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Suspects arrested in second Santa Monica shooting
Police investigate a shooting in Santa Monica that sent two men in their 20s to a hospital on Tuesday June 11, 2013. The shooting took place near Santa Monica College, where a shooting rampage four days earlier left six people dead.
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NBC Los Angeles
)
Authorities have arrested three people in connection to a shooting in a Santa Monica alley on Tuesday that left one man dead and another wounded.
The suspects in custody were 19-year-old Christopher Osumi, 23-year-old Meliton Lopez, and 32-year-old Jason Farris.
The shooting incident came on the heels of another in an area very close by last Friday, when 23-year-old John Zawahri killed five people on a rampage across the streets of Santa Monica that ended with his own death at the Santa Monica College library.
Through leads and witnesses, investigators were able to track down the suspects of Tuesday's shooting at an apartment complex in West Los Angeles, said Santa Monica Police Sgt. Richard Lewis.
"As they were setting up surveillance video on a vehicle, which they located, two subjects came running from one of the apartment complexes, and after a short foot chase they were taken into custody. About a half hour later, officers made contact with resident in the unit in which they came from, and he was taken into custody as well. A search warrant was served on the place and a weapon we believe that was used in that same crime was inside that apartment," Lewis said.
The three suspects are gang members, Lewis said, but he would not reveal whether the shooting was gang related.
The surviving victim — 29-year old Gil Verastegui — remains in critical condition at a nearby hospital.
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Authorities have not released the identity of the man who died.
The three suspects were scheduled to be arraigned Thursday at 8:30 a.m.
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