Two brothers from Downey were shot dead in a motel parking lot on June 30, 2018. Seventeen-year-old Ivan Garcia and his older brother Jaime Garcia Jr., 29, had driven to Rick’s Motel on Firestone Boulevard that morning and got into an argument with a motel guest, Raymond Joseph Penland, 29. The confrontation escalated and both brothers were fatally shot around 11:25 a.m.; they were pronounced dead at the scene.

Penland fled but was located later that evening at a Santa Fe Springs warehouse by a Los Angeles County Sheriff’s SWAT team and surrendered. A handgun believed to be his was recovered in the motel lot; neither Ivan nor Jaime was armed. Two women who had been living at the motel with Penland, Catarina Frances Barajas, 25, and Vanessa Teresa Cardenas, 32, were present and interviewed as persons of interest but released without charges.

On July 3, 2018, Penland was charged with two counts of murder and an unlawful use of a firearm charge; he pleaded not guilty and was held on $2 million bail with a trial date set for July 17, 2018. The motive for the confrontation remains under investigation. Did anyone in Downey or the area know why the Garcias went to that motel or had contact with Penland?