A 16-year-old suspected get-away driver was arrested Friday after a Southern California store worker, 60, was beaten up, run over repeatedly, and killed while trying to stop a robbery earlier this month.
Los Angeles County Sheriff’s investigators are trying to identify several other suspects seen in the vehicle during and after the April 9 incident that took the life of Kourosh “Steve” Yaghoubi, who was helping at his brother’s store in South El Monte, KABC-TV reported.
‘I was there at the last minute of his life. I saw his face. I saw his eyes.’
The suspect reportedly asked Yaghoubi for a $10 box of masks and then walked out of the Giant Discount store in the 2000 block of Durfee without paying, the station said.
Yaghoubi chased after the shoplifter, KABC said, after which Yaghoubi was physically attacked in the parking lot.
“Doors open, two other guys exit the car, and one of them punches my brother in the head, he holds his head, and he goes down,” Yaghoubi’s brother Jim told the station.
The three males then got back into the car and ran over Yaghoubi, KABC said — first as they backed out of the parking space and again as they sped off.
“The body under the car was turning, all the way from the front tire to the back tire,” Jim recalled to the station, which said he watched his brother’s life get taken away.
“I don’t know why this happened,” Jim also told KABC, adding that “I was there at the last minute of his life. I saw his face. I saw his eyes.”
Paramedics pronounced Yaghoubi dead at the scene, KTLA-TV reported.
The Los Angeles County District Attorney’s Office will determine if charges are filed against the 16-year-old male suspect, whose identity was not released, KABC said.
You can view KABC’s video report here. You can view initial video reports here and here.
Those with information about this incident are asked to contact the LASD’s Homicide Bureau at 323-890-5500, KABC said.
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El monte, Southern california, Los angeles county sheriff’s office, Suspect arrested, 16-year-old suspect, Teen suspect, Driver, Physical attack, Retail theft, Store worker killed, Hit and run, Crime
