A Marine was beaten, then run over in Bellflower. A $20,000 reward is offered for information
Los Angeles County sheriff’s deputies announced a $20,000 reward Wednesday for information on the killing of an active-duty Marine on the streets of Bellflower in May.
Deputies responded to a hit-and-run on a pedestrian at 2 a.m. May 28 at Virginia Avenue and Artesia Boulevard. Peter Chounthala, 42, was found lying in the street with injuries to his upper chest and was pronounced dead at the scene, the Sheriff’s Department said.
During an investigation, deputies said they learned that at least two men assaulted Chounthala in “senseless acts of violence” before heading toward a nearby parking lot.
The men left Chounthala injured in the street before he was hit by a dark-colored four-door Kia K5 made between 2021 and 2023, Lt. Patricia Thomas of the sheriff’s Homicide Bureau said at a news conference. The car was last seen heading east on Artesia Boulevard, Thomas said.
Suspect is charged in the shooting death of a Marine during an alleged attempted carjacking and the alleged attempted murder of two other people, authorities say.
Investigators did not say whether they believed Chounthala’s assailants were driving the car or whether he was hit by another motorist.
“He was everything to me, to my family,” the victim’s wife, Jurina Chounthala, said at the news conference. “He’s like the glue that held us together.”
Peter Chounthala, the father of a 3-year-old son, joined the Marines in 2008 and served multiple tours in Afghanistan. He was due to retire at the end of the year, said Witpha Chounthala, the victim’s sister.
“It may take them one day or 100 years, but believe me, they will find you, no matter where you are, how far you go or how long you run. You will not escape,” his sister said, asking the suspects to turn themselves in.
Deputies ask anyone with information about the incident to call the Homicide Bureau at (323) 890-5500 or Crime Stoppers at (800) 222-8477.
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