A suspect is apparently arrested in the killing of three unhoused men who were shot while sleeping alone on sidewalks or in alleys in Los Angeles. This is Jerrid Joseph Powell, a 33-year-old, had apparently already been arrested for [00:00:15] a homicide that occurred in LA County this week involving a follow-home robbery. So a motive in the most recent shootings has not yet been announced or established, but here is what we know about the killings that have happened. So the first victim was a 37-year-old, was killed at about 3 AM on Sunday. [00:00:33] The second victim, 62 years old, was attacked just before 5 AM Monday. And the third was killed at 2:30 AM on Wednesday. So this is distributed across multiple days. The home robbery shooting occurred on Tuesday. And Powell is accused of following the victim from a charging station, [00:00:49] like an electric vehicle charging station in West Covina to the victim's home in San Dimas. Quote, upon taking the personal belongings, the suspect senselessly shot the victim and fled the crime scenes. The victim, Nicholas Simbolon, died from his injuries. [00:01:04] So they're investigating whether the suspect may be linked to other cases as well. So this isn't, I guess, the timeline of how people would have expected that this would have worked. Because most people would have assumed that this alleged, at this point, string of killings of the unhoused would have been [00:01:21] the only thing that the person was doing. But thankfully, at least if this is the person who did it, they were taken off the streets before what could have been possibly one, or two, or three more murders during the intervening days. Francesca, what do you make of this? >> Speaker 2: I mean, it's just wild. [00:01:37] Every single day, he's basically taken a life. And yeah, as you were talking about the pattern, it seemed like Tuesday when he killed this man who was charging his car, was in the middle of killing homeless people. But yeah, I mean, these are the real crimes. [00:01:56] These are the real criminals and dangers to society, especially here, I'm just gonna say in California, that we need to be focused on. But look, I've seen real cops, I've seen The Wire, guys. We know that actual dangerous people are not always the focus of police. [00:02:13] It's petty theft, it's petty crime. It's the homeless people themselves, for the crime of being homeless, for the crime of sleeping outdoors, right? To say nothing of the fact that if they had homes, they wouldn't be, which they are, disproportionately the victims of some of the most violent and [00:02:32] heinous crimes. This is a murder. But how many assaults, how many all kinds of other things that they are exposed to? But so anyway, I mean, this is real police work. I wish we had more of a focus on stopping folks like this than we did on, [00:02:47] again, criminalizing protesters. >> Speaker 1: Yeah, 100%. And look, we could do both. We can be critical of cops when they're doing what they're not supposed to, but also be happy that in this case, they were able to, I guess, relatively quickly get the person off the streets. [00:03:03] I mean, I don't know. If there hadn't been this shooting in the home, I don't know. Would the person still be out there still preying on the unhoused? >> Speaker 2: Right? >> Speaker 1: I don't know. These are dark hypotheticals. But thankfully, at least this particular killing spree, again, alleged that this person did it, has been stopped. [00:03:19] And as you pointed out, even just specific to LA, there is a lot of violence, as well as many other crimes that those who are unhoused suffer. There was a study that came out a few months ago in the LA Times showing that single homeless women, specifically in LA County, 35% have been physically attacked. [00:03:38] 20% say they were forced to take part in unwanted sexual activity. These are not exceptions. This is very, very widespread. And again, I don't know what this person's motivations were, if he is, in fact, the person who committed the crimes. We know that these sorts of attacks and [00:03:55] killings are commonplace in cities throughout America. And it's why when I see another segment by a Jesse Waters demonizing the unhoused, I get so angry. Because, yes, I know it's inconvenient to you that you have to step over a human [00:04:10] who's sleeping on the streets of New York in the winter. That's super inconvenient. Well, you know what else is inconvenient? Being raped, assaulted, and murdered, that's more inconvenient. It is way, way worse to suffer these indignities and crimes than to just be a thing that Jesse Waters sees out of the window of his limo. [00:04:31] So anyway, I'm glad that they caught this guy. That does not mean that the unhoused of LA County are now free and clear from violence and exploitation, and way more needs to be done to protect them. >> Speaker 2: Yeah, stop criminalizing homelessness. Rein in the housing market, for the love of God. [00:04:48] >> Exactly, yes. Yeah, that definitely needs to be a big part of the conversation. Weirdly enough, that's not a thing that Jesse Waters focuses on. >> No. >> Speaker 1: He wants to get rid of the unhoused, but not by making them housed. Just get rid of them. >> Well, I mean- >> Put them in a camp, [00:05:03] probably in the desert. >> Or by murder. I mean, this is fine for him. Look, this is what's so funny about it. It's like if the homeless are the victims, you think Jesse Water is gonna do a whole thing about how there's a murderer on the loose in LA and they can't get him under control? No, no, no, cuz he doesn't care. Cuz that's fine. That is the natural conclusion of the tough on crime, so [00:05:22] to speak, policies, tough on homeless people. >> Speaker 1: Just stop being homeless. And we'll forget the fact that you're being beaten, and robbed, and raped, and all of that. Just forget all of that stuff that happens to you and makes it so difficult for you to exist. Just stop being homeless. [00:05:39] Overcome those circumstances, in a way that Jesse Waters would never be able to if he was in these conditions. You should rise above what he would find utterly unbearable after five minutes. [MUSIC]