An 18-year-old San Pedro woman faces charges of murder and attempted murder after police accused her of committing two shootings, including one at a bar that left a man dead and two others wounded in January, authorities said Monday, March 11.
Estrella Rojas was taken into custody Thursday, March 7, by Los Angeles Police Department South Bureau Homicide detectives with help from the Harbor Division Gang Enforcement Detail, police said. She was booked on suspicion of murder and three counts of attempted murder and was being held on no bail.
How Rojas was identified as the suspect in the two shootings was not disclosed by Los Angeles police.
Besides the bar shooting, Rojas was also identified as the suspect in a Jan. 6 shooting in which a 19-year-old man escaped injury, though his car was hit, police said. Police didn’t immediately disclose the location of the Jan. 6 shooting, in which the victim was accosted by two people and was attempting to drive away when a suspect opened fire.
She faces one count of murder and three counts of attempted murder with an additional allegation of personally using a firearm during the crimes, according to court records. Her first court appearance was scheduled for Monday, but it wasn’t yet known whether she entered a plea or had an attorney who could speak on her behalf.
On Jan. 20, Rojas allegedly fired shots in the Machista Bar, 952 S. Pacific St., during a dispute, killing a 33-year-old man and wounding two others – a 35-year-old woman and a 44-year-old man, police said.
The deceased victim was identified by officials as Tyrone Tyars. Family members, at a press conference days after the shooting aired by ABC7, said that Tyars, a father of two, received an urgent call from his girlfriend that a brawl was taking place at the bar and that he was shot after he arrived to pick her up.
“He didn’t come for anything else and it’s very heartbreaking as a mother to have to deal with this,” Tyars’ mother, Ira McGrady told reporters during a news conference days after the shooting.
What sparked the fight that led to the shooting was not known.
Records show Rojas was sentenced to three days in county jail and one year of probation in November after pleading no contest to a misdemeanor charge of carrying a concealed weapon.