A man and a woman were arrested in Panorama City Tuesday night in an operation that preliminary and unconfirmed reports suggest is tied to the death of a toddler discovered over the weekend in a nearby strip mall parking lot.
Officials with the Los Angeles Police Department would only say that officers, including members of Metro Division, part of LAPD’s Special Operations Group, responded to the apartment building in the 14600 block of Lanark Street at around 6 p.m.
According to reporting from KTLA’s Gil Leyvas in Sky5, a vigil for the deceased child, discovered July 12 in the 8200 block of Van Nuys Boulevard, less than a half mile from the apartments, was underway as police arrived.
In footage of the law enforcement operation captured by RMG News, a video news service, officers were seen escorting a woman in handcuffs to a patrol cruiser.
A male subject was also seen being wheeled out of the building by medical personnel with the L.A. Fire Department on a gurney he was handcuffed to and placed into the back of an ambulance.
As the man was being loaded into the ambulance, crowds of people, many who were filming the ordeal on cellphones, someone was heard screaming the word “justice” several times.
Cameras also captured yellow crime scene tape inside what appeared to be an exterior corridor of the apartment complex where at least one officer was standing guard.
Neither the man or the woman seen in custody of police have been identified.
Details about the child’s death are limited, though LAPD told KTLA over the weekend that the deceased appeared to be around 3 or 4 years old.
Police did not say whether he had any apparent injuries or if the preliminary investigation revealed any possible cause of death. It was also unclear how long the boy was there before he was found.
Footage from that scene showed a white canopy placed over the child’s body near two dumpsters. It’s unclear if the boy was found inside one of the dumpsters.
“We’re trying to put together the pieces to really understand when this happened and hopefully figure out who is responsible for this,” LAPD Det. Meghan Aguilar said on Saturday. “It could be a natural death, this could be due to abuse, we just don’t know at this point. They won’t touch that body until the coroners arrive and then it becomes the responsibility of the coroner to determine the cause of death.”
KTLA has reached out to LAPD about Tuesday evening’s arrests and is awaiting a response.
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