Crowd-funding website garners donations for gardener injured in Burbank shooting

Local residents have raised nearly $700 for a 33-year-old gardener who was wounded last week in a double shooting in a Burbank neighborhood.

Martin Hernandez was raking and picking up trash outside of a Burbank home where he’s worked for several years when he heard the sound of a gunshot a few houses down.

He later found out that a resident was shot multiple times in his abdomen outside his home.

Shortly after, the shooter drove up next to Hernandez in a silver, four-door sedan and yelled out a profanity while brandishing his weapon.

When Hernandez saw the gun, he ran. That’s when the suspect fired one shot, striking Hernandez in his left foot, he and his wife said Tuesday.

The shooter fled the scene and remains at large.

Police are still working to determine a motive and identify the suspect. Detectives were told that the suspect was playing music in his car before the shooting occurred and are investigating whether that was a factor in what followed.

Upon hearing the news, longtime Burbank resident Rochelle Thielen and her neighbors set up an online crowd-funding campaign for Hernandez’s family, who at the time were strangers.

“Gardeners are such a part of the fabric of the community,” Thielen said. “These guys many times live paycheck to paycheck, and may or may not have benefits … It’s our obligation to help them out.”

They’ve since been in touch, and the victim’s 28-year-old wife, Dennise Hernandez, is grateful for the community support, referring to Thielen as her “guardian angel.”

Martin Hernandez, who doesn’t have health insurance, is out of work due to his injuries and will need surgery, according to his wife. Meanwhile, she has put her baby-sitting job on hold to care for her husband and their four children.

“I had to break our piggy bank to put gas in the car,” Dennise Hernandez said Tuesday morning, with her four kids in tow, outside of a hospital where her husband was waiting to see a doctor.

The children had the day off after a bomb threat — which appears to have been a hoax — prompted school closures in Los Angeles.

The day before the shooting, the family had picked out a Christmas tree, which she said remains in its packaging.

“Why would I want a Christmas tree if there’s not going to be presents under it?” she asked, adding that she tried to return it for the extra cash, to no avail. “My main concern is food on my table, my main concern is rent paid, my bills paid, and clothing on my kids’ backs.”

Anyone with information about the shooting is asked to call Burbank police at (818) 238-3210.

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Alene Tchekmedyian, alene.tchekmedyian@latimes.com

Twitter: @atchek