Slaying Victim Found in Alley

CANOGA PARK —  A man was found shot to death Monday in a Canoga Park alley, police said.

A resident of the 6700 block of Mason Avenue was on his way to work at about 5:20 a.m. when he backed his car out of his driveway, “and there was this body laying there,” said Detective Rick Swanston of the Los Angeles Police Department’s West Valley station.

The dead man, identified as Edward Michael Garner, 21, of Canoga Park, had been shot several times in the head, Swanston said. Police suspect he may have been a robbery victim because his pockets were turned out and his wallet was missing when he was found.

The alley also was the subject of recent narcotics investigations, Swanston said.

Police thought Garner was killed sometime between midnight and 3 a.m., when neighbors said they heard several gunshots. No one called police, however, until the body was discovered by the commuter, Swanston said.