hit & run

Long Beach PD identify suspect accused of killing dad, daughter when truck crashed into home

Surveillance footage shows the vehicle plowing into the apartment where Jose Palacios and his daughter Samantha were sleeping.

Thursday, March 10, 2022

Suspect photos released in hit-and-run that killed dad, daughter

A 3-year-old Long Beach girl and her father were killed when the hit-and-run driver, identified as 24-year-old Octavio Montano, slammed into their apartment, according to police.

LONG BEACH, Calif. (KABC) -- Authorities are asking the public's help in finding a 24-year-old man suspected of a hit-and-run in Long Beach that killed a father and his 3-year-old daughter.

Octavio Montano was allegedly driving a 2014 Ram 1500 pickup truck northbound on Rose Avenue, near East Artesia Boulevard, about 10 p.m. on Mar. 1 when the truck "left the roadway and collided with an apartment building, killing two of the occupants inside,'' the Long Beach Police Department reported.

Montano allegedly fled the scene on foot following the collision. Jose Palacios Gonzalez was pronounced dead at the scene, while his daughter Samantha Palacios was taken to a hospital, where she later died.

An emotional vigil honored a 3-year-old girl and her father, who were killed when the hit-and-run driver of a pickup truck slammed into their Long Beach apartment.

Montano is being described as a Hispanic man who is 5 feet, 8 inches tall and weighs 160 pounds, with black hair, brown eyes and unspecified tattoos on his right forearm.