Suspect In Fatal Beating Of Woman Arrested After Standoff

LOS ANGELES, CA — A man suspected of beating a woman to death with a baseball bat in the Arlington Heights area was arrested following an hours-long standoff Wednesday in the Harvard Heights.

Police arrested 35-year-old Joshua Ramos in an alley near his home at West 20th Street and South Mariposa Avenue at about 1:30 on Wednesday, according to the Los Angeles Police Department. The neighborhood had been evacuated, and a SWAT Team with armored vehicles had surrounded Ramos' home not long after a woman was found suffering from a fatal head wound Wednesday morning.

Officers were first called to the 2300 block of Venice Boulevard at about 8:15 a.m. on a report of an assault with a deadly weapon and found a woman suffering from a head injury, according to the Los Angeles Police Department. Police found an aluminum bat at the scene.

The woman was taken to Cedars-Sinai Medical Center, where she was pronounced dead. Her name was not immediately released.

Police determined the suspect was barricaded in his house several blocks away near West 20th Street and South Mariposa Avenue. Officers established a command post near the location and traffic was routed away from the area.

Officers attempted to negotiate a surrender with the man, said LAPD Officer Tony Im. Ramos was taken into custody in an alley outside his home just before 2 p.m. on suspicion of murder, said Im.

Authorities did not publicly identify the slain woman. Investigators remained at the scene Wednesday afternoon and did not publicly identify a motive nor a relationship between the victim and the suspect.

City News Service contributed to this report.