Los Angeles police are searching for a possible serial killer targeting homeless people sleeping alone at night after connecting three shootings this week to one suspect.
The killings occurred early in the mornings of Sunday, Nov. 26, Monday, Nov. 27 and Wednesday, Nov. 29.
In each case, a man approached a homeless person sleeping alone, shot them with a handgun, then fled in a two-door vehicle.
The killings were in the Westmont area in South Los Angeles, downtown L.A. and East L.A. just over the L.A. River from Elysian Park.
From LAPD’s headquarters on Friday, Dec. 1, L.A. Mayor Karen Bass issued a widespread alert to people living on the streets, urging them to seek out city shelters or to gather in groups to stay safe. She said homeless-service providers would fan out across the city to get as many people as they could in shelters.
“I want to be very clear about what we’re facing today — this is a killer preying on the unhoused,” Bass said. “Do not sleep alone tonight.
“Seek shelter, seek services, stay together,” the mayor said. “And we need your help to get the word out.”
Officials with the Los Angeles Homeless Services Authority said the agency was opening up its winter shelters and sending out service providers to areas where they know homeless people congregate to get as many people inside as possible while police search for the suspect.
LAPD Chief Michel Moore said his detectives had analyzed security-camera footage to identify one man who appeared at all three scenes.
The chief did not have a detailed description of the man, saying only he was spotted wearing a hooded sweater in all three locations. Police released photos of the man and his car but have not been able to identify the vehicle’s make and model.
LAPD said the first shooting on Nov. 26 occurred at 3:10 a.m. near 110th Street and Vermont Avenue in Westmont. Moore said the victim in that case, identified as 37-year-old Jose Bolanos, was sleeping on a couch behind a building when a man approached him, pulled out a gun and shot him to death.
The second shooting occurred the next morning. On Nov. 27 at 4:45 a.m., 62-year-old Mark Diggs was pushing a shopping cart in the Skid Row area of Downtown L.A. in the 600 block of Mateo Street. Diggs stopped when he found an electrical outlet, plugging in his phone to charge it. He leaned against a wall and fell asleep. Later, the suspect approached him and shot him to death.
In the third case, the victim has not been identified by name, but police said he was a 52-year-old man. He was sleeping on a sidewalk near Avenue 18 and Pasadena Avenue in East L.A. when the same suspect approached him and shot him to death.
Moore said the distance between all of the shooting scenes led LAPD to look citywide, and even outside the city, for other potential victims. The chief said detectives believe the suspect appeared to be targeting homeless people who were alone, not any living in encampments or in highly visible areas.
“Each of the areas were not frequented with high numbers of people experiencing homelessness,” he said. “They were isolated. They were by themselves.”
Moore said it was possible the suspect “could strike us in Hollywood, in the San Fernando Valley, on the Westside. There’s no framing of this.”
Still, Moore said. LAPD has reviewed other shootings that have occurred since Wednesday to see if they matched the same pattern as the other shootings, but none so far has been connected to the same suspect.
The chief said LAPD has asked nearby police agencies, including Glendale, Pasadena and Long Beach, to review shootings in their cities.
Martin Estrada, the U.S. Attorney for the Central District covering Los Angeles and Orange counties, appeared alongside Bass, Moore and other L.A. officials on Friday.
It wasn’t clear yet whether the suspect has violated any federal laws, Estrada said; murder cases are covered by state level charges. But Estrada said his office would be analyzing the killings and helping local police with their investigation.
“We’re continuing to look at whether federal statutes could be implicated in this — civil rights statutes, VICAR statutes,” Estrada said. “There’s various things that could be in play.”
VICAR stands for Violent Crimes in Aid of Racketeering Activity, a U.S. criminal code guiding federal prosecutors in cases of killings by suspects involved in organized crime.
Dr. Va Lecia Adams Kellum, the CEO of LAHSA, said her agency was activating their 211 system, which would open up motels and other locations generally reserved for winter shelter space to homeless people who request to move into them now.
She said both LAHSA and L.A. County Sheriff’s Department outreach teams would be seeking out homeless people all across the county, “particularly reaching out to individuals who are sleeping, living by themselves, solo,” to try to get them services and shelter.