Los Angeles ‘serial’ killer suspect charged with murder in fatal shootings of four men

The man accused of shooting four men, three of whom were homeless, over a four-day period has been charged with murder in Los Angeles.

Jerrid Joseph Powell, 33, is charged with four counts of murder, one count of residential robbery, and one count of being a felon with a firearm, Los Angeles District Attorney George Gascon said. Powell was charged with the four men’s deaths on Monday.

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Powell is accused of killing Jose Bolanos, 37, Mark Diggs, 62, Nicholas Simbolon, 42, and an unknown man from Nov. 26 to Nov. 29. Bolanos, Diggs, and the unknown man were homeless, and Simbolon was a project manager for the Los Angeles County Chief Executive Office.

(Wally Skalij/ Los Angeles Times, Pool)

According to police, Bolanos’s body was found on Nov. 26 near the intersection of 110th Street and Vermont Avenue. On Nov. 27, Diggs was shot and killed at 4:45 a.m. downtown at the 600 block of Mateo Street near the Los Angeles River.

On Nov. 28, Powell allegedly followed Simbolon from a charging station in West Covina, California, to Simbolon’s home. After taking personal belongings from the residence during the home invasion, “the suspect senselessly shot the victim and fled the crime scene,” the Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Department said in a press release.

On Nov. 29, an unnamed 52-year-old man was found dead at about 2:30 a.m. near Avenue 18 and Pasadena Avenue, north of downtown. Later that day, Powell was arrested after a traffic stop in Beverly Hills after investigators used an automatic license plate reader system to flag his whereabouts.

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The 2024 gray BMW that Powell was driving matched descriptions of a vehicle at all four crime scenes, and a handgun found in the car was “positively identified” as the weapon used in the fatal shootings. A motive in the shootings has not been established, investigators said.

Powell waived his right to a speedy trial on Monday through his public attorney, with the judge subsequently setting his arraignment and plea to Jan. 8. If convicted, Powell faces a maximum sentence of life in prison without parole, according to the district attorney’s office said.