Police identify suspect wanted in deadly hit-and-run that left father, 3-year-old girl dead
LONG BEACH, Calif. - Police on Wednesday identified the suspect wanted in a deadly hit-and-run crash in Long Beach last week that left a father and his 3-year-old daughter dead inside their residence.
An arrest warrant has been issued for 24-year-old Octavio Montano Islas in the hit-and-run deaths of 42-year-old Jose Palacios-Gonzalez and 3-year-old Samantha Palacios. Montano is facing charges of two counts of felony manslaughter, one count of felony driving under the influence, and one count of felony hit-and-run.
Octavio Montano Islas (Credit: LBPD) (FOX 11)
Montano was allegedly driving a 2014 Ram 1500 pickup truck northbound on Rose Avenue, near East Artesia Boulevard, about 10 p.m. on Mar. 1 when the truck "left the roadway and collided with an apartment building, killing two of the occupants inside," the Long Beach Police Department reported.
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Montano allegedly fled the scene on foot following the collision.
Jose Palacios Gonzalez was pronounced dead at the scene, while his daughter Samantha was taken to a hospital, where she later died.
Jose Palacios Gonzalez, 42, and his daughter, Samantha, 3, were killed when a truck plowed into an apartment complex in Long Beach on March 1, 2022. (FOX 11)
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Montano was described by police as a Hispanic man who is 5 feet, 8 inches tall and weighs 160 pounds, with black hair, brown eyes and unspecified tattoos on his right forearm.
He was allegedly at the Bottoms Up Sports Bar in Long Beach before the crash, and now there's an investigation into the sports bar by the California Department of Alcoholic Beverage Control.
"They're overserving their clients all the time at 3 and 4 in the morning at the bar when the bar should be closed at 2 a.m. They're partying until like 6 in the morning and I've seen them. I wish they could shut them down because this is not a good place," said Paloma, a resident.
Anyone with information on Montano's whereabouts was asked to call LBPD Detective Kevin Johansen at 562-570-7355. Anonymous tips can be called in to Crime Stoppers at 800-222-8477 or submitted online at lacrimestoppers.org.
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CNS contributed to this report.