A 13-year-old girl was expelled and killed during a violent car theft over the weekend in Pico Rivera, authorities said.
The girl waited in the family van with her three siblings as her parents stopped at the La Mano Tortilleria restaurant near Whittier Boulevard and Durfee Avenue around 2 p.m. Sunday, the Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Department said in a statement. of press.
While the couple was inside the restaurant, sheriff’s officials said a 26-year-old Los Angeles man jumped into the front seat of the vehicle, which was left in operation.
When the man, identified by the deputies as José Elias Aguilar, noticed the children inside, he shouted: “Vamanos!” and the side doors of the truck snapped open, authorities said. But before the brothers, ages 8, 11, 13, and 18, could safely get out of the vehicle, Aguilar rushed.
The older girl briefly fought Aguilar before she jumped out of the moving van, authorities said. Her 11-year-old brother was also able to jump out of the vehicle. Both suffered minor injuries, authorities said.
But Aguilar then accelerated west on Whittier Boulevard with the 13-year-old girl and her 8-year-old brother still in the van, agents said. On Deland Avenue and Whittier Boulevard, Aguilar pushed the boy out of the vehicle, according to the press release. The boy suffered serious injuries and was taken to a hospital, authorities said.
Aguilar then continued driving, accelerating to approximately 60 mph. At some point, the girl was ejected from the vehicle and hit a stationary object, according to the sheriff’s statement. She was pronounced dead at the scene.
After throwing the girl out of the vehicle, Aguilar continued to drive west on Whittier Boulevard, where he crashed into another vehicle, authorities said. She left the scene of the accident and then drove north on Rosemead Boulevard, where the stolen van was disabled in El Monte.
The deputies said that Aguilar tried to rob a man when he got out of his vehicle, while the man’s wife and son were still inside. The men struggled for control of the car for about 100 yards before the vehicle collided with a nearby bridge, authorities said.
Aguilar ran to the disabled van to try to escape, but several nearby street vendors, who had seen the attempted car theft, detained him until officers arrived, according to the statement.
Aguilar, who was treated at a hospital for injuries sustained during the accident, was arrested on suspicion of car theft, murder and kidnapping, the Sheriff’s Department said. According to court records, he is currently on probation and was recently arrested and released on bail for serious possession of a dagger and vandalism.
