Santa Clarita Valley Sheriff’s Station deputies arrested a man Thursday who’s been charged in connection with a July 2022 murder, according to L.A. County Superior Court and L.A. County Sheriff’s Department records available online.
Nery Leonardo Lopez, 48, was taken into custody around 5 a.m., according to LASD booking log information.
He’s accused in the shooting death of Jose Luis Garcia, according to a criminal complaint obtained from the L.A. County District Attorney’s Office.
Court records indicated Lopez stands accused of one charge in connection with a July 17 incident: one count of felony murder, as well as a specific allegation the crime was committed with a firearm.
Information available from the sheriff’s Homicide Bureau indicates the allegation against Lopez might have occurred outside the SCV.
Homicide officials did not have any immediate comment on the case, nor were prosecutors available to explain what prompted the April 5 filing for an arrest warrant in connection with a nearly 2-year-old allegation.
SCV Sheriff’s Station officials referred all questions to the department’s Homicide Bureau.
Homicide officials said only two murders were reported on the day listed in court records for Lopez’s alleged offense — one murder happened in East Los Angeles and the other in Hawthorne.
Sheriff’s booking logs no longer list the city of residence for crime suspects.
Lopez was due Thursday morning in court on Temple Street in Downtown Los Angeles to answer to the charge.
The status of his hearing was not immediately available. LASD records indicate he’s being held in lieu of $3 million bail.
