Jerrid Joseph Powell was arrested for killing three homeless people as they slept on the streets of Los Angeles and for a burglary-turned-murder.
A suspected serial killer believed to be responsible for slaughtering three homeless people on the streets of Los Angeles was identified Saturday — after investigators realized he was already in custody for a separate, fourth murder.
Jerrid Joseph Powell, 33, allegedly shot the three vulnerable men as they slept as well as a fourth man — who was not homeless — in a botched burglary during a violent four-day killing spree, police said.
Powell was arrested Wednesday for the burglary gone wrong and on Saturday, investigators connected him to the murders of the homeless individuals.
The news comes just one day after city officials announced an urgent plea for unhoused people to be on high alert for a killer “preying on the unhoused.”
“Twenty-four hours ago we announced there was a killer on the loose. Now he is in custody,” Mayor Karen Bass said at a press briefing.
Powell had been in custody since his arrest Wednesday.
