The woman killed by a hit-and-run driver in Long Beach was identified Thursday as a 30-year-old from Wilmington.
Elyssa Negrete was crossing Pacific Avenue at Burnett Street when a car fatally struck her just before midnight Tuesday, according to Long Beach police and Los Angeles County coroner’s officials.
Negrete was taken to a hospital, where she succumbed to her injuries.
A man walking alongside Negrete in the crosswalk was also hit and critically injured.
Detectives say they’re still investigating whether that man, a 35-year-old Wilmington resident, knew Negrete or was simply near her at the time of the crash.
Police are still searching for the driver, but have yet to release a description of the person.
The vehicle involved is described as a white, possibly four-door car. Investigators are unsure of the model.
The car was last seen driving south on Pacific Avenue. Justin Kraut, who witnessed the crash, told KTLA the driver didn’t brake at all.
Negrete was the third pedestrian killed in a hit-and-run along Pacific Avenue in recent weeks, following the deaths of two Long Beach residents in separate incidents last month.
On May 15, 60-year-old Ricky Gonzalez was crossing Pacific Avenue at 16th Street when he was hit and killed around 8:25 p.m.
The motorist in that incident, a woman driving silver Volkwagen Jetta from the early 2000s, pulled over briefly but left before officers arrived, police said. She remains at large.
Five days later, 44-year-old Latonia Williams was crossing Pacific just above 25th Street — a block north of Tuesday’s crash — when she was struck.
The driver failed to stop, and Williams’ body was run over by other cars as it lay in the road, according to investigators.
Police have yet to release a description of the vehicle or motorist involved.
Earlier in May, 51-year-old Kenneth Mabray was being robbed along the 1900 block of Pacific Avenue, near 19th Street, when he was forced into the street and hit by a passing vehicle.
Mabray died at a hospital June 3, nearly a month after the crash. Three men and a woman are facing robbery and murder charges in connection with his death.
Anyone with information on the hit-and-runs can contact Detective David Whelan at 562-570-7355, or submit an anonymous tip via 800-222-8477.
