Photo By NBC Los Angeles

Staff Reports

WALNUT -Just before 6 a.m. on Monday, February 15, Walnut Sheriff’s deputies got a 911 call informing them of a car that had hit a brick wall outside of a home in the 20200 block of Barnard Avenue.

The vehicle, a 1989 Toyota Camry, was being driven by Haissam Massalkhy, 36, a resident of West Covina.  Mr. Massalkhy was driving eastbound on La Puente Road when he struck a male jogger, identified as 59-year-old Chi Shao, of Walnut.  Mr. Shao was jogging eastbound in the bike lane when the vehicle hit him from behind and carried him several yards on the hood of the car before colliding with the brick wall of the Barnard Avenue residence.

Homeowner Jim Li said he and his family were asleep when he heard the crash.  “It was shock. The driver was standing there. I asked him: ‘Are you okay?’ And he said: ‘Someone dead. Call 911.’”

Mr. Shao was pronounced dead at the scene.  Mr. Massalkhy, who did not appear to be injured, has been booked at the Walnut Sheriff’s Station on murder charges.  Sheriff Lieutenant David Buckner said the incident appeared to have been intentional.  Massalkhy is being held in lieu of $1,000,000 bail.

Anyone with information about this incident is encouraged to contact the Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Department’s Homicide Bureau at (323) 890-5500. If you prefer to provide information anonymously, you may call “Crime Stoppers” by dialing (800) 222-TIPS (8477), or texting the letters TIPLA plus your tip to CRIMES (274637), or by using the website http://lacrimestoppers.org.