An investigation was continuing Monday into a shooting in the Willowbrook area that killed two men — one of whom reportedly was a convicted drug trafficker known as “El Mago,” who had ties to the son of jailed drug kingpin Joaquin “El Chapo” Guzman.
Both men were pronounced dead at the scene of the shooting, which occurred around 8:20 a.m. Thursday in the 14200 block of Towne Avenue, according to the Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Department.
Eduardo Escobedo, 39, and Guillermo De Los Angeles Jr., 47, died at the scene, according to the Los Angeles County Department of Medical Examiner and published reports.
A third man suffered unspecified injuries and was taken to a hospital for treatment, the sheriff’s department reported.
According to the Los Angeles Times, Escobedo, whose nickname “El Mago” translates to “The Magician,” served nearly five years in federal prison for conspiring to distribute more than 10,000 kilos of marijuana and laundering drug proceeds. He was released in 2018.
Raised in East Los Angeles, Escobedo rose to become the primary distributor of marijuana in Los Angeles for Guzman’s oldest son, The Times reported.
Escobedo was also alleged to have ordered the death of a rival trafficker who was gunned down in his Bentley on the 101 Freeway in 2008, The Times reported. Although Escobedo was never charged in the murder, his brother and another man were convicted and are serving life sentences.
After eluding capture for more than a dozen years, Guzman was arrested in 2014 in Mazatlan. Five years later, he was convicted of being a principal leader of a continuing criminal enterprise through his leadership of the Mexican organized crime syndicate known as the Sinaloa Cartel.