(LOS ANGELES) — Authorities in Los Angeles County said they’re searching for the suspect who shoplifted from a discount store before killing a man in a hit-and-run in the store’s parking lot.
The victim was visiting his brother’s shop, Giant Discount Store in South El Monte, when, just after noon on Wednesday, a man came in and stole merchandise, the Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Department said.
The victim chased the shoplifter into the parking lot and the two started fighting, authorities said.
That’s when a second suspect got out of a dark-colored sedan and joined in with the suspect in the fight against the victim, authorities said.
The two suspects then got into the sedan and deliberately drove into the victim, hitting him several times, according to the sheriff’s office.
The victim suffered from blunt force trauma and died at the scene, authorities said.
Jim Yaghoubi said he witnessed the attack that killed his brother, who he identified as Steve Yaghoubi.
His “body under the car was turning all the way from the front tire to the back tire,” Jim Yaghoubi told Los Angeles ABC station KABC.
“I don’t know why this happened, honestly,” he said, overcome with emotion. “I was there at the last minute of his life. I saw his face. I saw his eyes.”
The sheriff’s department urges anyone with information to call its homicide bureau at 323-890-5500.
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