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The homeless man accused in a shooting spree in Santa Monica is in custody and likely to be charged with attempted murder, police said, amid a wave of violence from transients that has Los Angeles residents on edge.
David John Hairston II, 31, had been wanted for “ambushing” and shooting a police officer at a pedestrian mall in the seaside enclave on Wednesday, KTLA reported.
A few days prior, the same man allegedly shot two teens who were riding a self-driving taxi, the Santa Monica Police Department said.
Hairston was arrested after a citywide manhunt and is expected to be charged with attempted murder.
The shooting is one of several chilling acts of violence by transients in the city, including another violent attack and fires lit in an apartment building overrun with squatters.
The day after the Santa Monica shooting, a transient man jumped a gardener working outside at a gated home in nearby Brentwood, one of the wealthiest parts of Los Angeles.
The shirtless suspect randomly approached the gardener and knocked him in the head with some kind of pole, according to Ring camera footage obtained by ABC7.
Meanwhile, residents in the Beverly Grove neighborhood, near Beverly Hills, were complaining about an abandoned apartment complex that had been recently taken over by around 20 vagrants.
“It’s been absolutely terrifying. We are on hold with our lives right now until this is resolved,” Anita Cavallo, a woman who lives in the Beverly Grove area, told ABC7.
One of the squatters has repeatedly started fires in the building, forcing locals to extinguish the flames themselves.
Locals said their complaints to officials have fallen on deaf ears.
“It feels like no one has proper answers for us. Everyone just blames someone else and tells us [there’s] nothing they can do, so we don’t know where to go anymore for help,” Cavallo told the outlet.
In May, Gov. Gavin Newsom called on cities to ban homeless encampments on public property, including sidewalks and parks.
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