Two Long Beach residents have been arrested in connection with the killing of 31-year-old man in the city’s East Village neighborhood, authorities said.
The Long Beach Police Department said that 44-year-old Peter Hairston and 22-year-old Alexus Belgrove have been arrested and are being held in connection with the slaying of Dwight Neals whose roommate found him shot to death in their apartment Tuesday night.
The motive for the shooting is still unknown, but authorities believe that Hairston and Belgrove both knew Neals. An arrest log lists Belgrove’s home address on the same block as Neals’ apartment on Olive Avenue between Sixth and Seventh streets.
Hairston is being held on $2 million bail and Belgrove is being held on $1 million, police said.
A statement from the department said that Belgrove was arrested Wednesday on suspicion of being “an active participant in the shooting” and helping Hairston in the slaying.
Police said officers then arrested Hairston early Thursday morning after they responded to reports of someone banging on the front door of residences around 2:40 a.m. on Gaviota Avenue near 10th Street, which is about a mile away from where Neal was killed.
The department said that its detectives expect to present their case to the Los Angeles District Attorney’s office next week. Prosecutors there will decide what charges to file.