The family of 27-year-old Benjamin Ryan Castaneda stood alongside Los Angeles County Supervisor Janice Hahn and top officials from the Los Angeles County Sheriff\u2019s Department on Monday morning, pleading for the public\u2019s help in finding the person responsible for Castaneda\u2019s murder.<\/p>\n
Castaneda, a Navy veteran and beloved older brother, was shot and killed on June 2 while driving near his home in West Whittier-Los Nietos.\u00a0<\/p>\n
Authorities believe the shooting was targeted, but no arrests have been made.<\/p>\n
Hahn was joined by Assistant Sheriff Jason Skeen and Homicide Lieutenant Steve DeJong, who announced a $20,000 reward for information leading to the arrest and conviction of those responsible.\u00a0<\/p>\n
The reward was approved by the Board of Supervisors on July 8.<\/p>\n
According to investigators, at around 11:20 p.m. on June 2, Castaneda left his apartment at the Citrus Court complex and drove northbound on Broadway Avenue in his silver 2004 Acura.\u00a0<\/p>\n
Surveillance footage later obtained by detectives shows a champagne or gold-colored four-door sedan pulling up alongside Castaneda\u2019s vehicle.<\/p>\n
After a brief exchange of words, someone inside the suspect\u2019s car fired a single shot into Castaneda\u2019s driver-side window.\u00a0<\/p>\n
Wounded in the upper torso, Castaneda managed to drive a short distance back toward his apartment complex but crashed into a curb and a boulder near the entrance gate. He was transported to a nearby hospital, where he died from his injuries.<\/p>\n
Although no motives have been released, officials explained that the intersection is highly transited, leading them to believe that someone in the area must have seen something.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe are urging those who have any information or know anything about Benjamin’s murder to please come forward. The community is an invaluable partner in solving crimes. They are the eyes and the ears of the streets and we need their help to solve Benjamin’s senseless murder,\u201d said Lieutenant DeJong, emphasizing the community’s vital role.\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u201cMany times in Los Angeles County, things become statistics. Murders happen regularly in LA County,\u201d said Supervisor Hahn.\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u201cBut for the family to have the courage to be here today, it\u2019s important that the public knows Benjamin was a real human being who had a real family who loved him. He was a son, a grandson, a friend, and the light of his grandmother\u2019s life. He had a whole future ahead of him\u201d she added.<\/p>\n
Castaneda\u2019s mother, Annelle, spoke through tears as she recalled her last conversation with her son. He had recently told her he was thinking about settling down and getting married.<\/p>\n
\u201cThat’s what a mother wants for her children, to be happy,\u201d she said. \u201cI was robbed of that. My son was robbed of the most valuable thing that we have, his life.\u201d<\/p>\n
Castaneda served in the U.S. Navy before returning home and working multiple jobs to support himself and his younger siblings. He was described by loved ones as a devoted brother who loved taking his family to the movies and playing basketball with friends.\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u201cIf you have any information, please come forward and don’t let my son be a statistic. He’s more than that,\u201d added Annelle.<\/p>\n
Detectives released a surveillance video showing the suspect vehicle fleeing the scene in hopes of prompting tips.<\/p>\n
Anyone with information is urged to contact Detective Gail Durham or Sergeant Frank Alvarado of the LASD Homicide Bureau at (323) 890-5500.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"The family of 27-year-old Benjamin Ryan Castaneda stood alongside Los Angeles County Supervisor Janice Hahn and top officials…\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":81790,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[5123],"tags":[1582,276,1035,2961,224,49570,5337,39412],"class_list":{"0":"post-81789","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-los-angeles","8":"tag-ca","9":"tag-california","10":"tag-crime-and-courts","11":"tag-la","12":"tag-los-angeles","13":"tag-los-angeles-county-sheriffs-department","14":"tag-losangeles","15":"tag-whittier"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@us\/114893716463647134","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/81789","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=81789"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/81789\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/81790"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=81789"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=81789"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=81789"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}