Man Charged In Gardena Crime Spree Which Left 2 Dead, 3 Wounded
TORRANCE (CBSLA) – A man who shot and killed two people and wounded three others, including his pregnant ex-girlfriend, in a crime spree that spanned Gardena and Lynwood Tuesday is facing murder charges.
Selvin Salazar, 25, was captured Wednesday in Inglewood and is set to be arraigned Friday in Torrance on two counts of murder, three counts of attempted murder and one count each of carjacking, kidnapping, dissuading a witness by force or threat and possession of a firearm by a felon.
The initial shooting occurred at a Gardena mobile home park at around 4 a.m. Tuesday in the 1200 block of West 135th St.
According to the Los Angeles County Sheriff's Department, Salazar was visiting friends there when he got upset and opened fire, shooting his 23-year-old pregnant ex-girlfriend and three other people.
Officers arrived to find 28-year-old Delores Sanchez, a friend of Salazar's ex-girlfriend, dead at the scene.
The three other victims were rushed to a hospital with critical injuries. Authorities reported that Salazar's girlfriend and her unborn baby are expected to survive. A 28-year-old man was last reported in serious condition. A 24-year-old woman was treated and released for minor injuries.
After the shooting, Salazar forced a married couple to drive him from the scene in their vehicle, a black Kia Soul, officials said. When they reached Lynwood, the suspect allegedly fatally shot the husband, identified as 29-year-old Francisco Montes of Gardena, who was driving the SUV, and dragged him out of the vehicle on the Martin Luther King Jr. Boulevard on-ramp to the southbound 710 Freeway.
The suspect tried to shoot the dead man's wife, but his gun apparently jammed, said Sheriff's Lt. John Corina.
"She's very lucky to be alive, actually," Corina said.
Salazar, frustrated at his malfunctioning weapon, fled in the couple's SUV, leaving the wife behind with her dead husband, according to Corina.
A weapon believed to have been used in the shootings was recovered at the freeway on-ramp, the sheriff's department reported.
Salazar and Montes both belong to the same gang, Corina told reporters.
Salazar was located about 5 p.m. Wednesday in the 4100 block of Century Boulevard, near Prairie Avenue, in Inglewood.
He has remained jailed without bail since then.
(© Copyright 2018 CBS Broadcasting Inc. All Rights Reserved. City News Service contributed to this report.)