Santa Monica Police Seeking Information in Shooting last Month

By Jorge Casuso

January 3, 2018 -- The son of a Santa Monica man who unsuccessfully sued police over a videotaped beating in 2002 was among the suspects arrested in an attempted murder that took place near the Pico Neighborhood last month.

Jeremy Naidoo, 24, was one of four men arrested in a shooting December 26 on the 1100 block of Bay Street, police said. Naidoo, along with Bryan Daniels, 23, was charged with attempted murder and assualt with a deadly weapon.

The other two suspects -- James Scott and Myles Woodardwright -- have not been charged, according to the Los Angeles County District Attorney.

The victim of the shooting, which took place at around 2:30 a.m., was taken to a hospital where he underwent several surgeries, said Lt. Saul Rodriguez, the Police Department spokesman.

Since 2016, Naidoo has had numerous run ins with the law, Rodriguez said.

According to court records, he had been arrested six times since November 2012.

Last year he was charged with spousal battery and, in a separate incident, with assault likely to produce great bodily harm, according to the Los Angeles Sheriff's website.

Naidoo was placed under supervised probation, according to the court records.

Naidoo is suspected of firing a shot into the victim's abdomen after he and the three other suspects chased the victim and a witness following an argument and fight, police said.

Naidoo and Daniels were arrested near the scene that night. Scott and Woodardwright were arrested after police obtained warrants to search their homes in the Pico Neighborhood for evidence.

Police believe the victim and suspects knew each other, Rodriguez said.

It has not been determined if the shooting was gang related, he said.

Naidoo is the son of Jeremy Naidoo, who made headlines in 2002 when he sued three Santa Monica police officers after he was beaten during an arrest, police said.

The elder Naidoo, who had been stopped for running a stop sign in Ocean Park, reportedly ran from the vehicle and tossed away a bag of drugs.

A videotape of the incident showed a Santa Monica police officer strike Naidoo five times with a nunchaku, a club used in martial arts, while another officer knelt on the suspect's back and a third stood above him.

In March 2005, a federal jury deliberated for less than an hour before finding the videotaped beating of Naidoo, who admitted he had been under the infuence of drugs, was justified.

Last month's incident with the younger Naidoo illustrates the persistence of crime across generations in Santa Monica's Pico Neighborhood.

In October a man whose father was fatallly gunned down in a 2005 gang slaying in Santa Monica was charged for his involvement in a shooting in the Pico Neighborhood the previous month ("Santa Monica Man Arrested in Connectio to Carjacking, Pico Shooting is Son of Victim of 2005 Slaying," October 6, 2017).

Hector Jehova Bonilla, 20, who has been linked to the September 20 shooting, was also charged in connection with a carjacking in Culver City and two robberies in Los Angeles, police said.

Bonilla is the son of Hector Bonilla, a 25-year-old resident of the Pico Neighborhood who was killed in the gruesome March 2005 gang slayings at a party at the local Moose Lodge ("Coroner’s Report Details 'Gang' Slayings," March 29, 2005).

Bonilla was shot eight times, twice to the head, as he ran to the aid of the other victim.

For more information on segregation and violence in the Pico Neighborhood see "Youth and Street Violence," part of the three-part series "Inside the Pico Neighborhood" published by The Lookout in 2004.

Anyone with additional information on the December 26 shooting should contact the Santa Monica Police Department at (310) 458-8491.