A 57-year-old man already carrying a prior murder conviction on his record now faces three new murder charges after allegedly forcing three Los Angeles men to the floor at gunpoint and shooting them inside a Hollywood apartment.
Los Angeles police arrested Patrick Kevin Spurlock on the 6600 block of Franklin Avenue and booked him without bail on suspicion of murder, Patch reported. Prosecutors followed with three counts of murder, plus a special circumstance allegation of multiple murders, charges that could carry the most severe penalties California allows.
The victims, Jeremiah Badeker, Jack Cartegena, and Michael Bogacz, all Los Angeles residents, were found dead inside an apartment at 1929 Wilcox Avenue during a welfare check on August 2. The alleged shooting had taken place more than two weeks earlier, during the early morning hours of July 24, on the 1900 block of Wilcox Avenue near Cahuenga Boulevard in Hollywood.
Police say Spurlock ordered the three men to the floor at gunpoint, then shot them numerous times as they lay on the ground. The nature of the altercation that preceded the shooting and Spurlock's relationship to the victims remain unclear.
Nine days unnoticed in a Hollywood apartment
The gap between the alleged killings on July 24 and the discovery of the bodies on August 2 raises its own set of questions. Three men lay dead in a Hollywood apartment for more than a week before anyone checked on them. What prompted the welfare check, and why it took so long, has not been publicly explained.
That kind of delay is not unusual in dense urban neighborhoods where transient populations and high turnover can mask the absence of residents. But it underscores a grim reality: in a city of four million people, three men can vanish from daily life for over a week without raising an alarm.
Spurlock's arrest came on a Friday, and prosecutors moved to file charges the following Monday. Court records referenced in the charging documents paint a disturbing picture of the suspect's criminal history. The charges include allegations of a prior murder conviction, serious prior felony convictions, and the personal and intentional discharge of a firearm causing great bodily injury.
California has seen a string of violent cases involving defendants charged with multiple murders, and the Spurlock case adds another entry to that record.
Prior murder conviction sits at the center of the charges
The most striking detail in the charging documents is the allegation that Spurlock had already been convicted of murder before this incident. The charges do not specify when or where that prior conviction occurred, what the circumstances were, or how long Spurlock served. But the allegation raises an unavoidable question: how was a man with a murder conviction in a position to allegedly commit three more?
Details about Spurlock's criminal history, how many felony convictions he accumulated, how much time he served, and when he was last released, are not part of the current public record as described in the charging documents. Those gaps matter. Voters and lawmakers have spent years debating sentencing reform, early release programs, and parole policies in California. A case like this one puts those debates in concrete terms.
Repeat violent offenders have drawn national attention in other California cases. One recent guilty plea involved a woman who killed a second spouse more than two decades after killing the first, a pattern that shocked even seasoned prosecutors.
Mental competency hearing set for August 31
Spurlock is currently being held without bail. A mental competency hearing has been scheduled for August 31 in a Hollywood courtroom, court records show. If a judge finds Spurlock incompetent to stand trial, the murder case could be delayed while he undergoes treatment, a process that can stretch for months or years in California's overburdened mental health system.
The competency question adds another layer of uncertainty for the families of Badeker, Cartegena, and Bogacz. Three men are dead. The suspect is in custody. But the path to accountability could be long and unpredictable.
The broader debate over how the justice system handles defendants with violent criminal histories and mental health challenges continues to divide lawmakers. The Trump administration has pushed for tougher sentencing and expanded use of the death penalty for certain violent crimes, a position that resonates with voters who see cases like this one as proof the system is failing. The president has highlighted his death penalty executive order as part of a broader effort to restore deterrence.
Whether California's own policies, from sentencing guidelines to parole decisions to mental health diversion programs, played any role in Spurlock's ability to allegedly commit these crimes is a question that demands an answer. The charging documents hint at a long and serious criminal record. The public deserves to know the full picture.
States that have taken a harder line on repeat violent offenders, including Florida's recent move to carry out executions of the most dangerous criminals, offer a sharp contrast to California's approach.
Three victims, no answers on motive
Badeker, Cartegena, and Bogacz have been identified only as Los Angeles residents. Police have not disclosed their ages, occupations, or what brought them together in the apartment on Wilcox Avenue in the early morning hours of July 24. The nature of any relationship between the victims and Spurlock remains publicly unknown.
Without a stated motive, the case sits in a factual void that investigators will need to fill before trial. The special circumstance allegation of multiple murders signals that prosecutors view this as among the most serious categories of homicide under California law. If convicted on all counts with the special circumstance finding, Spurlock would face life in prison without the possibility of parole.
For now, the facts as alleged are stark enough on their own. A man with a prior murder conviction allegedly walked into a Hollywood apartment, forced three people to the ground at gunpoint, and shot them repeatedly. Their bodies went undiscovered for more than a week. And the system that was supposed to keep a convicted murderer from doing it again has some explaining to do.
