Utah man charged with murder in deaths of 2, including LA deputy
LOS ANGELES _ A Utah man was charged with two counts of murder Thursday after he allegedly gunned down a Los Angeles County sheriff's deputy and another man in a pair of seemingly random shootings, officials said.
Rhett McKenzie Nelson, 30, was to make his first appearance in a downtown Los Angeles courtroom Thursday afternoon in connection with the shooting deaths of veteran sheriff's Deputy Joseph Solano and 30-year-old Dmitry Alekseyevich Kolstov, according to a statement issued by the Los Angeles County district attorney's office.
Prosecutors say Nelson opened fire on Solano inside an Alhambra Jack in the Box restaurant at 5:45 p.m. Monday. Solano was shot in the back of the head and died of his injuries Wednesday, officials said.
One hour before the attack in Alhambra, prosecutors said Nelson shot and killed Kolstov while sitting in a car in the 1900 block of East Seventh Place in downtown Los Angeles after a brief verbal exchange. Kolstov was shot at 4:50 p.m., and pronounced dead at the scene less than 20 minutes later, according to Sarah Ardalani, a spokeswoman for the Los Angeles County coroner's office.
Investigators also accused Nelson of robbing a gas station and a 7-Eleven in Long Beach, according to the district attorney's office. Police in San Diego also consider him a suspect in five armed robberies in recent days.
Nelson was arrested Tuesday in Long Beach, after calling his father in Utah and making reference to having killed someone in Southern California, investigators have said.
_Los Angeles Times
