Los Angeles police searching for assailant in three fatal shootings of homeless people

Los Angeles police have launched a search for a killer suspected of fatally shooting three homeless people in separate incidents around the city, police officials announced Friday.

All three killings occurred in the early morning hours over a three-day span in November, Police Chief Michel Moore said at an afternoon news conference at police headquarters downtown, where he was joined by Dist. Atty. George Gascón and Mayor Karen Bass.

“This is a killer preying on the unhoused,” Bass said.

The first victim was shot about 3:10 am. on Nov. 26 in an alley near the intersection of 110th Street and Vermont Avenue in South L.A., police said. The man, identified by police as Jose Bolanos, 37, was found dead with a gunshot wound.

The following day, Mark Diggs, 62, was shot and killed about 4:45 a.m. in the 600 block of Mateo Street. Moore said Diggs was pushing a shopping cart and had stopped to plug in his phone and was about to go to sleep when the assailant approached him and shot him.

The third shooting occurred on Nov. 29 about 2:30 a.m. near the intersection of Avenue 18 and Pasadena Avenue in the Lincoln Heights area, where the body of a 52-year-old adult Latino man was discovered.

Police did not identify the victim pending notification of his family.

Moore said in all three instances the victims were alone and out in the open.

“Each one was shot and killed as they slept” or were preparing to turn in for the night, Moore said.

Moore said the department has set up a task force of investigators that is working 24/7 to apprehend the killer.

Bass urged the city’s homeless residents not to sleep alone and to seek available services. She said homeless outreach workers have been informing those living on the street about the killings and the search for the killer.

“To the person responsible for this, I say this: We will find you, we will catch you and you will be held accountable.”

“An assault on one of us is an assault on all of us,” Gascón said.

Times staff writer Richard Winton contributed to this report.