Man charged with murder in collision that killed a jogger in Walnut
A West Covina man was charged with murder Feb. 17, after he allegedly struck and killed a Walnut man who was out for an early morning jog Feb. 15
Haissam Massalkhy, a 36-year-old Lebanese man, is scheduled to be arraigned on March 9 in Department N at the Pomona Branch of the Los Angeles County Superior Court, said Jane Robison, assistant media chief for the Los Angeles County district attorney’s office.
Bail was set at $2 million, Robison said.
Massalkhy is accused of using his car as a deadly weapon to kill Chi Shao, a 59-year-old Asian man who lived a few blocks from where he was struck.
Shao was running in the bike lane of El Puente Road, near Citadel Drive, when he was struck from behind by Massalkhy’s 1989 Toyota Camry. The collision threw Shao onto the hood of the car, and he was carried him for several yards before the car collided with a brick wall in the backyard of a house that faces the 20200 block of Barnard Avenue, according to Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Lt. Steve Jauch.
The two men didn’t know each other, Jauch said, but based on statements Massalkhy allegedly made at the scene, investigators believe he intentionally struck Shao. Jauch refused to elaborate.
Robison said the district attorney’s office isn’t discussing motive either, “other than to say that prosecutors believe the evidence will support a murder conviction.”
Contact the Homicide Report. And follow @latimeshomicide on Twitter.
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