Three men have been charged with murder in the the ambush-style killing of Latin musician Delarosa in Northridge (a neighbourhood in Los Angeles), Los Angeles County prosecutors announced.
Maria De La Rosa, 22, known professionally as Delarosa was shot to death inside a car with two other occupants early Nov 22 in Northridge when the suspects approached their parked car on Bryant Street near Tampa Avenue, demanded money and opened fire, authorities said.
Francisco Otilio Gaytan, 27, Benny LiconGomez, 27, and Eduardo Lopez, 21, all of Northridge, were each charged on Nov 26 with one felony count of murder and two felony counts of attempted second-degree robbery in the Nov 22 attack. Lopez remains a fugitive as of last week, according to prosecutors.
“This was a ruthless and targeted attack that stole the life of a young woman and artist and inflicted profound lifelong trauma on her family and the two survivors,” Los Angeles County District Attorney Nathan Hochman in a statement announcing the charges. “My Office will pursue this case aggressively to ensure those responsible are held fully accountable for this senseless and deadly violence.” If convicted of all the charges, the men face the possibility of life without parole.
Prosecutors allege Gaytan, LiconGomez and Lopez shot the three victims during a robbery shortly after 1.25am. De La Rosa succumbed to multiple gunshot wounds after paramedics rushed her to the hospital. The two other victims sustained critical injuries.
Gaytan was arrested the same day and LiconGomez was arrested Nov 23. Gaytan is due to be arraigned Jan 7 and is being held in lieu of US$2,180,000 (RM9mil) bail. LiconGomez was scheduled to be arraigned at the San Fernando courthouse on Nov 26 and was being held on $2,280,000 (RM9.42mil) bail.
De La Rosa released her first song, No me llames (Don’t Call Me) in August. The most recent post on her Instagram account, which has more than 40,000 followers, shows her with an electric guitar in a recording studio and is captioned “Ocupada cocinando en el Stu,” meaning “Busy cooking in the Stu[dio],” alluding to the upcoming release of more music.
Many people left messages expressing grief for the loss of the young performer in the comments, including several figures in the Latin music community such as music producer Jimmy Humilde and Juan Moises, the lead singer of Los Gemelos de Sinaloa.
In a message in Spanish, music producer and engineer Times J Martinez wrote that she was a young and talented musician.
“Me duele que alla sido con violencia,” he wrote, or “It hurts that it happened with violence.” – Los Angeles Times/Tribune News Service
