LOCAL : Car Owner Shot to Death While on Test Drive; Police Seeking 2 Men

Police are looking for two men believed involved in the shooting death of a North Hollywood man whose body was found on the street half an hour after he took the men on a test drive in a sports car he was selling, authorities said today.

Richard Ronald Davis, 19, was found shot to death in the 6600 block of Teesdale Avenue about 9:30 p.m. Sunday, Detective Mike Coffey said. A resident of the street returning home found the body lying near a curb, he said. Minutes earlier other neighbors heard several popping sounds but were unaware it was gunfire.

Coffey said Davis’ 1973 Datsun 240Z was taken.

“It’s kind of hard to figure,” Coffey said. “The only object of a robbery seems to have been the car. But how much could the car be worth? It would have been a lot simpler to rip one off the street with no one in it.”

Davis’ mother told investigators that her son had advertised the car for $2,000 in a regional auto sales magazine. Earlier Sunday, Davis had received a call from a man police believe may have been one of the suspects and the appointment for the test drive was set for later that evening.