Dec 4, 2023
Serial Killer Suspect GOES DOWN After Targeted Los Angeles Attack Spree
The suspect, Jerrid Joseph Powell, connected to the killing of the four men in four days is arrested after targeting unhoused three victims around Los Angeles county. John Iadarola and Francesca Fiorentini break it down on The Damage Report.
- 5 minutes
A suspect is apparently arrested in
the killing of three unhoused men who
were shot while sleeping alone on
sidewalks or in alleys in Los Angeles.
This is Jerrid Joseph Powell,
a 33-year-old,
had apparently already been arrested for
[00:00:15]
a homicide that occurred in LA County this
week involving a follow-home robbery.
So a motive in the most recent
shootings has not yet been announced or
established, but here is what we know
about the killings that have happened.
So the first victim was a 37-year-old,
was killed at about 3 AM on Sunday.
[00:00:33]
The second victim, 62 years old,
was attacked just before 5 AM Monday.
And the third was killed
at 2:30 AM on Wednesday.
So this is distributed
across multiple days.
The home robbery shooting
occurred on Tuesday.
And Powell is accused of following
the victim from a charging station,
[00:00:49]
like an electric vehicle charging station
in West Covina to the victim's home in
San Dimas.
Quote, upon taking
the personal belongings,
the suspect senselessly shot
the victim and fled the crime scenes.
The victim, Nicholas Simbolon,
died from his injuries.
[00:01:04]
So they're investigating whether
the suspect may be linked to other cases
as well.
So this isn't, I guess,
the timeline of how people would have
expected that this would have worked.
Because most people would have
assumed that this alleged,
at this point, string of killings
of the unhoused would have been
[00:01:21]
the only thing that the person was doing.
But thankfully,
at least if this is the person who did it,
they were taken off the streets before
what could have been possibly one, or two,
or three more murders during
the intervening days.
Francesca, what do you make of this?
>> Speaker 2: I mean, it's just wild.
[00:01:37]
Every single day,
he's basically taken a life.
And yeah,
as you were talking about the pattern,
it seemed like Tuesday when he killed
this man who was charging his car,
was in the middle of
killing homeless people.
But yeah, I mean,
these are the real crimes.
[00:01:56]
These are the real criminals and
dangers to society,
especially here, I'm just gonna say in
California, that we need to be focused on.
But look, I've seen real cops,
I've seen The Wire, guys.
We know that actual dangerous people
are not always the focus of police.
[00:02:13]
It's petty theft, it's petty crime.
It's the homeless people themselves,
for the crime of being homeless, for
the crime of sleeping outdoors, right?
To say nothing of the fact that if
they had homes, they wouldn't be,
which they are, disproportionately the
victims of some of the most violent and
[00:02:32]
heinous crimes.
This is a murder.
But how many assaults, how many all kinds
of other things that they are exposed to?
But so anyway, I mean,
this is real police work.
I wish we had more of a focus on
stopping folks like this than we did on,
[00:02:47]
again, criminalizing protesters.
>> Speaker 1: Yeah, 100%.
And look, we could do both.
We can be critical of cops when they're
doing what they're not supposed to, but
also be happy that in this case,
they were able to, I guess,
relatively quickly get
the person off the streets.
[00:03:03]
I mean, I don't know.
If there hadn't been this shooting
in the home, I don't know.
Would the person still be out there
still preying on the unhoused?
>> Speaker 2: Right?
>> Speaker 1: I don't know.
These are dark hypotheticals.
But thankfully, at least this
particular killing spree, again,
alleged that this person did it,
has been stopped.
[00:03:19]
And as you pointed out, even just specific
to LA, there is a lot of violence,
as well as many other crimes that
those who are unhoused suffer.
There was a study that came out a few
months ago in the LA Times showing that
single homeless women, specifically in LA
County, 35% have been physically attacked.
[00:03:38]
20% say they were forced to take
part in unwanted sexual activity.
These are not exceptions.
This is very, very widespread.
And again, I don't know what
this person's motivations were,
if he is, in fact,
the person who committed the crimes.
We know that these sorts of attacks and
[00:03:55]
killings are commonplace in
cities throughout America.
And it's why when I see another segment by
a Jesse Waters demonizing the unhoused,
I get so angry.
Because, yes, I know it's inconvenient to
you that you have to step over a human
[00:04:10]
who's sleeping on the streets
of New York in the winter.
That's super inconvenient.
Well, you know what else is inconvenient?
Being raped, assaulted, and
murdered, that's more inconvenient.
It is way,
way worse to suffer these indignities and
crimes than to just be a thing that Jesse
Waters sees out of the window of his limo.
[00:04:31]
So anyway,
I'm glad that they caught this guy.
That does not mean that the unhoused
of LA County are now free and
clear from violence and exploitation, and
way more needs to be done to protect them.
>> Speaker 2: Yeah,
stop criminalizing homelessness.
Rein in the housing market,
for the love of God.
[00:04:48]
>> Exactly, yes.
Yeah, that definitely needs to be
a big part of the conversation.
Weirdly enough, that's not a thing
that Jesse Waters focuses on.
>> No.
>> Speaker 1: He wants to get rid
of the unhoused, but
not by making them housed.
Just get rid of them.
>> Well, I mean-
>> Put them in a camp,
[00:05:03]
probably in the desert.
>> Or by murder.
I mean, this is fine for him.
Look, this is what's so funny about it.
It's like if the homeless are the victims,
you think Jesse Water is
gonna do a whole thing about how there's
a murderer on the loose in LA and
they can't get him under control?
No, no, no, cuz he doesn't care.
Cuz that's fine.
That is the natural conclusion
of the tough on crime, so
[00:05:22]
to speak, policies,
tough on homeless people.
>> Speaker 1: Just stop being homeless.
And we'll forget the fact that you're
being beaten, and robbed, and raped,
and all of that.
Just forget all of that stuff that happens
to you and makes it so difficult for
you to exist.
Just stop being homeless.
[00:05:39]
Overcome those circumstances,
in a way that Jesse Waters would never be
able to if he was in these conditions.
You should rise above what he would find
utterly unbearable after five minutes.
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The Damage Report: December 4, 2023
Hosts: John Iadarola Guests: Francesca Fiorentini
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