Barricaded Suspect Arrested For Murder

"Barricaded Suspect Arrested for Murder"
 

Palms – Robbery-Homicide Division (RHD) personnel are conducting the investigation of a murder that occurred in the Pacific Area.
On April 18, 2001 at approximately 11:15 a.m., Pacific Area patrol officers responded to a radio call of a disturbance involving a man with a gun in an apartment complex in the 3600 Block of Empire Drive in Pacific Area. As the officers deployed around the location, gunshots were directed at the officers from a second floor apartment.
Personnel assigned to Metropolitan Division, Special Weapons and Tactics (SWAT) were summoned and responded to the location. Shortly thereafter, a male, subsequently identified as Dewan Lee Thompson, age 34, exited the apartment holding a handgun. Thompson ultimately dropped the handgun and was taken into custody.
SWAT personnel conducted a search of the apartment and discovered the body of Thompson’s common-law wife, Jennifer Bender, age 29, inside the apartment. Ms. Bender apparently died from multiple gunshot wounds. Two of the couple’s children, one six months of age and one three years of age, were found unharmed in the apartment.
Thompson was booked at Pacific Area Jail for Murder without bail. It appears the murder was related to a domestic dispute.
Anyone with information regarding this incident may contact Robbery-Homicide Division at 213-485-2129.
This press release was prepared by Public Information Officer Jason Lee, Media Relations Section, 213-485-3586.