LOCAL : Robbery, Slaying Suspect Jailed

A suspect in a 40-minute robbery spree that left one victim dead was arrested this morning after he was spotted leaving a Sun Valley bar, the Los Angeles police said.

Russell Graham, 34, was arrested at 12:30 a.m. after police pulled over a pickup truck he drove away from a bar at Laurel Canyon Boulevard and Sheldon Street, Detective Al Ferrand said. Graham was being held without bail in the Foothill Division jail in Pacoima on suspicion of murder.

Ferrand said Graham is suspected of fatally shooting a 22-year-old man outside a 7-Eleven store at Woodman Avenue and Osborne Street in Panorama City on Wednesday, apparently during a robbery attempt. The victim’s name was not released.

Shortly after that shooting, shots were fired at two men standing in the yard of a home in the 12200 block of Truesdale Street in another robbery attempt, Ferrand said. Neither man was hit. Forty minutes later a market in the 10100 block of Stonehurst Avenue was robbed.

Police said they identified Graham from descriptions of the gunman and pickup provided by witnesses. Investigators watched the Sun Valley bar that he was known to frequent, and his pickup was spotted there early this morning.