A close friend of rising LA singing star Maria “Dela” De La Rosa says the 22-year-old “protected his life” the night she was gunned down — telling her “brother from another mother” not to tag along before an alleged robbery went horribly wrong in Northridge on Nov. 22.
Ethan Clemons, 21, known as “Thanos” on the Ray J–hosted dating show Love Cabin, was with De La Rosa just before she got into an Escalade with two friends and headed to a “low-income” area near the projects to meet someone.
“I was with her that night, before everything happened,” Clemons told The Post. “I was supposed to go with her, but she told me to stay home,” he said. “She protected my life that night — without even knowing it.”
Clemons was at her house when she told him, “I don’t want you going there, I don’t want you caught up in anything.” De La Rosa knew where she was going was a more “dangerous place,” strictly because it was a “lower-income” area near the “projects,” Clemons said.
“If you’re not from a project you’re going to stick out like a sore thumb,” Clemons added.
What was supposed to be a quick stop to meet another friend — or pick her up — turned into a 15-minute pull-over near Bryant Street east of Tampa Avenue, Clemons said.
That’s when witnesses saw two men walk up to the car around 1:25 a.m., the LAPD said.
The driver of the Escalade, a man, and De La Rosa’s other friend, a woman, were in the back seat, according to Clemons. “They were trying to rob the man, and they weren’t able to,” Clemons said.
That’s when De La Rosa tried to duck for cover by climbing from the passenger seat into the back seat. The suspects fired five rounds into the car toward the driver, ultimately striking De La Rosa in the torso — entering one side and exiting the other — and hitting vital organs, Clemons said.
“I really don’t think anyone was supposed to get hit with bullets,” Clemons said. “She was just going to go meet her friend, and I think maybe some of the wrong people heard of her coming,” he told The Post, saying the driver was also known to have money.
“She was in the wrong place at the wrong time. And I told her this: even if you do have friends in certain areas, you don’t always need to meet them in those areas,” Clemons said.
De La Rosa’s friends who were in the car were uninjured, according to Clemons. “It’s very unfortunate, but I believe everything happens for a reason. Not saying she should have died, but she is an angel now and a lot of people will learn from this. We can’t take life for granted,” Clemons told The Post.
Both Clemons and De La Rosa were artists who respected each other’s work. In one of her last Instagram posts, De La Rosa tagged Clemons and wrote: “From us being little kids, to young adults! Wanted to take the time to congratulate my brother from another mother for his success on Love Cabin! Many more blessings to come, so proud of you.”
Comments on her social media page suggested the shooting was gang-related and accused her of throwing up MS-13 gang signs, but Clemons said this couldn’t be further from the truth.
“She was definitely not MS-13, she never used gang signs,” Clemons said. “She was very polite and well spoken,” he said, adding that while she was half Mexican, she mainly identified with her Colombian side of the family.
Clemons said De La Rosa wasn’t involved with gangs or drugs. Her passion was making music — she spent most of her time in the studio or at home writing.
De La Rosa released “No Me Llames” (“Don’t Call Me”) this past August and was set to release “some really big stuff,” Clemons said. “It’s just sad that she can’t.”
Services for De La Rosa will be held Tuesday at 12 p.m. at the San Fernando Mission Cemetery in Mission Hills, and will be open to the public.
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