Driver Arrested on Suspicion of Murder for Allegedly Killing Jogger Intentionally

A West Covina man who allegedly struck a jogger with his car in Walnut, killing him, was in custody Tuesday on suspicion of murder.

Thirty-six-year-old Haissam Massalkhy was booked at the Los Angeles County Inmate Reception Center on suspicion of murder Monday and was being held in lieu of $1 million bail, according to inmate records. He is due in a Pomona courtroom Wednesday to be arraigned.

A 1989 Toyota Camry allegedly driven by Massalkhy had been going east on La Puente Road before 5:50 a.m. Monday when it struck a man jogging in the bike lane from behind, said Lt. Steve Jauch of the Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Department’s Homicide Bureau.

The Camry then carried the jogger several yards on the hood of the car until it went off the road at Citadel Drive and smashed through the backyard wall of a home on Barnard Avenue, Jauch said.

The victim was 59-year-old Chi Shao of Walnut, according to the sheriff’s department.

Deputies were dispatched in response to a 911 call from a homeowner in the 20200 block of Barnard Avenue. Shao was pronounced dead at the scene, said Deputy Sara Rodriguez of the Sheriff’s Information Bureau.

The incident appears to have been intentional, though Shao and Massalkhy did not know each other, Lt. David Buckner said.

Sheriff’s homicide detectives asked anyone with information regarding the death to call them at (323) 890-5500.

--City News Service.