Written by AARON CASTREJON
CityWatch Editor

AZUSA - The 81-year-old suspect accused of causing felony vandalism in an Azusa neighborhood for roughly a decade has died, authorities said.

Prince Raymond King died Wednesday, May 29. The Los Angeles County Department of Medical Examiner has yet to either defer, or list a cause of death.

Officers were sent to a home in the 500 block of North Soldano Avenue around 7:30 a.m. for a death investigation. First responders found King unresponsive, according to Sgt. Johnson of the Azusa Police Department.

“There were no signs of any trauma or foul play,” Johnson told SGV CityWatch.

King made a May 28 appearance in court where he was charged with five felony counts of vandalism and two misdemeanor counts of vandalism. He pleaded not guilty, according to the Los Angeles County District Attorney’s Office.

Investigators with the Azusa Police Department Directed Enforcement Unit conducted a lengthy investigation and learned that for nearly 10 years dozens of citizens were being victimized by a serial slingshotter who broke windows, windshields and almost struck people with ball bearings, according to the Azusa Police Department.

During a search warrant served May 23 in the 900 block of North Enid Avenue, detectives located and arrested Prince Raymond King. Ball bearings and a slingshot were seized from his home.

King was held without bail at the Twin Towers Correctional Facility in Los Angeles ahead of a scheduled appearance in West Covina Superior Court May 28. He was released on his own recognizance. He was scheduled for an early disposition hearing June 17.

King was charged with crimes committed October 10, 2021, according to Los Angeles Superior Court records.

If convicted as charged, King faced a possible sentence of nearly eight years in prison.

Written by AARON CASTREJON
CityWatch Editor

LOS ANGELES - All three men killed in a horrific crash involving speeding motorcycles were identified recently.

Motorcyclists Brandon Mendoza, 31, and Gabriel Abarca, 23, Where are identified by the Los Angeles County Department of Medical Examiner. Both men died of blunt trauma injuries. Bystander Marcos Loera, 22, died of blunt head trauma.

The deadly crash was dispatched just after 4 p.m. Wednesday, October 4.

Authorities reported that two motorcycles were traveling eastbound on Arrow Highway at high speed when the crash occurred in the intersection at Cerritos Avenue.

Four other vehicles were struck by the motorcycles. The collision ejected both riders. One rider died at the scene in the intersection. The other was thrown roughly 100 feet eastbound onto a sidewalk and later died at a trauma center. One of the motorcycles went airborne and struck Loera who was with a girlfriend standing on a sidewalk.

Loera died at the scene. As authorities continued to set up the crime scene in the minutes after in the crash, a woman beside herself with grief was seen embracing Loera’s body on a patch of grass. A mangled motorcycle sat twisted nearly one hundred feet ahead of them.

Pieces of the second motorcycle involved landed at a nearby 76 gas station.

Investigators with the Azusa Police Department believe that both motorcycle riders were traveling around 90 miles per hour at the time of the crash.

Written by AARON CASTREJON
CityWatch Editor

LOS ANGELES - Coroner investigators revealed the cause of death of a man found face down and naked off of the side of a mountain road above Azusa February 13.

Christian Peña, 24, died of a gunshot wound to the leg. The death was ruled a homicide, according to the Los Angeles County Department of Medical Examiner-Coroner.

A passerby saw the naked body face down in the dirt off to the side of the 2000 block of San Gabriel Canyon Road just before 6:30 a.m. February 13.

Detectives believe that Peña was shot elsewhere and dumped along the mountain road after detectives were unable to find any shell casings, according to the Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Homicide Bureau.

Investigators did not have a California ID for Peña, but noted that he last listed New York as his state of residence.

Written by AARON CASTREJON
CityWatch Editor

LOS ANGELES - Investigators have identified the man who may have been dumped along a mountain road in Azusa.

Christian Peña, 24, was identified by the Los Angeles County Department of Medical Examiner-Coroner. Investigators have not yet scheduled an examination to determine the cause of death.

A passerby saw the naked body face down in the dirt off to the side of the 2000 block of San Gabriel Canyon Road just before 6:30 a.m. February 13.

Peña was reportedly found suffering gunshot wounds, according to the Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Homicide Bureau.

Written by AARON CASTREJON
CityWatch Editor

LOS ANGELES - A man died from blunt force trauma to the head in a likely homicide, coroner investigators ruled.

Jose Mejia Argueta, 40, was found near the San Gabriel Riverbed after Azusa Police responded around 10 a.m. January 10, according to the Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Department.

A passerby reportedly discovered the body.

Argueta’s body was found on the opposite side of a chain link fence along Encanto Parkway and Hacienda Drive.

The San Gabriel Riverbed has become the living space to a number of homeless people who populate the mostly-dry riverbed almost as fast as they are removed,

The riverbed is the frequent victim of man made brush fires and has been the scene of assaults and at least one other murder.

LOS ANGELES – An 18-year-old driver who was shot while streaming on Instagram Live was recently identified.

Benjamin Matthew Caranchini died from a gunshot wound to the chest. The manner of death was homicide, according to the Los Angeles County Department of Medical Examiner-Coroner.

Caranchini was shot near the intersection of East Newburgh Street and North Donna Beth Avenue just before 10 a.m. December 5. Caranchini sped away from the scene east on Newburgh Street, eventually crashing into a parked truck which then struck a parked car.

Caranchini has had run-ins with law enforcement in the past. Most recently, he was arrested by Azusa Police July 31, 2022.

Caranchini was also arrested July 22, 2022 along with two other suspects. All three were implicated in a November 11, 2021 attempted murder case. Caranchini pleaded not guilty to one count of carrying a loaded firearm in a vehicle or in public. He was scheduled to appear in the West Covina courthouse December 14.

Suspect Luis Manuel Barragan pleaded not guilty to three counts of attempted murder and one count of shooting at an inhabited dwelling. Amadeo Herrera, 19, pleaded not guilty to one count of being an accessory after the fact for allegedly harboring a suspect of a felony crime, according to Los Angeles Superior Court records.

Azusa Police investigated a shooting at East Newburgh Street and North Donna Beth Avenue Nov. 11, 2021 that left one victim with injuries considered not life-threatening.

AZUSA - Authorities identified a man who died in a violent crash that ripped apart an automobile.

Robert Holloway, 39, was identified by the Los Angeles County Department of Medical Examiner-Coroner. He died from multiple traumatic injuries. His death was ruled accidental.

First responders were called to the crash at Cerritos Avenue and Gladstone Street around 2 a.m. August 16. For unknown reasons the driver, who was northbound on Cerritos Avenue, crashed just south of Gladstone Street. The vehicle possibly struck a palm tree and destroyed irrigation piping, according to Sgt. Bailey of the Azusa Police Department.

The vehicle appeared to be a Dodge Charger.

Public death records did not list any contributing factors in Holloway’s death.

AZUSA - Investigators are still determining what led to a man’s death August 18.

Luis Manuel Garcia, 27, was found dead after officers were called to a report of a person not breathing in the area of Newburgh Street and Azusa Avenue just before 7:30 p.m.

Officers initially believed Garcia died of a possible drug overdose, but the coroner has deferred the cause of death, pending additional investigation.

Written by AARON CASTREJON
CityWatch Editor

AZUSA - The county coroner has taken over the investigation into a death discovered Saturday night, an Azusa Police sergeant said.

A person was found on the ground in the 1600 block of North San Gabriel Canyon Road around 9:37 p.m., according to Sgt. Steven Sears of the Azusa Police Department.

Sears believes initially that the victim suffered a medical emergency. Cause of death will be determined by the coroner.

The victim has not been identified yet. Lt. Brian Kim of the Los Angeles County Department of Medical Examiner-Coroner declined to even describe the victim to SGV CityWatch.

Written by AARON CASTREJON
CityWatch Editor

LOS ANGELES – A man found dead in a park June 3 was identified recently and suffered other injuries.

Transient Gerardo Vega, 50, suffered from head trauma, a stab wound of the neck and gunshot wound of the abdomen, according to the Los Angeles County Department of Medical Examiner-Coroner.

Vega’s death was ruled a homicide.

A passerby en route to work discovered Vega down and un responsive at the Azusa Rockery, 1350 Mountain View Cir., around 7:43 a.m. June 3.

It is not publicly clear if Sheriff’s Homicide investigators identified a suspect.

Azusa Rockery is a half-acre geology interpretive park nestled in an area north of an industrial complex and is adjacent to the San Gabriel River Bike Path.