1 Arrested In Fatal Sledgehammer Attack On Woman At South Bay College
TORRANCE, CA — A man suspected of beating a woman to death with a sledgehammer at El Camino College where she was collecting recyclables on Christmas Eve is behind bars, the Los Angeles Sheriff’s Department announced Wednesday.
Police arrested 40-year-old Jeffery Davis near the campus in connection with the fatal beating. The attack stunned the community, and questions remain as to what prompted the deadly violence targeting a woman in her 60s on a quiet college campus over the holiday break.
According to sheriff’s investigators, the attack happened just after 7 a.m. Sunday in the 16000 block of Crenshaw Boulevard in Torrance. The victim was walking her dog and collecting recyclables near the college’s gymnasium when she was attacked by a man with a sledgehammer. A passerby found her on the ground with her dog sitting by her side, KTLA reported.
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The woman was taken to a hospital, where she died on Christmas Day. The woman’s name was withheld pending notification of relatives.
Authorities recognized the suspect caught on security camera recordings
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“The person that we had an idea of who was on the security footage is, we believe, a homeless person we’ve had contact with before,” Sgt. Francisco Esqueda of El Camino College Police told KTLA. “So we were able to go to the neighboring county park where he sometimes hangs out and that’s where we found him.”
Authorities did not identify a motive for the attack nor did they announce the charges facing Davis. According to Los Angeles County jail records, Davis had been arrested in connection with a felony less than a month before the fatal attack.
Anyone with information about the attack was urged to call the Sheriff’s Homicide Bureau at 323-890-5500.
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