A 24-year-old man from Orange who was kidnapped Friday in Long Beach, shot and left for dead passed away Monday, according to authorities, who have three suspects in custody.
Hector Campos had been seen by witnesses being shoved into a car's trunk in the 1200 block of 10th Street just before noon. Officers discovered bloody clues in the area before the man was found in grave condition 11 blocks away.
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Witnesses reported seeing Campos being choked before he was forced into the car, which police later found and stopped. No body was found, but there was blood in the trunk. Officers then went back to where the car had first been seen, and a gun and bloody hammer were found.
A call then came in about a gunshot and man down in an alley in the 1000 block of St. Louis Avenue. That's where Campos was found, with a gunshot wound to his upper body. He was taken to a local hospital that reported him in grave condition through the weekend.
It is believed Campos met three men in Riverside County earlier in the day, when an argument broke out, although police have not yet revealed the nature of the dispute.
Originally arrested on suspicion of kidnapping and assault were: Jose Duenas, 19, of Long Beach; Christopher Ramirez, 20, of Mira Loma; and Antonio Portales, 21, of Long Beach.
The Long Beach Police Department will ask the district attorney to file murder charges against the trio. Meanwhile, the investigation continues, and anyone with information is asked to contact detectives Mark McGuire and Greg Krabbe at 562.570.7244.
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OC Weekly Editor-in-Chief Matt Coker has been engaging, enraging and entertaining readers of newspapers, magazines and websites for decades. He spent the first 13 years of his career in journalism at daily newspapers before “graduating” to OC Weekly in 1995 as the alternative newsweekly’s first calendar editor.