Suspect charged in Northridge boarding home shootings

A 31-year-old felon has been charged with capital murder in the fatal shootings of four people outside a Northridge boarding home in December.  

Ka Pasasouk was also charged Thursday with one count of attempted murder, five counts of assault with a semiautomatic firearm and possession of a firearm by a felon with five prior convictions, according to the Los Angeles County district attorney's office. The complaint also claims personal discharge of a handgun and the special circumstance of multiple murders.  

The charges are related to the Dec. 2 slayings of Amanda Ghossein, 24, of Monterey Park; Jennifer Kim, 26, of Montebello; Robert Calabia, 34, of Los Angeles; and Teofilo Navales, 49, of Castaic.  

Detectives have not revealed any information about a possible motive in the case, but law enforcement sources told The Times that the killings appear to have stemmed from a dispute over personal property, including a computer.  

The suspect is one of four people arrested in connection with the slayings but the only one charged with gunning down all four victims, prosecutors said.

Pasasouk is scheduled to be arraigned Jan. 25 at Los Angeles County Superior Court and is being held without bail. Prosecutors said they will decide later whether to seek the death penalty against him.

In the days after the shootings, the district attorney's office said it erred in allowing Pasasouk to receive drug treatment instead of prison time during a prior court hearing. He was in Van Nuys Superior court in September after being arrested on suspicion of drug possession

He was on probation at the time, and the county Probation Department had urged that he be sent back to state prison for "long-term detention" because of his lengthy criminal record.

But prosecutors told the judge that Pasasouk was eligible for a drug diversion program under Proposition 36. The judge ordered him to drug treatment rather than prison.

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-- Adolfo Flores

Photo:  Police respond to a report of a shooting at a Northridge boarding house on Dec. 2. Credit: Francine Orr / Los Angeles Times