LOS ANGELES (CBSLA) ‐ Police say Ramon Escobar, 47, the man arrested in connection with recent attacks on homeless people in Los Angeles and Santa Monica, has now been linked to a total of seven assaults in two cities.Three of the victims ‐ two in Los Angeles and one in Santa Monica ‐ have died. Police say they recovered a wooden baseball bat and a pair of bolt cutters from Escobar’s car that are believed to have been used in the attacks.
The suspect was arrested Monday in Santa Monica following the early morning assault of a man in the 1500 block of Seventh Street. That man remains in a coma.
U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement officials said Tuesday night that Escobar had been deported six times between 1997 and 2011. ICE said in a statement that the Salvadoran national was freed from federal custody in January 2017 after an immigration court decision.
Escobar was ordered removed from the U.S. by a federal immigration judge in February 1988.