A Texas man was Wednesday ordered to be held without bail while awaiting arraignment next month on a capital murder charge stemming from a robbery in Tarzana that left a 24-year-old Indianapolis man dead.
Los Angeles Superior Court Judge Teresa Sullivan set a Dec. 18 arraignment date for Allen Asenuga, who is charged with the Sept. 21 shooting of Jeancarlos De La Rosa, who was in Los Angeles to celebrate a birthday and was part of a group of friends renting an Airbnb listing.
The 24-year-old defendant is also charged with two counts of second-degree robbery — one of them involving De La Rosa, who died a day after being shot in the 18200 block of Sugarman Street.
The murder charge includes the special circumstance allegation of murder during the commission of a robbery, along with allegations that Asenuga personally and intentionally discharged a handgun. The Los Angeles County District Attorney’s Office will decide later whether to seek the death penalty against him.
Co-defendant Michael Temitope Agboola, 28, is charged with one count each of murder and two counts of second-degree robbery, and was ordered to remain jailed in lieu of $1.15 million bail while awaiting arraignment Dec. 18 at the downtown Los Angeles courthouse.
The criminal complaint alleges that Agboola — who could face a potential life prison term if convicted as charged — has a 2011 conviction for robbery in Texas.
Asenuga and his friends had just arrived at their rental location when they were approached by three men who tried to rob them, police said.
The victim was the father of a newborn daughter and a 2-year-old son.
Asenuga and Agboola were arrested last Thursday by detectives from the Los Angeles Police Department’s Robbery-Homicide Division.