is a familiar form of uncertainty: they know who was killed, roughly when and where it happened, and what kind of vehicle police are hunting, but they still do not know who was behind the wheel or whether the second impact was accidental, reckless or deliberate.
The case stood unresolved Thursday, with detectives still looking for the tan GMC SUV and any evidence that could identify the driver. The next clear turn is likely to come when police announce a person of interest, release additional video or present the case to prosecutors for filing decisions.
Author note: Last updated March 19, 2026.