Police seek link between death of men sleeping outside in Los Angeles, Santa Monica

By Ryan Fonseca and Matt Tinoco

The Santa Monica police are working with the Los Angeles Police Department to see if there is a link between the apparent death of a man found on the beach and three brutal attacks on homeless men last weekend in downtown L.A. In the downtown attacks, two of the victims are dead of their wounds.

Police said the suspect in the weekend attacks had used a baseball bat before stealing them. The LAPD published images of the suspect, presumably in his thirties or forties, with a noticeable "bow-legged" gait. Two of the victims were found in block 700 Wilshire Boulevard, the third near the 5th street between Flower Street and Figueroa.

On Thursday morning, a maintenance officer from the city of Santa Monica found a man under the famous wharf. The victim is described as a man in his thirties. Police say they "suffered an injury consistent with blunt trauma in the head. "

According to Lieutenant Saul Rodriguez of the Santa Monica Police Department, no weapons were found and the investigators have no information about the attacker. The man reportedly slept while allegedly attacked and initially described by the police as homeless. His family told L.A. Times on Friday that he was living in San Gabriel and had slept on the beach after an overnight fishing trip.

Friday morning, no link had been established in the attacks, according to LAPD spokesman Rosario Herrera, but the investigation continues.

In 2016, about 8% of people who died while they were homeless were killed by another person, according to data from the Los Angeles County Medical Examiner's Office. It is estimated that the unprotected inhabitants of Los Angeles County represent less than 1% of the population.

According to a report by L.A. County, 831 homeless people died in 2017. This represents an 80% increase in the number of homeless people who have died since 2013. Accidents were the most common cause, such as car accidents, drug overdoses or fires. This has been closely followed by "natural causes", although in many of these cases the root cause may have been a preventable medical condition.

"Living in the streets is a very dangerous situation," said Abby Arnold, a local homelessness policy consultant who has been working in the field for 25 years. "You do not have a house around you, you have no door that you can lock."

While people who can go home at night and turn around deadlock can worry a lot about crime, Arnold says the most vulnerable people are the most vulnerable.

"People have no choice but to sleep on the street or outside, in a place as safe as they can find, and they are brutally attacked while they sleep," she said.

UPDATES:

16h45: This article has updated with additional context on Abby Arnold 's homicide rates and quotes.

7:32 p.m.: This article has been updated with information from L.A. Times.

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