Two men who were already in custody for unrelated cases have been charged with murder in connection with a 2017 party bus shooting in Santa Monica that killed a woman and wounded several other people, police announced Wednesday.
Deommi De La Cruz, 28, of Compton, was killed in the shooting that occurred just before 1 a.m. Nov. 4, 2017, on Ocean Avenue near Colorado Boulevard, officials said.
The defendants were identified by Santa Monica police as Cameron Lee, 23, and Ron Simmons, 21. Their places of residence were not immediately available.
In addition to murder, both men were charged with shooting at an occupied dwelling or motor vehicle and attempted murder, along with gang and gun allegations, according to the Los Angeles County District Attorney’s Office, which reported that Simmons was also charged with possession of a firearm by a felon.
Simmons is scheduled to be arraigned Nov. 6 at the Airport Branch Courthouse, officials said. It was unclear if Lee will also be arraigned on that date.
Officers responded to a report of shots fired and arrived to find a victim on Ocean Avenue, police said.
An involved bus was driven to Santa Monica police headquarters with additional gunshot victims on board, police said.
“Three victims were treated and transported to a local hospital for treatment,” according to a police statement. “A fourth victim suffered minor injuries but was not transported to the hospital. One of the victims succumbed to her injuries due to a gunshot wound and two additional victims … (were) hospitalized in stable condition.”
According to police, a bus carrying a large group had parked … and several occupants exited and got into a fight with people who were on another bus that was parked nearby.
Several suspects fired rounds into one of the buses, striking three people inside and another on Ocean Avenue, police said.
“Santa Monica Criminal Investigations Division and partnering agencies worked relentlessly to identify the suspects of this shooting,” police said. “Their identities were determined and both were found to be in custody on unrelated cases.”
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