A 20-year-old Los Angeles man was arrested and charged with three murders, together with the killing of a mom and father who have been gunned down whereas they sat of their automotive with their 1-year-old son who was wounded however survived.
The Los Angeles Police Division arrested Dion Johnson on Monday in connection with three separate shootings. He was charged with the murders of 23-year-old Carlos Loera, 18-year-old Ashley Guzman and 17-year-old Joseph Saldaña, authorities introduced Thursday throughout a information convention with members of the victims’ households. Johnson was additionally charged with 5 counts of tried homicide in connection with 5 individuals who have been wounded throughout the shootings.
The mom and father of the wounded toddler, Guzman and Loera, have been killed Sept. 4 within the 1000 block of 253rd Avenue in Harbor Metropolis. When police arrived they discovered the couple’s son with a gunshot wound in a automotive seat. The kid’s automotive seat slowed down a bullet that ended up placing the boy, however he survived, stated LAPD Capt. Jamie Bennett.
A number of weeks later, Saldaña was shot and killed whereas visiting household within the 1200 block of North Park Western Drive in San Pedro on Sept. 30. He was standing outdoors a relative’s residence simply after midnight when he was shot, together with three different individuals who have been wounded.
Saldaña was killed a number of weeks earlier than his 18th birthday. He had been set to start out attending Cerritos Faculty, the place he wished to check engineering, based on his household. He was additionally set to start out his first job at Walmart.
“He was only a completely harmless child who stayed residence and performed video video games. He was a gamer,” his father, Joseph Saldaña Sr. stated whereas carrying a button with a photograph of his son beaming with a vivid smile.
“In each photograph, he simply radiated with that smile,” his godmother Monique Vasquez stated whereas carrying a locket with the youthful Saldaña’s ashes.
A 3rd capturing came about Oct. 2 in Wilmington, the place police say a 43-year-old man was shot and critically injured.
Murder investigators stated they have been capable of hyperlink all three shootings to Johnson and stated there could also be extra suspects. All of the shootings look like gang-related, Bennett stated, however investigators didn’t supply extra details about a motive. Johnson has a prison report in Las Vegas from a time earlier than he moved to Los Angeles, authorities stated, however they didn’t say during which a part of town he lived when he was arrested.
“A 17-year-old was murdered, you had a younger couple making an attempt to lift a household, who have been murdered and you’ve got a younger son who has to undergo his life now with out his dad and mom,” stated Los Angeles Deputy Dist. Atty. Bobby Grace. “And that is one thing that no person needs to see.”
Los Angeles Metropolis Councilman Tim McOsker stated the gunman “wreaked havoc” on the communities affected by the shootings over the span of only a few weeks.
“In the present day offers us a possibility to face up for the households and to face up for the subsequent era of those households and for generations of those households,” he stated.
Vanessa Guzman and her household wore T-shirts with Ashley Guzman’s smiling face. She and her mom, Nora Galvan, sobbed throughout the information convention whereas they sat subsequent to a child provider with a colourful blanket draped over Ashley Guzman’s and Carlos Loera’s baby.
Vanessa Guzman described her sister as a little bit of a joker, who giggled, danced round and made faces to cheer up somebody who was upset.
“She was just like the lifetime of the occasion,” Vanessa Guzman stated. “Now that she’s gone it simply feels very quiet.”