Police Arrest Suspect In Shooting Death

Spokane police arrested a suspect in a Compton, Calif., murder after spotting him driving across a center line Thursday night.

Leroy Duplessis, 20, 702 S. Bernard, is wanted on a murder warrant by the Compton police in the retaliation-killing of a 29-year-old man last March.

“He’s not a very nice guy,” Compton police Sgt. John Swanson said Friday.

Duplessis was being held late Friday under the name Harry Smith in the Spokane County Jail on the warrant and a $500,000 cash bond for Spokane charges.

California authorities already have charged two other suspects in the shooting death of Charles Brooks on March 18, 1994.

Duplessis, a Piru gang member, was “the only one on the fly,” Swanson said.

Spokane police officers arrested Duplessis about 8:30 p.m. Thursday after spotting him cross into the wrong lane of Wabash, near Perry.

Police stopped his car, but then he jumped out and ran. Officers chased him into an East Wabash home. Police caught him near the home after he jumped out a window.

He told police his name was Lamar Joseph. They found two plastic bags of marijuana in his coat and arrested him on charges of possessing a controlled substance, refusing to cooperate and driving with an invalid license.

The arresting officers requested more information about him because he was uncooperative and gave phony information, including a false Social Security number.

Later, an investigator ran Duplessis’ fingerprints through a computer and found his name and the warrant.