A man has been charged with four counts of murder for the fatal shootings of three homeless men in Los Angeles and a suburban resident last month, according to prosecutors. Jerrid Joseph Powell, 33, appeared in court on Monday with his attorney, Deputy Public Defender Carlos Bido, but did not enter a plea. His arraignment has been continued to January 8.
The Los Angeles County District Attorney’s Office stated that Powell has also been charged with one count of residential robbery and one count of being a felon with a firearm. Additionally, he faces special circumstances of committing multiple murders, murder in the course of a robbery, and personal use of a firearm allegations.
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Powell was initially arrested as a suspect in a deadly shooting during a robbery in the community of San Dimas. Authorities later identified him as the suspect in the killings of the three homeless men when a firearm found in his car was linked to those shootings.
Los Angeles Police Chief Michel Moore stated during a press conference that the motive for the killings of the homeless victims is not known.
The victims have been identified as Jose Bolanos, 37, who was found dead with a gunshot wound in an alley in South Los Angeles; Mark Diggs, 62, who was shot and killed while pushing a shopping cart near downtown; and an unidentified 52-year-old man whose body was found in the Lincoln Heights area. Another victim, Nicholas Simbolon, 42, was shot dead at his home in San Dimas.
If convicted on all charges, Powell faces life in prison without the possibility of parole.
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Los Angeles County, which has a population of about 10 million people, is home to more than one in five of the nation’s homeless people. According to a 2022 federal tally, over 75,000 people were homeless across the county on any given night.
Advocates for homeless people emphasize that those living on the streets are more likely to be victims of violence than the perpetrators.
In a separate incident, five homeless people were shot in Las Vegas on Friday, with one fatality. However, Las Vegas police have ruled out any correlation between those shootings and the ones in Los Angeles.
This is not the first time that homeless individuals have been targeted in violent crimes in California. In Orange County, a man was charged with killing four homeless men in a series of stabbings from late 2011 to early 2012. The suspect died awaiting trial.
