Guillermo Hernandez, 20, and Carlos Velasquez, 24, of Los Angeles, were arrested Friday night, the Los Angeles Police Department announced.
Two possible gang members were arrested in the fatal shooting of asheriff's deputy who was murdered as he was getting ready to go to work, officials announced
Saturday.Los Angeles County Sheriff's Deputy Juan Escalante, 27, was shot dead outside his parents' home August 2 as he was getting ready to drive to his job at the Men's Central Jail.
Guillermo Hernandez, 20, and Carlos Velasquez, 24, of Los Angeles, were arrested Friday night, the Los Angeles Police Department announced. The suspects were booked and arrested for murder and were being held without bail.Paul M. Weber, the president of police union the Los Angeles Police Protective League, said both men were gang members. A police spokesman would not confirm if the men had gang ties.
It was not immediately known if the men had been appointed attorneys.
Los Angeles Police Chief William Bratton said Escalante was loading a car seat into the family's car when he was shot. He died from a gunshot wound to the head.
Escalante's Cypress Park neighborhood about three miles north of downtown is home to
several gangs.Drive-by attacks where the victim and the shooter don't know each other are not unheard of, but investigators were considering the possibility that Escalante was deliberately targeted because of his work.
