One year ago, Congress defunded public media. Now that we're 100% community funded, please become a sustaining member or increase your existing membership today.
This is an archival story that predates current editorial management.
This archival content was written, edited, and published prior to LAist's acquisition by its current owner, Southern California Public Radio ("SCPR"). Content, such as language choice and subject matter, in archival articles therefore may not align with SCPR's current editorial standards. To learn more about those standards and why we make this distinction, please click here.
Woman, 29, Charged With Two Shootings Including Shotgun Slaying Of MTV Music Coordinator
29-year-old LA resident Destiny Young, arrested Wednesday in connection with a string of armed robberies, was charged Friday in the shotgun killing of 30-year-old Gabriel Aron Ben-Meir, the MTV music coordinator shot in the back of the head near his mid-city home. She was also charged in the shooting of Marcelo Aragon who was struck by shotgun blast and robbed on April 30, reports LA Now.
26-year-old Jabaar Vincent Thomas and 33-year-old Richard Edward Anderson were arrested with Young and charged with related robberies. The pair are suspected of committing "at least nine armed robberies in the last two weeks in the Mid-City, Wilshire and Southwest Los Angeles areas," reports LA Now. Prosecutors are determining whether there will be additional charges relating to Ben-Meir's killing and have asked the LAPD for more evidence.
Thomas, according to officials, "is a reputed gang member who was released from state prison in December after serving a sentence for being a felon in possession of a firearm," reports LA Now. Anderson, a parolee with mainly drug convictions dating to at least 1998, has not been linked to Ben-Meir's killing, according to police.
Thomas was being held in lieu of $2-million bail, police said, and Young was being held on $1-million bail. The two were arrested as they rode in a Ford Crown Victoria in Pico-Union, according to an LAPD source. The vehicle was stopped because it matched a description of a car used in one of the robberies. Detectives obtained search warrants for the vehicle and a home in South Los Angeles, which yielded evidence that allegedly connected Thomas and Young to the robberies and Ben-Meir's killing, according to the LAPD source.
One year ago, Congress voted to defund public media, eliminating a critical $1.7 million from our budget every year going forward. But they couldn’t silence us, and we’re not going anywhere. LAist is now 100% community funded and that means we’re taking our future into our own hands and turning to you to keep local reporting strong.
You come to LAist because you want independent reporting and trustworthy local information. Our nonprofit newsroom doesn’t answer to shareholders looking to turn a profit. Instead, we answer to you and our communities. We are free to follow facts wherever they lead and to hold power to account without fear or favor. Our only loyalty is to our readers and listeners and our mission: to inform, engage, and strengthen Southern California’s communities.
If this story helped you, please become a monthly member today to help sustain this mission. It just takes 1 minute to donate below.
You come to LAist because you want independent reporting and trustworthy local information. Our nonprofit newsroom doesn’t answer to shareholders looking to turn a profit. Instead, we answer to you and our communities. We are free to follow facts wherever they lead and to hold power to account without fear or favor. Our only loyalty is to our readers and listeners and our mission: to inform, engage, and strengthen Southern California’s communities.
If this story helped you, please become a monthly member today to help sustain this mission. It just takes 1 minute to donate below.
Senior Vice President News, Editor in Chief
