Police Investigate Pasadena Christmas Crash

Investigators hope to determine whether a loaded gun thrown from a sport utility vehicle that crashed into a van during a chase in Pasadena, killing two people, was used in a vehicle-to-vehicle shooting that left a sheriff's department employee dead earlier in the day.

Victor McClinton, 49, a father of two and a neighborhood athletics coach, was gunned down at Newport Avenue and Wyoming Street in Pasadena around 11 a.m. on Christmas Day, said Pasadena Deputy Police Chief Darryl Qualls.

Police said McClinton, who worked as a law enforcement technician, was caught in the line of fire in a car-to-car shooting. He was walking a holiday well-wisher and fellow coach to his car when he was shot, according to the Los Angeles Times.

Officers called to reports of gunfire found a car had crashed into a light pole. The driver, later identified as Damion Taylor, 24, a Pasadena resident, had sustained a gunshot wound.

Taylor, who police called a known gang associate with no connection to McClinton, was taken to a hospital for treatment of a non-life-threatening wound, police said.   

McClinton, a Brotherhood Crusade volunteer who was hailed as an "exemplary employee" by sheriff's spokesman Steve Whitmore, was found down on the sidewalk north of the collision scene. He was taken to a hospital, where he was pronounced dead, police said.

Nine hours later, according to Qualls, a Pasadena police gang investigator and an FBI agent had joined forces to conduct "joint gang enforcement" as a result of the death. They were working to find McClinton's killer when they saw a silver Dodge Durango with four people inside roll a stop sign near Claremont Street and Marengo Avenue, not far from the cordoned-off blocks that were still being combed for clues, according to police.

They tried to stop the SUV, but it drove off. The chase lasted about 30 seconds, and the SUV smashed into a van turning onto a Foothill (210) Freeway ramp from Marengo Avenue.

Killed on impact were van passengers Tracey Ong Tan, 26, of Glendale, and Kendrick Ng, her 11-year-old cousin from Daly City, according to police and the Los Angeles County coroner's office.

Three of Tan's relatives were injured: Kenric Ng, 49; Irene Ng, 52; and a 16-year-old girl, all of San Francisco-adjacent Daly City.

"We have an innocent family that was going about their business on a special day at a special time of year," said Pasadena police chief Philip Sanchez.

A loaded gun was thrown from the SUV during the chase and later recovered, police said.

The driver of the SUV was named Wednesday by police as Darryl Williams, 22, of Pasadena. He was booked on suspicion of murder, police said.

Police had earlier said the SUV was suspected to have been connected to the murder.

Police have not directly linked Williams and the other three people arrested in the SUV to McClinton's death, but investigators were checking the gun to see if it was used in the shooting, said Pasadena police Lt. Pete Hettema. They were also checking if the gun was used in a string of around 10 recent shootings in the area of Altadena and Pasadena that were being investigating by police and the sheriff's department, he said.

The others in the SUV were identified as Jada Mays, 18, and Demauria Hanna, 22, both from Pasadena, and Brittany Washington, 21, of Los Angeles.