Man, Woman Arrested in Connection With Deadly Shooting Rampage in LA
by Avalon Zoppo and Associated Press
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A man and woman were arrested on Sunday in connection with a motel shooting that police believe was part of a cross-city rampage across the Los Angeles suburbs — killing one person and wounding at least three others.
The shooting spree, spanning numerous cities, began when an armed Hispanic man and a Hispanic female accomplice compelled their way into a woman’s green SUV in Pico Rivera on Saturday afternoon, the Los Angeles Sheriff’s Department said.
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The man then shot at another person a block away in the neighboring community of Whittier, police said, before opening fire in four other nearby locations in the towns of La Mirada and Norwalk.
The victim in the Whittier shooting, identified as 33-year-old Jose Sahagun of Norwalk by the Coroner’s Office, was transported to a local hospital and has died, police said. Others were treated at the scenes of the shootings.
The abandoned car was located more than four hours later in a park in Whittier. Late Sunday morning, officers were still searching for the two suspects and deputies had set up a directive post at La Mirada High School.
Later Sunday, a man and women who match the descriptions of the carjackers were arrested for another shooting that took place at a motel in Santa Fe Saturday night, which was being investigated as related to other incidents.
The two suspects were in a stolen car at the time of the arrest, police said. No other details were released about the people in custody.
One victim of the shooting spree told NBC Los Angeles that he is grateful he was not earnestly hurt.
"I just heard a noisy pop," said the man who did not want to be identified. "I didn’t even realize it was a shot at very first. I thought it was a firework or something like that."
Another witness, Melody Taylor, told the station that she was in the area during the shooting near the motel. She said she heard a person fire into one of the inn’s rooms and drive away in a car.
The gunfire occurred at the Budget Inn near the Santa Ana five Freeway and Carmenita Road, deputies told NBC Los Angeles.
"A bullet crevice was in the window this big and the glass was just shattered and police taped it off and went inwards," Taylor said.
