Man enters apartment through skylight, kills man in neighboring unit, CA cops say
Weeks after a welfare check led to the discovery of a slain man inside an apartment, a suspect has been arrested, California police say.
A 27-year-old man was identified as a suspect in the death of a man, identified by multiple news outlets as 53-year-old Menashe Hidra, the Los Angeles Police Department said in a May 8 news release.
McClatchy News is not naming the suspect because he hasn’t been formally charged.
Welfare check
Officers responded to a Van Nuys apartment building the afternoon of April 26 after getting a request for a welfare check, police said.
Upon entering the apartment, officers found Hidra with “unknown injuries,” police said.
First responders pronounced Hidra dead, police said.
Police said they learned the suspect broke into a neighboring apartment through a skylight.
Then, the suspect traveled across the balcony and into Hidra’s apartment, according to police.
“A physical altercation” between the two left Hidra dead, police said.
911 call
Days before Hidra was found dead, “neighbors had called 911 and reported hearing shouting and a struggle coming from the apartment,” the Los Angeles Times reported.
Officers responded to the apartment but left when their knocks went unanswered, the newspaper reported.
LAPD Chief Jim McDonnell said “he’d opened administrative investigations in connection with (the officers’) responses” in a meeting with the city’s civilian police commission, according to the Times.
‘Exhaustive investigation’
In the weeks following Hidra’s death, police searched for the suspect and put out calls to the public requesting information that included a photo of the suspect.
“An exhaustive investigation” led detectives to identify the 27-year-old man as a suspect in Hidra’s killing, police said.
Detectives found the man May 8 at a hospital, where he was receiving medical care, police said.
McClatchy News reached out to the Los Angeles County District Attorney’s Office and is awaiting a response on formal charges.
This story was originally published May 9, 2025 at 2:31 PM with the headline "Man enters apartment through skylight, kills man in neighboring unit, CA cops say."
