Killings in homeless camp stun relatives

Killings in homeless camp stun relatives
By Louis Sahagun 1:01 p.m

Relatives of one of five people found shot to death Sunday gather to pray at the crime scene. Although the site was considered a homeless campsite, authorities say not all the victims were homeless.

By Louis Sahagun
2:14 PM PST, November 3, 2008
As investigators continued today to search for clues into the fatal shootings of five people at a homeless campsite in Long Beach, relatives of one of the victims gathered at the secluded site to light candles and pray.

"It's sad, real sad," said Fauamoa Palaita, a relative of one of the victims, Vanessa Malaepule. "I feel hurt. We can't believe it."

At a news conference today, authorities released the names of Malaepule, 34, of Long Beach, and of Lorenzo Perez Villacana, 44. The names of the other victims were being withheld pending notification of next of kin. They were described as a man of Middle Eastern descent in his 40s, a white male in his 50s and a Latino female in her 20s.

Los Angels County coroner Assistant Chief Ed Winter said that autopsies would be conducted Tuesday but that it appeared that all five "died of multiple gunshot wounds."