Authorities said a teenage girl was killed after a man she was dating broke into a residence in Arcadia and shot her. The man then fled and attempted to kill himself in a shooting in Pasadena, authorities said. A witness told The Times that there were several people who saw the shooting in Pasadena, which took place on a sidewalk in broad daylight. On Thursday around 11 a.m., Arcadia Police responded to a call about a possible shooting in the 800 block of West Huntington Drive. The caller said a man was inside the residence and had fired a gun. Officers arrived and found a girl with a gunshot wound, according to a statement Thursday afternoon from Arcadia police. She was pronounced dead at the scene. When deputies arrived, the man, identified by the Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Department as Paul Anthony Cruz Jr., 20, had fled the scene, according to the release. Arcadia police did not share the name of the victim. The case remains under investigation and is being handled by the Sheriff’s Department’s Homicide Division, according to Arcadia police. Authorities believe the man fled to Pasadena, where he attempted to take his own life about an hour later. The Sheriff’s Department said Cruz was in a dating relationship with the victim. He had “forced entry” to the Arcadia location, according to the department. Pasadena city spokesperson Lisa Derderian said the man was found with a self-inflicted gunshot wound in the city on Thursday around 12:30 p.m. and was transported to a hospital in critical condition. The Sheriff’s Department said he shot himself as Pasadena Police Department officers prepared to contact him. He remained in critical condition around 7 p.m. Michael Amini, manager of Alliance Auto Body Works on South Arroyo Parkway, told the Times he was working across the street when the shooting occurred in Pasadena. The neighborhood was “pretty busy” at the time and there were several other witnesses, he said. The suspect, who was being chased by police, parked his car in the Petco parking lot, walked to the sidewalk and pulled out the gun, Amini said. After the shooting, Amini said, he saw the man lying face down. Police arrived about “five seconds” later, he said. “It was very fast,” Amini said.
