Police arrest man in two Pico-Union fatal stabbings
Los Angeles police have arrested a man they believe was washing blood off his hands outside a Pico-Union home where two men were found inside with fatal stabbing wounds.
Police officers responding to a radio call of “assault with a deadly weapon" shortly after 10 a.m. New Year’s Day in the 1200 block of West 8th Street found Julio Ruiz on the side of a residence washing what seemed to be blood from his hands with a garden hose.
Ruiz was handcuffed as officers searched the home and discovered a 51-year-old man on the couch with stab wounds to his chest. Officers also found a 70-year-old man inside a bedroom with stab wounds. Paramedics rushed both victims to a hospital, where the 70-year-old victim was pronounced dead upon arrival and the younger man later succumbed to his injuries.
Rampart Division detectives say an initial investigation determined Ruiz lived there with the victims and before the stabbings had been arguing with the men. A weapon believed to be the murder weapon was found by investigators, police said.
Ruiz was booked into the LAPD jail shortly before midnight and is being held on $1-million bail. Authorities are withholding the identities of the victims until they notify their families.
-- Richard Winton
