3 Found Shot to Death in Highland Park Yard

Three people, including an off-duty Los Angeles police officer, were shot to death in a Highland Park frontyard Wednesday morning, police said.

Los Angeles police said that when Northeast patrol officers responded to a report of gunshots at 10:30 Wednesday morning in the 700 block of North Avenue 64, they found a young man standing in the doorway of a house and three bodies sprawled before him.

The suspect, who was on the phone, “indicated that his parents had been shot” and was taken into custody, police spokesman Sgt. William Guerrero said.

By Wednesday evening, police had released the identity of two of the three victims: LAPD Officer John Elkins, 58, a 26-year veteran of the force who worked front desk security at Parker Center, and Douglas Bowles, 33, of Los Angeles.

They did not disclose the name of the woman victim or the suspect, nor would they confirm the relationship between the victims and the suspect.

Neighbors reported hearing a woman scream Wednesday morning and what sounded like four shotgun blasts.

Rene Montijo said he was driving down the street when he heard the gunshots and saw the suspect fire at someone on the ground. Police arrived almost immediately and the man surrendered without incident.

Neighbors said the suspect, who is in his early 20s, often acted strangely.

He would lie in the front yard in his underwear when it rained, curse at people driving by and stand in the doorway waving a saw blade, they said.

He played loud rock music, warned that the world was ending during this winter’s windstorms and shouted at people when he walked through a nearby park, neighbors said.

“We just stayed away from him,” said Jesse Garcia, adding that he had seen the man chasing his father with a shovel a few months ago. It was unclear if the suspect lived alone, but neighbors said his parents were frequently at the house.