Los Angeles: Three Men Arrested And Charged With Murder Of 3 Women

In relation to the murders of three women in a Los Angeles neighborhood earlier this year, three men have been arrested and charged with murder.

Authorities stated Friday that Dejean Thompkins, 28, Dontae Williams, 22, and Daries Stanford, 28, had each been charged with three counts of murder and six counts of attempted murder in connection with the Beverly Crest shooting on Jan. 28 that claimed the lives of three people.

It's unclear if the three have retained counsel. An inquiry for comment made on Saturday did not immediately receive a response from the L.A. public defender's office.

"One thing that can be said is that the violence that occurs in Chicago today is having an affect on all of us, and we've become aware that it's affecting other states as well," Los Angeles Police Department Capt. Jonathan L. Tippet said.

At a news conference on Friday, Los Angeles police and prosecutors revealed that the culprits and their victims were both from the Chicago area.

The three suspects are "involved in" and "connected to" a gang, according to Tippet, who would not elaborate, according to The Associated Press.

Authorities reported that the April and May arrests happened in Chicago, Gary, Indiana, and New York City, NBC News reported.

Prosecutors said charges were filed on May 8 to obtain arrest warrants, even though the papers weren't made public until Friday.

Before to this, Iyana Hutton, 33; Nenah Davis, 29; and Destiny Sims, 26 were known to have died.

Early that morning, as the three women were driving back from a concert, shots rang out in what the prosecution described as an ambush of semiautomatic shooting.

The three were not the attack's original targets, according to Tippet, as reported by the AP.

Four additional people were hurt but lived, according to officials.

Prosecutors said that despite being targeted, two other people escaped unharmed. The potential reason was not revealed.
At the scene, the women were pronounced dead.

The eight-figure estate neighborhood of Beverly Crest, which is home to many celebrities, was shaken by the violence. North of Beverly Hills is the area.

One of the suspects, Thompkins, is accused of another murder, according to officials on Friday. On Dec. 16, he is charged with murdering Julian Bynum, 30, outside an apartment building in adjacent North Hollywood.

According to the prosecution, the three defendants are accused of unique circumstances that, if proven true, might result in life without the possibility of parole.

The L.A. District Attorney's Office claimed in a statement on Friday that the circumstances included lying in wait and perpetrating numerous killings.

District Attorney George Gascón remarked, "This is another example of the widespread damage that can be done by gun violence."

'We must do more – whether it is through legislation or education -- to stop mass shootings."

The time for the arraignment will be set in the following days, according to Gascón's office.

The arrests happened as Chicago struggled with another brutal spring, which included two weekends last month when there were over ten shooting victims.