Murder Suspect Found in Custody of INS Officials

Los Angeles police Friday nabbed a suspect in the December shooting of a Sun Valley man slain in front of his brother, discovering he was already being held by immigration agents.

Homicide detectives from the North Hollywood Division arrested Silvestre Aguilar, 19, of Pacoima on suspicion of the murder of Juan Castillo, 23.

Castillo and his brother Carlos, 25, were en route to an evening party in Carlos’ Oldsmobile with two other friends Dec. 18 when they halted at a stop sign at the corner of DeGarmo Avenue and Lanark Street.

As they sat waiting, another car pulled alongside and someone opened fire with a semiautomatic gun, then drove off, leaving Juan dead and Carlos and the two other passengers injured.

LAPD Det. Mark Aragon said investigators received information connecting Aguilar to the killing and later obtained physical evidence linking him to the crime, but declined to describe the evidence.

At the time of his arrest, Aguilar was in the custody of the U.S. Immigration and Naturalization Service on Terminal Island as a result of a previous arrest during the New Year holiday period for allegedly recklessly discharging a firearm, Aragon said. It is not known whether he is a U.S. citizen, Aragon said.

Aguilar and Juan Castillo apparently belonged to rival gangs, Aragon said.

Aragon said multiple search warrants were served Friday throughout the northeast San Fernando Valley as detectives searched for additional witnesses and evidence.

The killing of Castillo devastated his family, particularly his brother, Carlos, described as his inseparable companion. A doctor initially advised the family not to tell Carlos, who lost two fingers and was hospitalized with a punctured lung, of his brother’s fate.