Man, 81, charged with terrorizing California neighborhood with slingshot dies days after arrest

AZUSA, California — An 81-year-old man who investigators say terrorized a Southern California neighborhood with a slingshot for years has died just days after his arrest, authorities said.

The man was found dead Wednesday evening in a home in Azusa, east of Los Angeles, police Sgt. said Nick Covarrubias.

“We did not find any evidence of foul play,” Covarrubias told the Southern California News Group.

The man died of arteriosclerotic cardiovascular disease, according to the medical examiner’s office, which ruled the death as natural.

The man had been released on his own recognizance Tuesday after pleading not guilty to five counts of misdemeanor vandalism and two counts of misdemeanor vandalism.

Police said the man was arrested on May 23 on suspicion of breaking windows and car windows and narrowly missing people with ball bearings shot from a slingshot. No one was hurt.

While conducting an investigation, detectives “learned that dozens of civilians were victims of a serial slingshot shooter over the course of nine to 10 years,” Azusa police said in a statement last week.

Officers serving a search warrant found a slingshot and ball bearings at the man’s home in Azusa, police said.

Azusa Police Lt. Jake Bushey said Saturday that detectives learned that most of the ball bearings were shot from the suspect’s backyard.

“We are not aware of any motive other than malicious mischief,” Bushey told the newsgroup.

While police suspected him of destroying windows in his neighborhood for about a decade, the LA County District Attorney’s Office charged him with vandalism from October 2021 to May 2024.