Arrest made in deadly San Dimas follow-home robbery newsbhunt

Authorities have made an arrest in connection with a deadly follow-home robbery that left one man dead in a residential San Dimas neighborhood.  

Deputies responded to the 1800 block of Hawkbrook Drive just before 7 p.m. on reports of the incident. 

At the scene, authorities discovered the man, identified by the L.A. County Department of Medical Examiner-Coroner as Nicholas Simbolon, suffering from a gunshot wound to his chest. 

Medical personnel with the Los Angeles County Fire Department responded and declared the 42-year-old dead at the scene.   

According to the Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Department, the victim was followed home from an electric vehicle charging station in West Covina. Authorities were able to use surveillance video from the area to capture the suspect’s license plate.  

On Thursday morning, the suspect, now identified as 33-year-old Jerrid Joseph Powell, was spotted in Beverly Hills driving the same vehicle and taken into custody.  

“When you get to a scene, you just start playing it backwards,” Sheriff Robert Luna said while announcing the arrest Thursday. “They start looking at every avenue.”  

During the arrest, deputies recovered a gun that appeared to match the description of the weapon used to commit the crime, authorities added.  

Simbolon was a tenured L.A. County employee, who worked for the chief executive officer as a project manager in the IT department.  

“He was key in developing applications, software that helped to propel the office forward, and also helped us to meet our mission to deliver services to citizens and residents of L.A. County,” a county spokesperson said at Thursday’s press conference.  

L.A. County is no stranger to follow-home robberies, and Sheriff Luna said that criminals often target people wearing jewelry, driving high-end vehicles or businesses that generate large amounts of cash.  

“We have seen countless videos and news coverage of people traumatized by these robberies, and having guns and weapons pointed at them,” he said. “It is unacceptable for our community members to be threatened in this manner, especially while driving in a safe place like their homes or businesses.” 

The victim’s aunt, Fanny Prentice spoke to KTLA outside of the family’s home in San Dimas. Grief-stricken, she described her nephew as a loving husband and a father of two children who was also devoted to his church.  

“Why does it always happen to a good man?” she asked. “His two little children, they’re so young and the wife. How are they going to live their life without their father?” 

LASD said they believe this was an isolated incident, that the suspect acted alone and that it does not appear the two men knew each other.