2 Convicted on 11 Murder Counts in String of Crimes

One reputed gang member was convicted Monday of eight murders and another was found guilty of three murders, all of them stemming from a savage string of armored car holdups and other crimes in the mid-1990s.

A Los Angeles Superior Court jury found Bruce Millsap, 33, guilty on 23 counts, including eight counts of murder. Co-defendant Kendrick Loot, 28, was convicted on six counts, including three of murder.

A third suspect, Roshone Colston, 30, awaits trial on four murder counts. A fourth, Emanuel Brown, hanged himself in jail after being ordered to stand trial.

Prosecutors are asking the jury to sentence Millsap and Loot to death. The penalty phase of the trial is expected to begin today.

Millsap and Loot were convicted of the Nov. 30, 1995, robbery-murder of armored car driver Fernando Herrera in the Long Beach building housing Queen City Bank, and the Feb. 9, 1996, robbery-murder of armored car driver James Moon at a Carson school. The two also were convicted of the Nov. 15, 1995, killing of Ramone McKissick.

In addition, Millsap was convicted of the Nov. 3, 1996, robbery-murder of Lamont Smith; the Jan. 31, 1996, murder of Manuel Garibay, a witness against him; and the August 1996 robbery-murders of Carlos Nuno, Francisco Parocua and Patrick Barnett.

Millsap also was convicted on 15 other counts, including robbery and attempted murder. He was acquitted on a 24th count, shooting into an inhabited dwelling.

Loot also was convicted of attempted murder, robbery and attempted robbery.

Officers said the crimes ranged across Los Angeles, Orange and San Bernardino counties.

The men were described by one sheriff’s lieutenant as “super predators.”

“Their crime spree was so broad in scope, so unrepentant, so murderous, that investigators worked around the clock, seven days a week, months on end, to bring their reign of terror to an end,” homicide detectives said in a statement.