A 28-year-old man could face life in prison without the possibility of parole after a jury found him guilty of murder in the fatal shooting of his ex-girlfriend and her boyfriend at an apartment building in Winnetka in 2016, prosecutors announced Tuesday.
Brian Gonzalez, also known as Brian Hammons, was convicted Monday of two counts of murder, the Los Angeles County District Attorney’s Office said. His conviction also included special circumstance allegations of murder during the commission of a kidnapping and multiple murders.
The killing happened the afternoon of Jan. 17, 2016 in the 7600 block of Oso Avenue, where Gonzalez’s ex-girlfriend, 22-year-old Emily Fox, lived, according to the Los Angeles Police Department.
Gonzalez had confronted Fox and her boyfriend, 24-year-old Jerrad Scott, in the hallway, the District Attorney’s Office said.
Scott tried to flee as Fox called 911, but Gonzalez chased him and brought him back at gunpoint to Fox’s location, according to prosecutors.
That’s when Gonzalez shot both of them, authorities said.
Fox managed to tell the 911 operator that her ex-boyfriend was at her home with a gun, police said in 2016. But by the time officers arrived, they discovered the two victims unresponsive. They were pronounced dead at the scene.
The next day, LAPD identified Gonzalez, who was 24 at the time, as a suspect. They asked for the public’s help in an ongoing search.
Two days after the killing, police announced that he had been detained somewhere outside the city of Los Angeles.
A neighbor described Fox as a student at the nearby California State University, Northridge. The victim planned to go into law, the neighbor told KTLA.
Scott, who lived in La Mesa in San Diego County, left behind a son who was about a year old, one of his friends said at the time.
Jurors found Gonzalez guilty following a nine-day trial, the District Attorney’s Office said on Tuesday. He’s scheduled to be sentenced on June 4.
