LOS ANGELES, Aug. 27 (UPI) -- A man originally charged with killing two dogs is believed to have killed at least four people in a series of random shootings in Los Angeles, police said.
Alexander Hernandez, 34, was charged Tuesday with the murder of a man gunned down in Pacoima last week and the attempted murder of a couple in West Hollywood. He is also suspected of killing three people shot Sunday morning in the San Fernando Valley.
"Nothing makes a homicide investigator's heart beat faster than realizing he has a serial killer. And that is what this man was," said Bill McSweeney, chief of detectives for the Los Angeles County sheriff's office. "This man is and was a serial killer.... I don't think we will ever have an adequate explanation for these terrible murders. How do you explain anything like this?"
While Hernandez had not been formally charged with Sunday's killings, Deputy Chief Kirk Albanese described him as the only suspect. The victims included a young woman driving to church with her family, a man gunned down in the Sylmar neighborhood and a woman who was waiting in her car outside a church.
Police said they found a shotgun with a pistol grip in Hernandez's home that appeared to be the gun used in the shootings.
Hernandez, who lives in Sylmar, became a suspect after a family reported that a man in a tan SUV had shot their three dogs, killing two, on Saturday. They said the man had broken down outside their home days earlier.
Last week's shootings involved a similar SUV. The couple who survived said a man shot into their car, missing them.
Hernandez was scheduled for arraignment Tuesday. The hearing was postponed when he refused to leave his cell.
