Arrest made in L.A. County shooting deaths of UCI grad student and friend
Los Angeles County sheriff’s deputies have arrested a suspect in the Aug. 14 shooting deaths of a UCI grad student and his long-time friend and the attempted murder of a third man, authorities said Wednesday, Aug. 21.
On Friday, Aug. 16, Jonathan Johnson, 26, of Lancaster was arrested and booked on suspicion of murder. He was being held in lieu of $2 million bail, according to sheriff’s officials.
Two days before, Jose Antonio Flores Velazquez and Alfredo Jose Carrera, both 24, were gunned down in the 1100 block of East 68th Street in the South Los Angeles area. The childhood friends were shot in the neighborhood they grew up in. A third person was also wounded but survived.
Carrera was about to become a father. Velazquez was a physics doctoral student at UC Irvine and had his sights set on a job at NASA. His work used data taken from space to explore how galaxies were formed, said James Bullock, UCI Dean of physical sciences and Velazquez’s Ph.D. adviser.
Johnson was arrested shortly after 8:30 a.m. Friday when patrol deputies from the Santa Clarita Sheriff’s Station saw a 2004 blue Nissan Maxima near Via Princessa and Sierra Highway in Canyon Country, Lt. Derrick Alfred told reporters at a Wednesday news conference.
The license plate on the parked car showed the vehicle was linked to the double murder, Alfred said. He said that deputies identified the car from surveillance footage from the crime scene and several witness interviews.
Johnson and his 25-year-old female passenger were detained. She was released and officials said she was not involved in the double homicide.
On Tuesday morning, Aug. 20, Johnson was charged with two counts of murder, one count of attempted murder and one count of discharging a firearm from a motor vehicle at another person.
Johnson had gang ties, authorities said, while the victims did not.
Velazquez and Carrera grew up six houses apart on the street where they were shot. The shooting reportedly happened in Carrera’s driveway.
When shot, Velazquez was dropping off a baby shower gift to his long-time friend, Carrera, Alfred told reporters at Sheriff’s Department headquarters in Los Angeles.
Investigators believe there are more suspects involved in the homicides, the lieutenant said.
They hope the public will recognize the suspect’s car and it will result in leads to other people involved in the crime.
“We still have people out there that we’re looking for, and we still have witnesses that we’re looking for,” Alfred said.
City News Service contributed to this report.