On Thursday, Los Angeles County Sheriff Robert Luna held a press conference on his department's investigation into the murder of Saith Mendez, a 13-year-old boy, who was shot on August 23.
00:00Good morning to all of you, and as always, thank you for covering this very important story and request that we're going to be making on behalf of our department and Clara, the victim's mother.
00:22Thank you all for being here today to help us bring attention to this very tragic and senseless murder of 13-year-old Saith Mendez.
00:36I am joined up here today by Homicide Bureau Captain Art Spencer, Lieutenant Mike Modica, and the lead investigators who have done an amazing job on this case, just relentless investigation up to this point to identify the suspect in this case.
00:55Detectives Chris Marisi and Annie Ng.
01:01From our Pico Rivera station where this tragic incident happened, this tragic murder happened, we have Captain Jose Hernandez from the city of Pico Rivera and our operations lieutenant there as well.
01:14I want to acknowledge with me here today also Mayor John Garcia from the city of Pico Rivera and city manager Steve Carmona who have joined us, and they're not only here to support the family and our efforts, but they're amazing partners as we have contracted law enforcement services for the city of Pico Rivera.
01:36But probably most importantly, we are accompanied here this morning by Saith Mendez's mother, Clara Mendez.
01:48She will not be speaking today, but we asked her to be here.
01:53She chose to be here.
01:55And please respect her space.
01:58I cannot tell you from just talking with her how difficult it is for her to be going through this as a mother who lost.
02:06Her child.
02:10And Clara, on behalf of all of us here at the Los Angeles County Sheriff's Department and the city of Pico Rivera, like I told you when I met with you a couple of minutes ago, yes, we deal with these kind of incidences once in a while.
02:28But this one is a little different when we lose the life of a 13-year-old boy, just like this and the way I'll describe it.
02:37So we're so sorry for your tremendous loss.
02:41So we are here today asking for your help to locate the suspect responsible for Saith's murder.
02:50On the monitors on either side of me, behind me, are several photos of Saith, a young man whose life was taken way, way too soon.
03:04Who had a bright light, who had a bright and promising future, and an incredible young man.
03:14Saith was one of five children.
03:17He has three adult siblings and one younger sister.
03:22Saith enjoyed playing video games and playing basketball with his friends from the neighborhood.
03:27On the evening of Saturday, July 23rd, at approximately 11.35 p.m., Saith was with his mother while she was working a night shift as a gas station attendant at the gas station where this occurred.
03:48While waiting for his mother, while waiting in his mother's vehicle, Saith decided to briefly enter the gas station to speak to his mother.
03:59After their conversation, he walked away from the gas station.
04:04Moments after Saith left the gas station, a tan four-door vehicle drove into the gas station and parked next to a gas pump.
04:14The driver exited the vehicle, approached the service window, and began talking with Clara, the mom.
04:24The male suspect, who remained in the vehicle, was seen exiting the rear passenger seat and lingering around the area.
04:32That male suspect, that male suspect, has now been identified as Andres Chavez, a 20-year-old male Hispanic whose photos are shown on the monitor here to my left.
04:47When Saith walked back towards the gas station, he walked past suspect Chavez.
04:54Saith did not engage with the suspect.
04:57And from what we can tell, there was no confrontation between them before the shooting occurred.
05:06Unprovoked, and I repeat that, unprovoked, suspect Chavez drew a firearm, took several steps towards Saith, and shot him at close range.
05:27After Saith collapsed to the ground, suspect Chavez proceeded to stand over him and fire multiple rounds into Saith.
05:40Following the shooting, suspect Chavez fled on foot into a nearby residential area.
05:47Deputies from the Pico Rivera station were quickly dispatched to the scene.
05:51Upon their arrival, they immediately began life-saving measures to try and save Saith's life.
05:59And they also called for the Los Angeles County Fire Department to assist them.
06:06Despite the deputies and the fire department personnel's efforts to save Saith's life, he sadly succumbed to his injuries.
06:14The driver of the tan vehicle and a female passenger remained at the scene.
06:22Both were detained for questioning and later release pending further investigation.
06:31Based on suspect Chavez's violent actions and willingness to use a firearm without provocation,
06:38he should be considered armed and dangerous.
06:41We are here today for two reasons.
06:46First, to seek justice for Saith and his family.
06:52Second, to get this violent individual who committed this very cowardly act off of our streets.
07:01We are asking for your help.
07:05It's sad that I have to describe these actions the way I have in front of the family.
07:11But we talked to them about it beforehand.
07:15And what I didn't mention is that the mother witnessed everything I just described.
07:22If you can imagine that.
07:25So we are asking for your help because we believe somebody in the community knows where suspect Chavez is right now.
07:32If you have any information that could lead to his arrest, we urge you to come forward and contact our homicide investigators at 323-890-5500.
07:47And if you wish to remain anonymous, you can always contact Crime Stoppers.
07:53If you see him, do not approach him.
07:58Immediately dial 911 and notify your local law enforcement agency if it's not in our sheriff's jurisdiction.
08:05Our community is an essential partner in solving almost every crime that we respond and investigate.
08:16You are our eyes and ears in our communities.
08:20Your information, no matter how small it may seem, may make a huge difference and can bring justice to the Mendez family.
08:28I do want to take a moment to thank our homicide investigators and assisting units who have been working around the clock on this case because their dedication and tireless efforts have been able to identify the suspect that we're identifying today, suspect Chavez.
08:47Once suspect Chavez is apprehended, homicide investigators will present this case to the Los Angeles County District Attorney's Office for their filing consideration.
09:00And just to take a pause to the Mendez family and the Pico Rivera community, we want you to know that we will not rest, will not rest until this individual is in custody and justice is served.
09:15We are committed to keeping our community safe and bringing closure to those that are in mourning, specifically mom and the family.
09:25What I'm going to do now is I'm going to introduce the mayor of Pico Rivera, John Garcia, and then after that, I'll return to the podium to take any questions that you may have.
09:41Thank you, Sheriff Luna.
09:43Good morning.
09:43I'm John Garcia, the mayor, city of Pico Rivera.
09:47On behalf of the city council, I first want to thank Sheriff Robert Luna for his leadership and the dedicated men and women of the Los Angeles County Sheriff's Department for their tireless work in help keeping our community safe.
10:06We are heartbroken by the tragic loss of 13-year-old Saeed in our city.
10:11And only days before another life was taken at a local gas station.
10:20While these incidents are unrelated, they are deeply felt by every resident in Pico Rivera.
10:27To the families of these victims, we extend our heartfelt condolences.
10:37No family should ever have to endure this kind of pain.
10:42No parent should ever have to bury a child.
10:45Let me be clear, the safety of Pico Rivera residents and business owners is our highest priority.
10:53The city council has directed our city manager to provide all necessary resources to assist the sheriff's department in bringing those responsible to justice.
11:07We stand united with our law enforcement partners in our community to make sure that there is no violence in our city of Pico Rivera.
11:22Thank you, Mayor, for being here and your partnership.
11:23Now I'm ready for any questions that you may have.
11:24Yes, ma'am.
11:25Sheriff, one of the two people who were in that car, when they were taken in for questioning, obviously they know this man.
11:43What did they say?
11:44What did they say?
11:45Are you able to disclose any of that conversation and what they believe his motive might have been?
11:51That's still part of our investigation.
11:53Obviously, I said earlier the detectives have worked really hard putting this just tragic puzzle together.
12:02But everything you asked, all good questions, those are everything that we're going to present to the DA.
12:09And when we catch this individual and take him to court, a lot of those details will be given when at the appropriate time.
12:16And I don't mean to sound evasive with my answers, but please remember right now we're supporting the family.
12:23Our next priority is to get this very dangerous and violent person off the street.
12:28But once we make the arrest, the next goal is to prosecute him or at least turn everything over to the DA's office so they can prosecute him.
12:37So he probably, hopefully, doesn't see the light of day anymore after committing something this heinous.
12:42In a follow-up to that, does it seem like the man who was in the car with him was trying to be some sort of a distraction?
12:49Was there any connection between the other two people in the car and this crime?
12:55Yeah, that's all part of the investigation, interviews that are being conducted.
12:59And I have faith that our homicide detectives will, at the right time, will bring all that forward and present the best case possible.
13:07We have some pretty amazing homicide detectives that work for us.
13:10They'll put it all together for us.
13:12All excellent questions, by the way.
13:15Yes, ma'am.
13:16My understanding is that he has an arrest and conviction up in Bakersfield.
13:27And that's as an adult.
13:31In regards to a juvenile, we're still looking at that.
13:34There will be more information there as time goes on.
13:37What was that conviction for?
13:39Are you able to, was it for a violent crime?
13:42I believe it was for a violent assault.
13:47Does he have any gang affiliations that you know of?
13:50That is part of the investigation.
13:52Highly likely, yes.
13:53And that's, I'm talking about the suspect.
13:55Victim had nothing to do with gangs.
13:58Do you believe that he's still in the area?
14:02We are, we believe he may be.
14:04But again, that's why we're here, asking for the public's help, our community's help.
14:09Because somebody knows him.
14:11There are people that know this guy.
14:13They know where he's at.
14:14They need to call us.
14:16I mean, to murder an innocent 13-year-old in front of his mother the way he did.
14:21We need to, we as a community, this is completely unacceptable.
14:26We need to get this guy off the streets.
14:28Is that photo surveillance, a surveillance image from the gas station of that night?
14:33Or is that an unrelated incident when he was here?
14:37I'm just going to say it was within the area.
14:40I'll leave it at that for now.
14:44All right.
14:45Any other questions?
14:47If anyone wants to do stuff in Spanish, talk to Nicole.
14:50We'll do that off to the side.
14:52And again, thank you for covering this.
14:54And I really urge you to please help us get this individual off the street.
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