Army veteran slain in Lancaster had survived three tours of duty

A man shot to death in Lancaster was identified as Nathen Taylor, a 30-year-old Army veteran and father who survived three tours of duty in Iraq and Afghanistan.

Taylor was shot and killed Saturday as he sat in the driver's seat of a parked car in the 700 block of West Avenue H7, reported KTLA-TV.

As Taylor sat in the front seat, several men walked up to the car. One "fired several rounds," and the victim was "fatally shot in the upper torso," said L.A. County Sheriff's Deputy Guillermina Saldana.

He was taken to a local hospital, where he was later pronounced dead. No one else was in the car. 

Taylor’s friend and family told KTLA-TV that the former Army sergeant was a student at Antelope Valley College and was not involved in gangs.

"He didn't gang-bang or anything," said Jack Garcia, a family friend. "He was a role model."

"That's why I think it was a case of mistaken identity or something," Garcia added. "No one knows why."

Taylor had a fiancée and a 7-year-old daughter.

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— Stephen Ceasar and Kenneth R. Weiss

Photo: Nathen Taylor. Credit: KTLA-TV.