Woman shot more than 10 times in the head in front of 4-year-old daughter

Police say a man shot his ex-girlfriend to death in front of their 4-year-old daughter and a 16-year-old friend in the parking lot of a fast-food restaurant Saturday night.

LaRosa Gonzalez, 24, was at the KFC-Taco Bell on Hunting Park Avenue near North Clarissa Street in the city's Tioga section to get some food and told her ex-boyfriend, Willie Scott, of her location by cell phone, Homicide Sgt. Bob Wilkins said.

About 8:42 p.m., as Gonzalez sat in the car with the estranged couple's daughter and a 16-year-old unidentified friend, Scott, 29, allegedly approached Gonzalez's vehicle and opened fire on her, according to police.

Gonzalez was shot more than 10 times in the head, neck and torso, Wilkins said. She was transported to Temple University Hospital, where she was pronounced dead at 8:52 p.m.

Both the teen and the 4-year-old child escaped unharmed, Wilkins said.

Scott, of North Philadelphia, turned himself in to authorities as they were searching the area, Wilkins said.

The motive for the shooting was an argument, Wilkins said, although he would not disclose the nature of the dispute.

Yesterday, broken glass littered the space where Gonzalez's car was parked. A tall, white candle in a glass jar marked the spot where her life was taken.

At her home on North 19th Street near West Ontario, a little more than a half-mile away from the scene of her death, at least a dozen police officers milled about her worn-down apartment building.

The row-house apartment building was boarded up in spots and the back appeared to be falling away, brick by brick.

Trash was stockpiled next to her building and a black cat lay dead on the sidewalk in front of house.

Neighbors said they had never seen or heard of Gonzalez. Two women were seen embracing and sobbing in the doorway to her apartment building. Police blocked reporters and other onlookers from gaining access to the area.

According to authorities, Scott was charged last night with murder, possessing instruments of a crime and related offenses.

Contrary to reports from other news outlets, Gonzalez was not pregnant at the time of her death.

Along with her 4-year-old daughter, she leaves behind an 8-year-old son who was not with her at the time of the shooting, Wilkins said. *