A suspected hit-and-run driver who killed two people in downtown Long Beach on Sunday is also responsible for a deadly crash that occurred just three months earlier, prosecutors alleged in court on Wednesday.
Ahkeyajahniq Owens, a 24-year-old Long Beach woman, was in court to face a recently filed charge of vehicular manslaughter with gross negligence for allegedly striking a bicyclist who was attempting to make a left turn on Fourth Street near Bonito Avenue in October.
During the routine hearing, Owens pleaded not guilty to the charge, but in a surprise twist, prosecutors mentioned near the end of the proceeding that Owens is also believed to be responsible for Sunday’s high-speed crash at Sixth Street and Atlantic Avenue.
They alleged that video and eyewitness statements show she was “speeding over 100 mph” and “running red lights” before slamming into two cars — killing two people and injuring three others.
Owens has not been charged in that crash. Deputy District Attorney Teresa Milligan brought it up as she advocated for Owens to be held without bail on the charge stemming from the earlier collision.
Owens, she argued, is “a huge risk to the community.”
Milligan said a witness described Owens driving at 100 mph when she hit 35-year-old Raul Augustin Galloppa along Fourth Street on the evening of Oct. 6.
She was initially arrested on suspicion of misdemeanor reckless driving and quickly released without bail. Owens wasn’t held on more serious charges because she remained at the scene and Galloppa did not die from his injuries until two weeks later, leaving reckless driving as “the only applicable arrest charge the evening of the crash,” LBPD Sgt. Bradford Stein said.
While free, Milligan said, Owens killed 24-year-old Bobbi Smith and 21-year-old Gilberto Lopez in the Atlantic Avenue crash on Sunday.
Smith was “a light in the lives of so many people,” her cousin Jazmani Adams wrote on a GoFundMe to cover Smith’s funeral costs.
Owens was taken into custody on Tuesday — two days after the crash — when she went to Long Beach Police Department headquarters to report the 2021 BMW sedan stolen, Milligan said. Eyewitnesses, however, told authorities that Owens was driving that night, according to Milligan.
Owens’ public defender, Marie Elizabeth Lui, contended that her client actually went into the police station to turn herself in after she was notified of a warrant for her arrest in connection with the October crash.
At the end of Wednesday’s hearing, a judge ordered Owens held on $200,000 bail. It’s unclear when prosecutors might file charges in Sunday’s wreck. The felony vehicular manslaughter charge for the October crash — upgraded from the reckless driving misdemeanor — was filed yesterday, records show.
She currently faces a maximum penalty of six years in prison. She could face additional time for the second crash. Police said they’ll forward their evidence to the District Attorney’s office to decide on charges sometime next week.
Editor’s note: This story was updated Friday, Jan. 9, with information from police about Owens’ city of residence and the circumstances around her arrest in October.