Santa Monica Suspect to Face Murder Charge

Dist. Atty. Gil Garcetti said he will file murder and attempted robbery charges today against a 21-year-old reputed gang member suspected of fatally shooting a German tourist three months ago in the shadows of a Santa Monica beachfront hotel.

Garcetti told a news conference Thursday that he has yet to decide whether to seek the death penalty for Lamont Dion Santos of Los Angeles, a fugitive who was hunted down in rural South Carolina during an ice storm last weekend.

Santos is the third person in custody in the death of Horst Fietze, 50, a painter from Loebau, Germany, who was slain during a botched robbery attempt Oct. 12.

Garcetti and Santa Monica Police Chief James T. Butts Jr. said a fourth suspect in the killing, Paul Edmund Carpenter, remains at large.

Carpenter, 21, of Los Angeles, reportedly fled after the killing and police say they have been unable to find him. He is also wanted in South Carolina for carjacking, assault with a firearm, arson and rape, Butts said.

Butts and Garcetti said detectives caught up with Santos through anonymous tips, interviews, videotaped surveillance and gang intelligence from the Los Angeles Police Department.

“This was a very, very difficult case,” Garcetti said.

Butts said that when investigators confronted Santos just after New Year’s, the suspect confessed to shooting the tourist. He said Santos agreed to return to California, but his return was delayed by storms that grounded airplanes.

Two 18-year-old women have been arrested in connection with the killing. Roshana Latiesha Roberts of Paramount has pleaded not guilty to murder charges. Tyrina Lakeesha of Los Angeles is facing proceedings in Juvenile Court because she was a minor at the time of the slaying. A hearing is scheduled next week to determine whether she should stand trial as an adult.

Police say the pair joined Santos and Carpenter in an alleged hunt for a robbery victim on the evening of Fietze’s death.

“They had come to Santa Monica in a stolen Toyota Camry with the intent of committing a robbery,” Butts said. “They robbed the first persons that they saw.”