2 Arrested in Killing of Ex-Police Explorer

Police have arrested two teenage gang members in the shooting death of a 25-year-old former Los Angeles Police Explorer outside a supermarket last week.

Loli Casteneda and a friend were leaving the Ralphs at Vermont Avenue and Adams Boulevard shortly before midnight Thursday when three men followed them to their car.

Police said a surveillance tape from the store showed that the suspects walked up to the passenger side of the car and fired one round at Casteneda, who was driving. Wounded in the upper torso, he drove a short distance in the parking lot and then phoned for help. He died at a local hospital.

Police arrested two suspects, 17 and 18 years old, nearby and are holding another, who is 21, for questioning. Los Angeles Police Department investigators said the three are gang members. Their names were not released.

Casteneda had recently begun the application process to become an LAPD officer.