A teenage shoplifting suspect was arrested over a week after he allegedly killed a 60-year-old man who tried to stop him in the parking lot of a South El Monte shopping center.
The Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Department announced on Monday that detectives found and arrested the suspect, only identified as a 16-year-old male, on Friday, April 18.
According to LASD, the investigation revealed that the 16-year-old was driving the vehicle that fatally ran over the victim, Kourosh “Steve” Yaghoubi, on April 9.
It happened after 12:20 p.m. Initial reports said that Yaghoubi was helping at his brother’s shop, Giant Discount on the 2000 block of Durfee Avenue, when a group of people entered the store and stole a box of disposable masks.
Yaghoubi chased after the shoplifters, who, according to witnesses, attacked him, hitting him in the head and knocking him to the ground. The suspects’ getaway vehicle then ran over him as he lay defenseless in the middle of the parking lot, the victim’s family said.
Detectives arrived to find Yaghoubi suffering from blunt force trauma, and paramedics pronounced him dead at the scene.
LASD said the case is in the process of being presented to the L.A. County District Attorney’s Office out of the East Los Angeles branch for their consideration of filing charges on the juvenile subject.
The investigation remains ongoing, and detectives are trying to identify several other suspects who were seen in the vehicle during and after the crime happened. Anyone with information is urged to contact the LASD Homicide Bureau at 323-890-5500. Anonymous tips can be provided online or by calling 800-222-8477.
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