Man Found Shot to Death in Mayflower Avenue Home

A 63-year-old man was shot to death inside a home on North Mayflower Avenue Friday morning and a man involved in the shooting has been taken into custody, according to authorities.

The deceased man, whom police have not yet identifed, suffered a single gunshot wound, Lt. Jaime Alfaro said. Police responded to the call at a home in the 200 block of North Mayflower Avenue at 5:18 a.m. The man was pronounced dead at 5:29 a.m.

Next door neighbor Gary Gleghorn said he was awake watching the news with his wife when they heard the shots.

"I heard three shots--bam bam bam!--then a hesitation, and then two more," Gleghorn said.

Gleghorn said he saw his neighbor walk outside when police arrived.

"This guy walked out with his kid," Gleghorn said. "They put him at gunpoint. He went to his knees."

Alfaro said police detained a person in connection with the shooting but did not say if the man taken into custody was the suspected shooter. Since Monrovia Police do not have a homicide bureau, the investigation has been turned over to the Los Angeles County Sheriff's Homicide Bureau, Alfaro said.

Sheriff's Homicide Sgt. Martin Rodriguez said that no one has been arrested in connection with the shooting.

"People are being detained pending further investigation of the incident," Rodriguez said. "No one has been placed under arrest."

Lt. Michael Rosson of Sheriff's Homicide said the a man, woman, and two children from the home were being interviewed at the Monrovia Police station. He said they were cooperating with investigators.

"We're not calling anybody a suspect or a victim yet," Rosson said. "They're cooperating with us and they're there under their own free will."

Rosson would not comment on where the deceased man's body was found or how many shots were fired but said he was "hit in the upper torso at least once." A handgun was recovered at the scene, Rosson said.

Rosson declined to comment on the circumstances surrounding the shooting.

Though investigators believe there is "some kind of correlation" between the residents of the home and the man who was killed, Rosson said it was not yet known if the deceased man was related to the family. He said the man who was killed came to live with the family from out of state two weeks ago.

A coroner's official said Friday afternoon that the deceased man has been identified but his name is being withheld because his next of kin has not yet been notified.

Rodriguez said police received an initial call of a disturbance sometime after 5 a.m. and then a second call notifying them that shots had been fired. Police made contact with the residents of the home and then discovered a gunshot victim, identified only as a 63-year-old male, somewhere in the home.

Rodriguez declined to provide any additional details.

The incident marks the first killing investigated as a homicide in Monrovia this year.

Neighbor Angelique Kingston said the family living at the home at 223 N. Mayflower had just moved to the area a few months ago. Their home is directly across the street from the kindergarten playground at .

"They were new to the neighborhood," Kingston said.

Kingston said she'd seen a woman with two small daughters playing outside the home on several occasions.

"She walked her daughters around all the time," Kingston said. "So I was just worried about them."