EL MONTE, Calif. – A man was arrested on suspicion of attempted murder and resisting arrest for allegedly punching his girlfriend at an El Monte discount store and later fighting with a police officer, authorities said Sunday.
The El Monte Police Department responded to a call of a robbery in progress at DD’s Discount at 12030 Valley Blvd. around 9:30 p.m.
The suspect, Roy Aguirre Jr., struck a clerk several times with a metal or hard plastic item used in the bagging of items, according to police.
“The clerk suffered injuries to her head, arms and hands,” a police statement said. “When the first officer arrived, he saw Aguirre on top of a woman on the ground punching her with one hand and strangling her with the other.”
As officers sought to detain Aguirre, he resisted and a fight ensued, in which one of the officers sustained minor injuries, Cano said. It was later determined that the first responding officer who rescued Aguirre’s girlfriend from being strangled suffered the injuries, police said. The officer was sent to a hospital and later released.
Aguirre was treated at a hospital and later booked into the El Monte Police Jail, where he was arrested on suspicion of attempted murder and resisting arrest.
