An errant hunt for a hospital in South L.A. ended in tragedy Sunday as a shooting victim died in the back of a car as his friends tried to summon help.

The man was behind the wheel with his friends in the vehicle when someone opened fire at 115th Street and Vermont Avenue about 1:15 a.m., said Sgt Shannon Hale. The driver was hit.

His buddies moved him to the back, rendered aid and tried to drive to a hospital. They even …

… broke a glass door at a gas station at 154th Street and Crenshaw Boulevard in an attempt to get the clerk to call 911.

At the point the man was already dead, sheriff's officials said.

The victim, who had yet to be identified, took a bullet to the head.

Authorities said the survivors' description of how the shooting went down was confusing and that they were still trying to get to the bottom of the attack.

South L.A. is notoriously bereft of medical services. Martin Luther King, Jr. Hospital in Willowbrook is slated to reopen in 2013.

-With reporting from City News Service. Got news? Email us. Follow us on Twitter, too: @dennisjromero.

Advertising disclosure: We may receive compensation for some of the links in our stories. Thank you for supporting LA Weekly and our advertisers.