Hours after it was reported that two people were detained in connection with a toddler who was found dead in a parking lot in Panorama City, police say another three people have now been taken into custody.
All five individuals who were detained were yet to be formally arrested as of 7 a.m. Wednesday.
Preliminary information that emerged late Tuesday night indicated that a woman and two men were taken into custody in a large apartment complex in the 14500 block of Lanark Street. Unconfirmed reports from the scene suggested the detainments were tied to the finding of the dead child, which occurred around 7 a.m. on July 12.
The child was located near a dumpster in a mall parking lot in the 8200 block of Van Nuys Boulevard, less than half a mile from the apartments on Lanark Street. His name and cause of death have not been revealed.
In footage of Tuesday evening’s law enforcement operation captured by RMG News, a video news service, officers were seen escorting a woman in handcuffs to a patrol cruiser around 10:30 p.m.
A male subject was also seen being wheeled out of the building by medical personnel with the L.A. Fire Department. He had been handcuffed to a gurney and was 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.
A third person was reportedly taken into custody around midnight as crowds of onlookers packed an area outside the complex’s gated parking lot, forcing police in a patrol cruiser to issue commands for people to disperse, video shows.
Providing more information on the Tuesday night law enforcement activity, LAPD Det. Aguilar said that the department’s child abuse unit investigators received a tip from the public that led them to the apartment complex on Lanark.
“They were able to narrow it down to two units [within the building] where they conducted a search warrant at 9:30 p.m. Tuesday at one of those units,” Aguilar said. “When they served the warrant, they detained one adult male and one female…there were two children in the unit.”
Those children have since been placed in the custody of the L.A. County Department of Children and Family Services, the LAPD noted on social media.
The investigators learned shortly after the first warrant that a secondary unit was allegedly involved in the incident; that unit was searched as well, but it was not clear whether any evidence was found.
“While they were searching that unit, investigators still had a few people of interest that they wanted to locate, so they utilized additional LAPD resources and found those people on Sunset Boulevard near Ivar Avenue…those people were detained around 1 a.m. [Wednesday],” Aguilar explained. “They are being held by LAPD as persons of interest.”
Those individuals were described as two men and a woman. All five people who were detained are being questioned Wednesday morning as the investigation progresses.
One man who witnessed the detainments and knows some of the individuals taken into custody spoke to KTLA early Wednesday morning. He described the man seen being loaded into an ambulance as a father who lives with his wife, their two children and his wife’s children from another relationship.
All that man does, the witness said, is “play all day and when he’s not doing that, he’s helping his wife.”
“We talk almost every day — especially [his wife and I] because she’s best friends with my wife,” the witness, Toriono Coleman, elaborated. “We pray together and we share meals.”
Stating adamantly that the couple are innocent, Coleman fears they will come back to their apartment building and be “hated, because people don’t have all the information.”
“I just wanted to speak on their behalf, because I love them,” he said.
Other nearby residents have sympathy for the child and are loving their own a little extra.
“Just thinking about it makes me emotional,” said Johanna Mendoza. “It makes me want to hold and kiss [my children] a lot longer.”
Authorities have yet to establish a relationship between any of the five detainees and the young boy who was found dead, although at least one of them is believed to be a biological parent of the child, police say.
Aguilar noted that the investigation was aided heavily by members of the public who were unsure of the relationship between the child and adults allegedly involved; they were only sure they had seen the child with those people.
Detectives are continuing their investigation Wednesday, interviewing witnesses and trying to determine the relationship between the child and the adults and what involvement, if any, the detainees have in the child’s death.
Formal arrests will be made and charges will be filed based on those interviews, according to Aguilar.
Alexis Lewis and KTLA photojournalist John Greenwood contributed to this report.
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