Sylmar resident, Alexander Hernandez, 34, has been charged three additional murders and five attempted murders,on top of previous charges from the series of shootings that occurred over a five day period last summer. Hernandez was previously charged with murder of a Pacoima man on Aug.21, as he was driving his pickup truck to work.
Gilardo Morales, 48 was found slumped over with his truck still running in an intersection. Hernandez was also charged in the attempted murder of a woman on Aug. 20 in Atwater Village as she was driving to work. The L.A. County District Attorney’s office has now charged Hernandez with the additional series of shootings that occured on Sunday, Aug. 24.
It was on that early Sunday morning, that residents who lived the city of San Fernando, Pacoima and Sylmar were horrified to find that family members on their way to church were shot at and killed.
Hernandez is now officially charged with with the Aug. 24 murders of Gloria Tovar, 59 and Michael Planells, 29. Tovar was gunned down while waiting in her car. She was in her car waiting to pick up a fellow church member for early morning Mass at Mary Immaculate Church in Pacoima.
Planells was shot and killed in the parking lot at Sylmar Recreational Park where nearby residents said he was picking up cans.
Hernandez is suspected to have continued a killing spree targeting a family en route to Santa Rosa Church during that same early morning. Mariana Franco, 23 was shot and killed while she was in the car with her parents and brother and sister. Her father was also shot but survived. Hernandez is now charged with Franco’s murder and the attempted murder of her four remaining family members. The family had pulled their car over to avoid the erratic driver behind them. But when they pulled over the suspect pulled alongside them and opened fire.
The L.A. District Attorney’s office reports in all, Hernandez is charged with 22 counts:
*Four counts of capital murder
*Severn counts of attempted murder
*Three counts of cruelty to an animal
*One count of possession of a firearm by a felon
*One count of Possession of ammunition by a felon
*Two counts of discharge of a firearm with gross negligence
Hernandez has four prior convictions that including possession for sale of methamphetamine, possession of a controlled substance with a firearm and possession of a firearm by a felon.
The District Attorney indicates that the special circumstances of multiple murders and shooting from an occupied vehicle make Hernandez eligible for the death penalty. He is being held without bail.