Suspected Los Angeles Serial Killer Charged with Murders of Four Homeless People
A suspected Los Angeles serial killer has been charged with the murders of four homeless people and denied bail in his first court appearance.
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Jerrid Joseph Powell, 33, was arrested last week and charged with four counts of murder, residential robbery, and possessing a firearm. He appeared in Los Angeles court on Monday afternoon accompanied by his attorney, deputy public defender Carlos Bido, but did not enter a plea.
Initially arrested for a deadly shooting during a robbery, Powell was later identified as a suspect in the back-to-back killings of three homeless men and a county employee within a span of four days.
The first death occurred on Sunday, November 26, when 37-year-old homeless man Jose Bolanos was found dead with a gunshot wound in an alley in South Los Angeles. The following day, 62-year-old Mark Diggs was shot and killed while pushing a shopping cart near downtown.
The third shooting occurred on November 29 in the Lincoln Heights area, where a 52-year-old man was found dead on a sidewalk where he had been sleeping. The victim has not been identified. On the previous day, Nicholas Simbolon, 42, a county employee, was shot dead at his home in San Dimas, a killing and robbery that led to Powell’s arrest.
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Surveillance images of a suspect vehicle were obtained by authorities, and a license plate reader in Beverly Hills alerted the police, resulting in a traffic stop and Powell’s subsequent arrest on November 30.
District Attorney George Gascón commended law enforcement for their swift actions, stating that they undoubtedly saved lives. If convicted on all charges, Powell faces life in prison without the possibility of parole.
The killings have raised awareness about the dangers faced by homeless people in the country. Los Angeles County, with a population of about 10 million, was home to more than one in five of the nation’s homeless people. As of January, over 75,000 people were homeless across the county on any given night.
In response to the case, LA authorities have deployed over 300 people from various agencies to warn people about the suspected serial killer. Mayor Karen Bass urged homeless individuals to seek shelter, services, and support.
The killings in Los Angeles are not believed to be connected to a recent shooting of five homeless people in Las Vegas. Las Vegas police have ruled out any correlation between the two incidents.
