A 22-year-old man with ties to a San Pedro gang has been arrested on suspicion of shooting at a group of family members and friends at Royal Palms Beach Park, injuring five, including himself, authorities said on Wednesday, March 22.
Jose Ortega was arrested in Orange County on March 9, five days after the shooting, Los Angeles police Capt. Brent McGuyre said at a press conference.
“We determined that during the altercation, the suspect was struck by one of the rounds potentially from his own handgun,” McGuyre said.
Ortega got to a hospital on his own or with the help of another, McGuyre said. Witness statements and surveillance cameras recently installed by the county at the beach helped to identifying Ortega as the suspect, police said.
A firearm was found at the scene. Ballistics tests were ongoing to determine if that was the weapon that was used. McGuyre said he did not know whether that firearm was legal or a ghost gun.
Ortega was booked into jail on four counts of attempted murder, four counts of assault with a deadly weapon and one count of discharging a firearm at an inhabited vehicle, police said. He was charged with those counts and was being held on a bail amount of more than $4 million.
He also faces a carjacking count and three attempted carjacking counts from April 2021, inmate records show.
When asked why the Los Angeles Police Department waited a dozen days after the suspect’s arrest to announce it, the captain it was to protect the investigation.
“There were aspects of the investigation that would have been harmed if we announced early,” McGuyre said. “While the investigation is still ongoing, we felt the investigation was at a point where we could announce without significantly impacting the investigation.
“There was a significant amount of community concern surrounding this event, which is why we announced today,” he said. “Otherwise, we may have held off until the full investigation had been completed.”
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