NORTH HILLS : Reseda Man Held in Gang-Related Slaying

A suspect has been arrested in the slaying of a 33-year-old Van Nuys man whose body was discovered in the hallway of a North Hills apartment last month, Los Angeles police said Wednesday.

Cubie Hayes, 21, was taken into custody at his Reseda home Tuesday in connection with the gang-related killing of Curtis Jefferson, 33, of Van Nuys, LAPD Detective Marshall White said. Officers found Jefferson’s body Feb. 4 in the second-floor hallway of an apartment building in the 15100 block of Parthenia Street.

Jefferson had suffered a single gunshot wound to his head and was pronounced dead at the scene, White said. The arrest of Hayes brings to three the number of murder cases that homicide detectives have cleared this year in the northwest San Fernando Valley, where, so far, four people have been slain.

Two teen-age boys were charged with murder over the last week in the gang-related killing of 18-year-old Alex Boroomi, who died Jan. 2, after being shot while riding in a car with friends in Northridge.

Another gang-related killing was wrapped up Feb. 18, when patrol officers arrested 19-year-old Eric Herdliska who was wanted in the Jan. 21 slaying of Alex Aguirre, 25, at a North Hills apartment complex. Herdliska is accused of shooting Aguirre, a fellow gang member, in the chest over a $20 narcotics debt.

Detectives are still searching for clues in the Feb. 23 killing of Thomas Steen, 25, of Panorama City, who was fatally shot by a passerby as he sat in a parked van with friends, White said.