December 6, 2023 – On Thursday, Nov. 30, medical examiners at the Department of Medical Examiner (DME) noticed a trend of recent cases in which unhoused individuals sleeping on the sidewalk were approached and shot. All three deaths were under the jurisdiction of the Los Angeles Police Department (LAPD) but involved two separate homicide bureaus.
A DME medical examiner reported the similarities to the two homicide bureaus to advise them of the potential pattern which was immediately acted on by LAPD and an arrest was made the following day.
“I am proud of the work my staff did to aid the justice system in apprehending a suspect who likely had intentions to do more harm to such a vulnerable population,” Chief Medical Examiner Dr. Odey Ukpo said. “We serve the entire county and have a broader view on trends that may be happening within the communities we serve. We also have the unique ability to bring together law enforcement agencies that may not be aware of similarities of cases in the respective jurisdictions. Recognizing the parallels in these cases helped protect our communities from further harm and I am pleased with the due diligence the Department showed in this matter.”
The DME is an unbiased and independent investigative agency, unattached to any law enforcement agency, that annually performs medicolegal death investigation of over 13,000 cases involving certain types of deaths in the community – any suspected homicide, suicide, or accidental deaths – to determine the circumstances, manner and cause of death. These also include any natural death were there either is no physician to sign a death certificate, or the physician is unwilling or legally prohibited from doing so.
(The medical examiner case numbers associated with this release are: 2023-16365, 2023-16392, and 2023-16553.)
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