Whittier police have apprehended and charged a suspect who shot a woman to death at the Kohl's located at the Whittwood Shopping in the City of Whittier according to a Whittier PD press release.
The release said that Whittier detectives identified the suspect and arrested him in the Barstow area without incident. He is currently at the Whittier jail where he booked and processed.
The shooting happened yesterday, Tuesday December 22, 2020 at 530 pm in front of a lot of horrified witnesses that included children. The witnesses who spoke to police said the man and the woman began arguing and the man pulled out a gun and began shooting the woman in front of their 7 year old son, fleeing afterward.
Whittier PD released a photo of the suspect but has not revealed any other part of his identity.
Update 1: A witness who was at the Old Navy store at the time said a girl ran in screaming and crying saying there was a man at the shopping center shooting people. The witness said the store's employees ordered everyone to the back of the store for their safety. She said they were kept there for an hour until it was deemed safe enough to let them leave. The witness, identified on Nextdoor as Margaret Flores, a resident of the City of Whittier, said there was SWAT and helicopters crawling all over the Whittwood Town Center and said that the news station Channel 11 was there.
Another witness posted to the app that the large number of SWAT reminded her of a war scene, saying she had been followed into Whittwood Towncenters by three law enforcement vehicles. She said that she saw a lot of people fleeing the scene with the suspect leaving in a silver Nissan.
The shooting has sparked a backlash against locals who support defunding the police department with a new debate being sparked across social media. Witnesses said the shooting occurred at the register as they were being checked out.
Update 2: Sources are saying the shooter had posted disturbing videos to Facebook before shooting his wife. The suspect is identified on Facebook as Enrique Acosta, a resident of the unincorporated part of Whittier. A look at the man's facebook page however did not show any significant videos. All it has a was a couple of birthday montages. The page looked like it had not been used that much and looking at the friends list, reveals he had not friended anyone on Facebook.
Whittier Police are saying Acosta is 41 years old. His bail has been set at 1 million dollars and he is being charged with murder.
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