Authorities said a teenage girl was killed after a man she was dating forced his way into a residence in Arcadia and shot her. The man then fled and attempted suicide during a shooting in Pasadena, officials said.
A witness told the Times that several people saw the Pasadena shooting, which took place on a sidewalk in broad daylight.
Around 11 a.m. Thursday, Arcadia Police responded to a call about a possible shooting in the 800 block of West Huntington Drive. The caller said a man was inside the residence and fired a gun.
Officers arrived and found a girl suffering from a gunshot wound, according to a news release released Thursday afternoon by Arcadia police. She was pronounced dead at the scene.
By the time officers arrived, the man, identified by the Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Department as Paul Anthony Cruz Jr., 20, had fled the scene, according to the release. Arcadia police did not share the victim’s name.
The case remains under investigation and is being handled by the Sheriff’s Department’s Homicide Division, according to Arcadia Police.
Authorities believe the man fled to Pasadena, where he attempted suicide about an hour later.
The sheriff’s department said Cruz was in a romantic relationship with the victim. He had “forced entry” into the Arcadia site, according to the department.
Pasadena city spokeswoman Lisa Derderian said the man was found with a self-inflicted gunshot wound in the city around 12:30 p.m. Thursday and was transported to a hospital in critical condition.
The Sheriff’s Department said he committed suicide as Pasadena Police Department officers were preparing to contact him. He was still in critical condition around 7 p.m.
Michael Amini, manager of Alliance Auto Body Works on South Arroyo Parkway, told the Times he was working across the street when the Pasadena shooting occurred. The area was “pretty busy” at the time, and there were several other witnesses, he said.
The suspect, who was being chased by police, parked his car in the Petco parking lot, walked to the sidewalk and pulled out his gun, Amini said.
After the shooting, Amini said, he saw the man lying face down on the ground. Police arrived about “five seconds” later, he said.
“It was really fast,” Amini said.
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