By Lookout Staff

March 5, 2021 -- A 19-year-old Hispanic man faces charges for shooting a woman in the face on the beach in Ocean Park last November.

Alexander Cogco (Photo Courtesy SMPD)

The Los Angeles County District Attorney’s Office last Friday charged Alexander Cogco with assault with a semi-automatic firearm and battery with serious bodily injury, police said. Cogco was among one of two groups involved in a "heated argument" near the intersection of Bay Street and Ocean Front Walk shortly before midnight on November 3, police said. The victim and her boyfriend came between the groups as they walked back to their parked vehicle, said Lt. Rudy Flores.

"As the couple entered their car, they heard multiple gunshots," Flores said. "One of the rounds fired went through the victim’s vehicle and struck the female."

The two parties fled the area before police arrived, he said.

The victim survived but "required surgery to remove bullet fragments from around her eye area," Flores said.

Santa Monica Police Detectives with the Criminal Investigations Division (CID) identified Cogco as the shooter.

He was already in custody at the Los Angeles County Men’s Central Jail on an unrelated case, Flores said.

Cogco remains in custody pending future court proceedings.

Anyone with additional information related to this incident should call the Criminal Investigations Division (CID) at (310) 458-8451 or the Watch Commander’s office at (310) 458-2249.