LOS ANGELES — A 33-year-old suspect, Jerrid Joseph Powell, has been charged with the killings of three Los Angeles homeless men and a San Dimas, California resident. Los Angeles County District Attorney George Gascón announced that Powell faces four counts of murder, one count of residential robbery, and one count of being a felon with a firearm. Additionally, he faces special circumstances of committing multiple murders and murder in the course of a robbery, as well as personal use of a firearm allegations. If convicted of all charges, Powell faces a potential sentence of life in prison without the possibility of parole.
Powell was already in custody for the killing of a San Dimas man during a follow-home robbery last week, when investigators connected him to the murders of the three unhoused men who were shot while sleeping alone on a sidewalk or alley. In the San Dimas killing, he is accused of following 42-year-old Nicholas Simbolon from a charging station and then robbing and fatally shooting him at his home. Powell was arrested after Beverly Hills police used an automated license-plate scanner to spot his vehicle, which was already subject to a law-enforcement alert. A handgun recovered from Powell’s vehicle was the same weapon used in the three homeless killings, according to LAPD Chief Michel Moore.
The first homeless killing occurred around 3 a.m. Sunday, followed by another at about 5 a.m. Monday and another at 2:30 p.m. Wednesday. The victim in Sunday’s shooting was Jose Bolanos, 37; on Monday, it was 62-year-old Mark Diggs, and Wednesday’s shooting victim was a 52-year-old man, whose name was being withheld pending notification of relatives. Simbolon was found by his wife inside his Tesla in the garage of the home, suffering from a gunshot to the upper body, and was pronounced dead at the scene by paramedics.
Powell made a brief appearance in court, and at his public defender’s request, his initial arraignment was rescheduled to Jan. 8. He will remain held in jail on no bail. The sheriff said there was no known connection among the four killings, and no known relationship between Powell and Simbolon.