2 alleged gang members charged in 'random and brutal' LA County shooting spree that left 4 dead

LOS ANGELES (KABC) -- Two men accused of carrying out a random shooting spree in southeastern Los Angeles County that left four people dead, including a 14-year-old boy, and two others injured, were charged Thursday.

Gary Garcia Jr., 42, and Timberland Wayne McKneely, 20, are each facing four counts of murder and two counts of attempted murder. Homicide detectives believe a third suspect may be at large.

The deadly crime spree late Sunday night and early Monday morning involved four separate shootings that happened in just over three hours within a five-mile radius. The killings were reported in Bell, Huntington Park, Cudahy and unincorporated areas of L.A. County, District Attorney George Gascón said.

"They all appear to have been targeted randomly as they merely moved about their daily life,'' he said.

The two were set to be arraigned Thursday but it was pushed back to a later date. The charges include the special-circumstance allegations of multiple murders and shooting from a motor vehicle causing death. Garcia and McKneely could face life in prison without the possibility of parole if convicted as charged, Gascón said.

Detectives believe both suspects are gang members. Garcia's bail has been set at $10 million and McKneely's was set at $13.2 million.

Timeline of the shootings

According to the sheriff's department, the first shooting happened around 11:30 p.m. Sunday in the 6000 block of Bear Avenue in Bell. That shooting killed 24-year-old Kevin Parada.

A GoFundMe page has since been created to help pay for Parada's funeral expenses. A vigil was held in his honor Tuesday evening near the area where he was shot.

Shortly after midnight Monday morning, another fatal shooting occurred in the 1500 block of East Florence Avenue in the nearby unincorporated Florence-Firestone area. The victim in that case, described only as a Hispanic man, was not immediately identified.

A short time later, two boys were shot in the 5000 block of Live Oak Street near Ellen Ochoa Learning Center in Cudahy.

One of them, 14-year-old Javier Pedraza Jr. of Cudahy, was pronounced dead at the scene. The second boy was taken to a hospital in what was described as stable condition. A GoFundMe page has been created in Javier's honor.

The fourth shooting occurred about 2:40 a.m. in the 6300 block of Santa Fe Avenue in Huntington Park, near Gage Avenue, officials said.

That man was not immediately identified, but Huntington Park Police Department Chief Cosme Lozano said he was known to be a local homeless man who was "simply walking down the street.''

According to Los Angeles County Sheriff's Department Homicide Bureau Capt. Andrew Meyer, sheriff's homicide investigators responded to all four shooting scenes, and surveillance video quickly determined that a Honda Pilot SUV was at each location around the time of the attacks.

A series of shootings that left four victims dead in southeast Los Angeles County appeared to be "a random murder spree," a sheriff's department official said.

Sheriff's officials circulated a law enforcement bulletin, and the vehicle was spotted and stopped Monday afternoon by San Bernardino County sheriff's deputies, and one suspect -- believed to be Garcia -- was arrested and booked on suspicion of murder, Meyer said.

Investigators were then able to identify the second suspect, who was arrested by a sheriff's Special Enforcement Bureau team early Tuesday morning in Compton, according to Meyer.

There was no immediate word on a motive for the killings. The suspects are expected back in court on Thursday, Feb. 29.

City News Service, Inc. contributed to this report.