One week after a woman was killed by a stray bullet while heading to her car in Downtown Long Beach, police have arrested the man they believe is responsible for pulling the trigger.

Detectives took 42-year-old Thomas McCreary into custody in Los Angeles yesterday after serving search warrants in Sylmar and L.A. He is being held on $2 million bail on suspicion of murdering 24-year-old Anna Perez.

“Thank God. I have chills,” Perez’s friend Katie Michelle Sayre said after hearing news of the arrest.

Police said there is no previous connection between McCreary and Perez. She was killed by gunfire when McCreary started shooting at someone else, they said.

‘Beautiful, young, always smiling;’ woman killed by stray gunfire in Downtown was out with friends

Police didn’t explain how they connected McCreary to the shooting but said they discovered a firearm while serving the search warrants. The gun will be analyzed by the Long Beach Crime Lab, they said.

Police said they also impounded a vehicle they believe to be involved. A jail booking log says McCreary works as a driver.

Police allege McCreary was with a group of people in a parking lot near Pacific Avenue and Fourth Street when they got into an argument with another group around 2 a.m. on Dec. 1.

Perez was not part of either group, but when someone started shooting, the gunfire hit her, according to police.

“One car left and returned to open fire,” Perez’s aunt Jessica Hernandez said. “My beautiful was the only person hit by the gunfire.”

Perez worked as a caretaker at a senior-living home in La Palma, according to her friends and family. She was compassionate, rambunctious and always trying to make others laugh, they said.

Detectives will present their case against McCreary to the Los Angeles County District Attorney’s office early next week.

Breaking News Editor Jeremiah Dobruck contributed to this report.