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(NewsNation) — After a recent string of shootings that claimed the lives of three homeless men in Los Angeles, authorities arrested 33-year-old suspect Gerald Joseph Powell on Saturday.
The arrest also links Powell to a separate killing in a follow-home robbery in San Dimas, according to Los Angeles Police Chief Michel Moore.
During an afternoon news conference attended by Mayor Karen Bass and District Attorney George Gascón, Moore revealed that Powell is believed to be responsible for the series of shootings that occurred over the past week.
The arrest followed closely on the heels of city officials’ announcement, less than 24 hours prior, that a killer was specifically targeting the unhoused.
Moore said that each victim was shot while asleep or in the process of lying down.
Authorities are expected to release more details about the ongoing investigation in the coming days.
From Nov. 26 through Nov. 29, three men were found dead, all under similar circumstances.
“A single individual approached each one and shot and killed each one as they slept,” Moore said.
Each of the three killings happened in the early morning, all before 5 a.m.
The first happened on Nov. 26, around 3:10 a.m. near the intersection of 110th Street and Vermont Avenue in the Westmont neighborhood.
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The second happened the following day in downtown Los Angeles on the 600 block of Mateo Street. Police discovered that victim around 4:45 a.m.
The most recent known killing happened on Nov. 29 around 2:30 a.m. near the intersection of N. Avenue 18 and Pasadena Avenue in Lincoln Heights.
Though the police chief declined to use the term “serial killer,” Bass was slightly more forceful in her description of the murders.
“I want to be very clear about what we’re facing today: This is a killer who is preying on the unhoused,” Bass said, adding that homeless people should not sleep alone.
Bass encouraged any friends or relatives of homeless people to reach out and warn them of the danger and encourage them to sleep at a shelter and not alone in an isolated area. She also promised to the city’s most vulnerable citizens that justice would come.
“To the person responsible: We will find you, we will catch you and you will be held accountable,” Bass said.
“An assault on one of us is an assault on all of us,” Gascón added.
A task force had been set up to solve these murders Moore previously said.
Police also encouraged unhoused citizens to make sure their cell phones are charged and in working condition and to record or take note of any suspicious activity.
NewsNation’s affiliate KTLA contributed to this report.
