Orange County Sheriff's Department cruiser.
Orange County Sheriff’s Department cruiser.

Authorities released the name Wednesday of a 28-year-old man who was shot to death by an unidentified assailant this week outside Valley Center Library.

Deputies responding to a report of a two men fighting found Escondido resident Jose Manuel Ortiz mortally wounded inside a parked car in the 29200 block of Cole Grade Road shortly after 7 a.m. Monday, according to sheriff’s officials. The victim died at the scene.

The unidentified shooter, thought to be in his mid-20s, fled in an older-model white car with a black driver’s-side door, said Lt. Greg Rylaarsdam.

Witnesses said several other people were in the vehicle along with the assailant, the lieutenant said.

— City News Service