3 Arrested in Shooting Death of Reseda Disc Jockey

Los Angeles police arrested three men, including two suspected gang members, Friday in the slaying of a 41-year-old Reseda man earlier this month.

Erin Blunt, 24, of Carson; Frederick Kelly, 20, and Roger Moore Jr., 20, both of Compton, were arrested in the killing of Joseph Brosta, said Detective Phil Quartararo of the West Valley Division. They are being held without bail at the West Valley Jail.

Brosta, a self-employed disc jockey, was found shot to death in an alley behind his house in the 7900 block of White Oak Avenue about 2:30 a.m. Oct. 15, Quartararo said. He had been shot once in the chest with a shotgun.

Quartararo said Brosta was killed so that the three men could take his van, which was filled with expensive stereo equipment.

Shortly before Brosta’s body was found, police had chased two men in his 1977 Dodge van, Quartararo said. He said officers, responding to an unrelated call, were trying to pass the van on the San Diego Freeway near Century Boulevard in Westchester when its driver rammed their car and sped away.

The officers chased the van south on La Cienega Boulevard, then east on Century Boulevard, before the men abandoned the vehicle on Buford Avenue and escaped on foot, Quartararo said.

Evidence found inside the van led to the arrest Friday of Kelly and Moore, who Quartararo said are members of a Compton street gang. He would not elaborate on what evidence was found.

The men were arrested about 10 a.m. at an apartment in Long Beach, Quartararo said. Acting on information received from the two suspects, police arrested Blunt an hour later in Carson. He was spotted by police in his car at Del Amo Boulevard and Central Avenue, Quartararo said.

Authorities believe that Moore shot Brosta, Quartararo said, but he would not disclose why.

He said Blunt, also a disc jockey, knew Brosta. He said Blunt also was aware that Brosta kept thousands of dollars worth of stereo equipment in his van. Brosta worked as a disc jockey at various social events, Quartararo said.

Brosta had just returned home from a dance at St. Francis High School and Seminary in La Canada Flintridge the night he was killed, police said.