LOS ANGELES (AP) — Police have made multiple arrests in connection with the Halloween hit-and-run deaths of three teenage girls who were out trick-or-treating in a Los Angeles suburb, authorities said Sunday.
Santa Ana police said officers made the arrests as of Sunday morning. They declined to provide additional details ahead of a news conference scheduled for Monday.
Authorities say 13-year-old twin sisters and a 13-year-old friend were struck and killed Friday night in a Santa Ana crosswalk after they went out trick-or-treating. A damaged black Honda SUV was found a short distance from where the collision occurred.
A witness told the Los Angeles Times the girls were wearing costumes with black leggings and dark clothing when they were hit in a crosswalk near an elementary school about 6:45 p.m. Friday.
Two of them were declared dead immediately, and a third died as paramedics prepared to take her to a hospital, Orange County fire Capt. Steve Concialdi said. The twin sisters were Lexi and Lexandra Perez, and the third victim was Andrea Gonzalez, the Orange County Sheriff’s Department said.
Sharon Stewart, who cuts hair at a nearby barber shop, told the Times that she was eating outside when she heard what sounded like a terrible crash and screaming. She said she turned around and saw a car leaving and people yelling, so she got in her car and followed.
Stewart said she saw a young man run from the scene and heard him yelling at what she thought was his companion.
Maria Ramirez, 14, who lives about a half block from where the hit-and-run occurred, told The Orange County Register that she attended middle school with the twins. She last saw them at school Friday, she said.
“I can’t believe it happened,” Ramirez said of the deaths of her friends, while she gathered late Friday night on the sidewalk with dozens of onlookers. “They were fun, good girls.”
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