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The man believed to have "savagely attacked" and robbed homeless men while they were sleeping in Los Angeles and Santa Monica, California, is a criminal who has been deported six times, local and federal officials said Tuesday.
Ramon Escobar, 47, from El Salvador, was arrested Monday morning in Santa Monica and was involved in seven attacks that left three people dead and four seriously injured, Captain William Hayes of the Los Angeles Police Department. Homicide Division told a press conference Tuesday. Police said that Escobar was also a person of interest in the disappearance of both his parents in Houston.
"He's a violent predator," Hayes said, referring to Escobar. "He attacks innocent people. … In most cases, the victims were asleep and he climbed up and did it.
Escobar is being held without bail and will be prosecuted on Wednesday, Hayes said, adding that investigators were looking for murder and attempted murder charges. It is not clear if Escobar, who has not given any public comment, has a lawyer.
Before coming to California several weeks ago, Escobar was living in Houston where authorities were investigating the disappearance of his aunt and uncle, KTRK reported. Hayes said Escobar reportedly fled Houston last month after being questioned by police about his missing loved ones, driving more than 1,500 miles to Los Angeles in his 2004 Honda CRV black. Authorities believe that he arrived on September 5th.
Three days later, a homeless man was "violently assaulted" in Santa Monica while he was sleeping on the beach, said Captain Wendell Shirley, head of the Criminal Investigation Division of the Santa Monica Police Department. , at the press conference. The coastal town is about a 20-minute drive west of Los Angeles.
The man survived, but had no memory of what had happened, Shirley said.
On September 10, the Santa Monica police were again called on the same stretch of beach and discovered a strangely similar scene. Another sleeping homeless man was attacked and was also wounded in the head, said Shirley. The man remains in a coma, he said.
But just as the attacks seemed to have stopped, the unidentified assailant hit again. On September 16, three homeless men sleeping outside the downtown Los Angeles buildings were assaulted in the same brutal manner, Hayes said. Two men died from their wounds and the third remains in critical condition, he said.
Surveillance footage of the man suspected in the Los Angeles attacks. (YouTube / Los Angeles Police Department)
This time, the attacks were captured on a surveillance video – the first and only "viable track," Hayes told a news conference. Press conference of September 17th. The videos showed that the weapon was a baseball bat and that the motive behind the attacks seemed to be theft, Hayes said.
After hitting [the men] many times, "said Hayes, the man, whom the police thought was himself homeless, was seen rummaging through the victims' personal belongings," trying to find valuables. "
The investigators then knew what the suspect looked like: a medium-sized Hispanic or white man with dark black hair, 30 to 40 years old. They also noticed that he was in the bow, a condition that led him to walk with a "distinctive gait," Hayes said.
Between the police who leaked Escobar's description and arrest, the attacker reportedly struck Santa Monica twice again. On September 20, Shirley said that a man had been beaten to death under the famous Santa Monica Pier. While the authorities initially identified the victim as homeless, he turned out to be a 39-year-old fisherman, Steven Ray Cruze Jr., whose family said he chose to sleep under the dock after a night of fishing, the San Diego Union-Tribune. reported.
Shortly before 7 am on Monday, another homeless man was found unconscious with head trauma, the police said.
While furrowing the area, Hayes told the press on Tuesday that an "astute" officer had noticed a man with a rifle leg that matched the suspect's description while walking down the street. This man was Escobar, who was quickly arrested, said Hayes. Monday's crime series also revealed a series of bolt cutters that the authorities consider the most recent weapon. Hayes said a search warrant executed for Escobar's car had revealed a wooden baseball bat related to the beatings in Los Angeles.
Escobar's connection with the missing people in Houston also appeared to California authorities Monday night, Hayes said. In one tweet On Tuesday morning, the Houston Police Service confirmed the arrest and wrote that his investigators "want to talk with" Escobar.
Rogelio Escobar, 65, was last seen on August 26, and his 60-year-old sister, Dina, reportedly disappeared a few days later after searching for her, KTRK reported. On September 2, Dina Escobar's 2007 white van, Chevrolet Uplander, was found abandoned on a beach in Galveston, Texas, according to the Houston Chronicle. He had been burned, reports the Chronicle.
Dina Escobar's daughter, Lia Salamanca, told KTRK on Tuesday: "It's very surreal."
"And of course, it scares me for what happened to my mother and uncle," said Salamanca.
Ramon Escobar has been arrested in Houston several times since the mid-1990s, the authorities said. He has spent five years in jail for burglary and has also been charged with assault and criminal trespass in separate cases, said Mr. Hayes.
During Tuesday's press conference in Los Angeles, Hayes described Escobar as a "previously expelled criminal," but noted that it still needed to be verified.
On Tuesday, the US Customs and Immigration Agency told the Washington Post that Escobar, a "Salvadoran citizen illegally present," was fired from the United States by a federal immigration judge in February 1988 and was transferred to El Salvador six. between 1997 and 2011. "Escobar has six convictions for burglary and illegal return, according to ICE.
After his most recent move, Escobar returned illegally to the country and appealed his immigration case in June 2016, according to ICE. The court allowed the appeal and ICE released Escobar last year.
Following the news of Escobar's arrest, ICE announced that he had lodged a complaint against him, which meant that they wanted to detain him "for an immigration revocation procedure" whenever another police service would release him.
While family members in Houston told the local media that Escobar may be suffering from a mental illness, Hayes refused to provide details, saying only: "These are violent crimes, nobody would do something so vicious, do not take away the criminal guilt.
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