Police Capture Suspect Benjamin Renteria Believed To Be The Armed Shadow Hills Prowler
LOS ANGELES (CBSLA) — After an intense three-day manhunt, authorities Wednesday night captured an armed suspect wanted for several armed burglaries in the Shadow Hills and Sunland-Tujunga neighborhoods over the last month.
Los Angeles police apprehended a man matching the description of the Shadow Hills prowler at about 10:40 p.m. in the area of Shadow Hills Avenue and Wentworth Street, near the Hansen Dam.
The suspect was found in dense brush by a police K9. He was apprehended and taken by ambulance to a hospital to be treated for a dog bite before being booked into jail.
He was identified Thursday as 25-year-old Benjamin Renteria. He was booked on burglary charges. His bail was set at $240,000.
Renteria is believed responsible for up to a dozen break-ins at homes and businesses dating back to Oct. 19. Over the past few weeks, neighbors have been sharing security camera images of the suspect on social media. The images show him carrying different weapons, including an assault rifle and a hunting rifle. Investigators believe that he stole some of the weapons.
The burglaries occurred in a largely equestrian area, with a lot of overgrowth and riverbed spots where neighbors believe the suspect had been able to hide.
The situation began just before 7:30 p.m. Wednesday when an off-duty LAPD officer heard gunshots off Wentworth Street in Shadow Hills, hear Hansen Dam. Residents in the area also reported seeing a suspect walking down streets carrying a rifle.
About 150 LAPD officers swarmed the area with K9 units and air support and set up a large perimeter before the suspect was caught about three hours later.
This all comes after a big search early Tuesday morning when the suspect was spotted trying to break into an L.A. Department of Water and Power facility in Sunland-Tujunga. A search at the time turned up nothing. Then, a few hours after the search, a vacant home in the area was discovered burglarized.
Prior to Wednesday night, there have been no confrontations, injuries or reports of shots fired.
"We have everything locked up, we're constantly staying in our house," neighbor Heidi Gonsalves told CBSLA Monday. "'What's that noise?' Checking all our cameras. It's been very, 'What's going on? Why is this happening to us?'"
On Tuesday, LAPD Lt. Eddie Ginter told reporters that investigators believed they had identified the suspect, but were hoping to use DNA and other evidence to confirm it.
"All our properties are ranch properties, we have open land," resident Denise Maybee told CBSLA Wednesday evening, prior to his arrest. "So he's been jumping in the yards, in the big huge parcels of land."
Maybee said she was prepared to defend her life and property from the armed suspect if she spotted him.
"I'm sorry, I believe in all of the amendments, the right to bear arms," she added. "I will shoot him. I will not kill him, but I will wound him."
