Los Angeles Police on Saturday arrested a man believed to have shot dead three homeless men in the city last last month and is also linked to another murder in San Dimas.

LAPD Chief Michael Moore identified the suspect as Jerrid Joseph Powell, 33, and said he was already in custody for the San Dimas murder when detectives linked him to the three shootings of homeless men

As CrimeOnline reported, Moore said on Friday that detectives believed the three murders between November 26 and 29 were committed by the same person.

“We believe a single individual approached each one and shot and killed each one as they slept,” Moore said on Friday.

LA Mayor Karen Bass cautioned the city’s homeless population to seek shelter and not sleep alone.

“I want to be very clear about what we’re facing today: This is a killer who is preying on the unhoused,” she said. “To the person responsible, we will find you, we will catch you and you will be held accountable.”

The first killing took place at about 3 a.m. on Sunday in an alley in southeast LA. Jose Vamos, 37, was the victim.

Just before 5 a.m. the next day, Mark Digs, 62, was shot and killed on East Seventh Street.

At about 2:30 a.m. on Wednesday, another man — whose identity has not been released — was shot and killed near South Avenue 18 and Pasadena Avenue. He was 52.

The Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Department arrested Powell later on Wednesday for the murder of Nicholas Simbolon on Tuesday night. In that killing, someone followed Simbolon home, robbed him, and shot him. Authorities had identified a suspect vehicle in that case, and Beverly Hills Police spotted it on Wednesday and conducted a traffic stop. The officers recovered the weapon used in the crime and arrested Powell.

“Over the course of the investigation of our murders, we were able to identify the vehicle we believe is connected to our three homicides as being the same vehicle that Mr. Powell used in the murder of Mr. Simbolon,” Moore said at a press conference on Saturday. “[We learned] that it was being held in custody of the Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Department as evidence of their murder.”

Los Angeles County Sheriff Robert Luna said his detectives tracked the vehicle with an automatic license plate reader system.

“We know there’s controversy out there about the usage of this system, but let me tell our community something,” Luna said. “If we did not enter that plate into the system, this individual that we believe is responsible for at least four murders may have [still] been out there and reoffended.”

“Twenty-four hours ago, we announced there was a killer on the loose, now he is in custody,” Bass said. “Right after the conclusion of yesterday’s press conference, my office was able to convene more than four hundred people representing city departments, housing service providers, regional agencies … and elected officials at the city and county level to ensure that they would [get the word out] about the threat facing our unhoused community.”

Powell faces multiple murder charges as well as robbery charges in connection with Simbolon’s death.

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[Featured image: Jerrid Joseph Powell/Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Department]