Suspected Car Battery Thief Shot to Death
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A man allegedly trying to steal a battery from a car on a Willowbrook street was shot to death in a confrontation with a neighborhood resident, sheriff’s deputies said Tuesday.
Ray Solarzano, 24, told investigators that he shot the suspected thief because the man pointed a dark object at him that he believed was a gun, Deputy John Ashley said. Solarzano was booked on suspicion of murder pending a review by the district attorney of the shooting death Monday of Marcus Brooks, 32.
Solarzano allegedly confronted Brooks as he was trying to remove a battery from a car in the 2200 block of East Hatchway Street. Solarzano, a resident of the block, had armed himself with a .22-caliber rifle before approaching Brooks. When Brooks appeared to point the “dark object” at him, he fired several times, Ashley said.
Brooks was wounded in the buttocks and lower back and died a short time later at Martin Luther King Jr./Drew Medical Center.
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