LA City Council Approves Rewards For Information In 2 Murders, Fatal Hit-And-Run
LOS ANGELES (CBSLA.com) — The Los Angeles City Council is considering offering rewards for information in two murders and a fatal pedestrian crash.
The first reward to be approved was $50,000 leading to the apprehension and conviction in the death of 22-year-old Carlos Arellano following the Echo Park Rising festival. Arellano and a friend were walking in the 1500 block of Sunset Boulevard just before midnight Aug. 15 when they were approached by a Hispanic man in his early 20s. Arellano was stabbed in the upper body in the ensuing fight and he died at a hospital.
Councilman Mitch O'Farrell, who introduced the reward motion, noted that Arellano was attacked while the surrounding sidewalks were teeming with fellow attendees of the Echo Park Rising festival.
Anyone with information about Arellano's stabbing can call the LAPD's tip line at (800) 222-8477.
City Council members also voted to offer a $50,000 reward for information in the hit-and-run death of 57-year-old Diane Dupree on Oct. 10 as she crossed Crenshaw at 63rd Street.
Dupree, the mother of Los Angeles police Officer Dontae Phillips, died at the scene.
"This incident has affected my family in so many different ways," Phillips said. "She wasn't just a mom. She was a grandmother, she was an auntie, she was a sister, she was a wife, and whoever did this to my mom is still out there living life, just blending in with everyone else."
The suspect vehicle was described as a medium, light-colored car, believed to be a 1980s or 1990s Honda or Toyota.
Anyone with information can call the South Traffic Division at (323) 421-2577 or (323) 421-2500.
The City Council also approved a third $50,000 reward for information in the stabbing of Alejandro Flores at a South Los Angeles nightclub.
Flores, 50, was stabbed several times at 5 a.m. on June 7 by two men while he was at a nightclub on the corner of Exposition Boulevard and Western Avenue. The suspects were seen in a white Toyota Tundra, police said.
Anyone with information on Flores' death can call the LAPD Criminal Gang Homicide Division at (213) 485-4341.
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