2 Held in Officer’s Death Linked to Earlier Slaying

Two men charged in last week’s slaying of a Maywood police officer were involved in the slaying last month of a businessman who was shot to death during a robbery of his Van Nuys grocery and check-cashing store, Los Angeles police said Friday.

Both slayings were the work of a ring of mostly Salvadoran nationals who may have struck as many as 100 small businesses from Santa Ana to Pacoima during the last year, Deputy Police Chief Mark Kroeker said.

Early next week, investigators will ask prosecutors to charge Jose Luis Solorsano, 20, Carlos Juarez, 22, and Jehu Adelso Miranda, 40, all of Los Angeles, with the May 4 slaying of Lee Chul Kim, Kroeker said at a news conference.

Solorsano and Juarez were arrested earlier this week in the May 29 slaying of Maywood Officer John A. Hoglund, 46, during a grocery store robbery. Miranda was arrested Friday morning at his home, he said. A fourth suspect in the Kim case is still at large.

Kroeker said police are “completely convinced” that Solorsano and Juarez were involved in both slayings. “Beyond a shadow of a doubt, we have the right suspects,” he said. But he said he could not elaborate because an investigation is continuing.

Authorities said Juarez shot Hoglund and Solorsano, previously identified as Jose Contreras because he gave arresting officers a false name, shot Kim.

Kim, 49, died during a struggle in his Woodley Market after he returned from a bank where he had withdrawn $15,000 in cash.

After the Kim killing, detectives linked the slaying to 20 other robberies in the San Fernando Valley since November. Common elements in the cases were the descriptions of suspects, their Salvadoran accents and their method of robbing small markets and restaurants in groups of four or five. One other store owner was shot and wounded before the Kim slaying.

“Because of the ruthlessness of the guys in (the Hoglund) case,” investigators decided to see if the two killings were connected, Detective Steve Fisk said.

Detectives said they found that Solorsano and Juarez resembled two of the composite drawings of the suspects in the Kim killing.

Miranda, who apparently had no part in the Hoglund case, was arrested after he was seen earlier this week with Solorsano and Juarez. Police said Miranda is believed to have driven the getaway car in the Kim incident.

Police said they are also investigating dozens of robberies across Los Angeles and Orange counties in the last year that appear to have been the work of the loosely formed ring of Salvadoran nationals.

Edwards said the main targets of the ring have been small markets that cash checks and consequently have large amounts of cash on hand. The robbers’ haul was only a few hundred dollars in most of the robberies, but their take was $17,000 in the Pacoima robbery, Edwards said.

On Monday, the Los Angeles City Council announced a $25,000 reward for information leading to convictions in the Kim case. But Edwards said Friday that no one qualified for the reward because detectives broke the case.