A man who allegedly fatally shot his girlfriend — who was a former pro skateboarder — and her neighbor at a Pomona apartment building before leading authorities on a chase that stretched into Kern County pleaded not guilty Tuesday.
Robert Galtman, 48, is charged with two counts of murder and one count of evading police.
The murder charges include special circumstance allegation of multiple murders and the use of a firearm causing great bodily harm. The Los Angeles County District Attorney’s Office is expected to decide later whether to seek the death penalty against him.
He is accused of killing his girlfriend, 24-year-old Veronica Lopez, and her neighbor, 48-year-old Richard Brady, on June 18 at an apartment in the 100 block of East Monterey Avenue.
Pomona police said they responded to the apartment around 3:20 p.m. that day and found the two victims with gunshot wounds. Both were pronounced dead at the scene.
Galtman was spotted a short time later driving a black Kia sedan. He led authorities on a pursuit that wound up on the northbound Golden State (5) Freeway, stretching into Kern County. California Highway Patrol officers eventually used a pursuit intervention technique, or PIT maneuver, to spin the car and bring it to a halt. Galtman was taken into custody around 7:10 p.m. that evening.
He remains jailed without bail while awaiting his next court appearance, which is scheduled for Oct. 13, according to court records.
Lopez’s family members told reporters they learned about the killings when they saw the chase on television, with Lopez’s sister saying she recognized Veronica’s car and dog. They said Lopez and Galtman were in an abusive relationship, and they believed she was trying to leave him.
They said Brady was a friend of Lopez, and he was likely trying to help her when the shooting occurred.
According to a GoFundMe page that described Lopez as the youngest of five girls and called her killing a case of domestic violence, $8,715 had been raised as of Tuesday toward a goal of $15,000.
A separate GoFundMe page on behalf of the family of Brady, who was a father of two children, had raised $2,840 toward a $6,500 target.