Los Angeles Legendary Sleuth

Little Black chuckled, "Raymond, when did you switch careers to become a forensic doctor?"

The charred and smoke-stained corpse was blackened, marred by numerous wounds, and coupled with the ghastly car accident scene, it was difficult to discern the specific cause of death at first glance.

Raymond walked over to the body, pointing at the wound on the chest, "The deceased has an irregular wound spanning two to three centimeters on the chest. If I'm not mistaken, there must be more significant damage to the chest cavity, with a larger exit wound on the back.

It must be a through-and-through injury from a high-caliber bullet."

Jackson summarized, "So you're suggesting, the driver was shot with a high-caliber bullet, and subsequently, the vehicle spiraled out of control into the opposite lane, resulting in a larger traffic accident."

Without responding, Raymond donned gloves and walked to the charred car, meticulously inspecting the back seat of the driver's compartment, retrieving a bullet head from the rear of the car.

"It's a 7.62 mm rifle bullet, with an effective range of about 800 meters." Raymond's gaze swept the surroundings, pointing to a building to the south, "If I were the shooter, I would choose to fire from up there with a sniper rifle—high ground, good visibility, and also a convenient escape route."

Raymond was proficient in firearms, spending most of his time at the shooting range; Luke trusted his analysis quite a bit.

Next, Luke began assigning tasks, "Marcus, take statements from pedestrians in the area, inquire about what happened at the time of the accident.

Port, check the dash cam footage from the vehicles involved in the accident, look for video of the collision.

Jackson, contact the hospital to check on the conditions of the injured victims.

Raymond, Jenny, you're in charge of searching for the shooter's trail."

Inside the vehicle, Luke found a driver's license which seemed to belong to the deceased.

Name, Balte Ramos

Gender, Male

Height, 183 cm

Weight, 160 pounds

Hair color, Blonde

Date of Birth, March 16, 1982

License plate number, 3lKb548

Luke compared the physical characteristics of the deceased. There were burn marks on the body, but not severe, and the face was blackened by smoke, yet the features were unaffected.

The facial features, height, hair color, and body type matched; the identity of the deceased could be basically confirmed.

The forensic team and surveyors also arrived at the scene.

Three severely damaged vehicles were engulfed in flames, the scene was chaotic, and the bloodied bullet that Raymond found meant that the survey team also struggled to find valuable clues for the time being.

The forensic doctors did make a discovery, just like Raymond had speculated—the deceased indeed had been hit by a bullet in the chest cavity, leading to organ damage and excessive blood loss, which resulted in death.

Luke gathered the team members to compile the clues.

The bystanders' descriptions matched those given by the patrol officers earlier; they only witnessed the offending vehicle losing control and colliding with other vehicles on the opposite side of the lane.

But no one noticed gunshots being fired, nor did anyone hear gunfire.

Additionally, the offending vehicle did not have a dash cam, but dash cams from other vehicles captured the collision. In one, the windshield of the vehicle at fault was already broken as it crashed into the opposite lane, which confirmed the theory that the driver had been shot before the accident occurred.

After summarizing all the clues, Luke leaned more toward Raymond's speculation. Since the people around did not hear any gunshots, it meant that the shooter was at a considerable distance, and because there were cars in front of and around the vehicle in question, the shooter couldn't have fired from ground level and must have been at a higher vantage point.

Luke scanned the surroundings; the building previously mentioned by Raymond indeed seemed like the most suitable location for the shooter.

Marcus and Jackson stayed at the scene of the crime, while Luke took Port and patrol officers to the south side building to meet up with Raymond and search for the shooter's vantage point.

If the shooter was at long range, it means that the shooter most probably never visited the scene and, apart from the bullet head, it would be difficult to find clues related to the shooter at the scene of the accident.

The shooter's vantage point, however, would have more traces of the shooter, making it the real 'murder scene.'

Patuo Apartment.

This was a seven-story apartment building.

Luke took the elevator to meet up with Raymond and others on the sixth floor.

"Raymond, any discoveries?"

"Captain, come over here." Raymond led Luke to the window in the corridor, pointing to the highway on the north side, "From here you can clearly see the car accident scene.

Visibility below the fifth floor would be obstructed, therefore, the shooter must have fired from the sixth or seventh floor.

I've checked the windows in the corridors of both the sixth and seventh floors, but didn't find traces of the shooter's firing.

Based on my experience, given that the vehicle was traveling at high speed at the time, shooting is immensely difficult and demands a lot from both the shooting environment and the shooter.

This shooter is likely a professional killer; it's unlikely he'd choose a corridor as his firing position, he would look for a safer and quieter environment."

Luke speculated, "You suspect the shooter fired from inside an apartment room?"

"Yes, Jenny has already been conducting a routine search of the apartment building with the patrol officers—she's covering the seventh floor, and I'm taking the sixth floor."

"Very well," Luke thought for a moment then said, "Port, you take some people to find the building management and check the surveillance footage for the apartment complex to see if there are any suspicious individuals that might be the shooter.

I'll go up to the seventh floor to have a look."

"Yes, sir."

...

Patuo Apartment seventh floor.

In addition to Jenny, there were three patrol officers—while one accompanied Jenny in the search, the other two were in charge of keeping watch.

"Knock, knock."

Jenny knocked on the door of apartment 703.

A woman's voice answered from inside, "Who is it?"

Jenny flashed her badge, "I'm with the Los Angeles Police."