Pitchess Holds Pair Wanted in Georgia Slayings

Two brothers wanted in connection with the shooting deaths of four people during a card game in Atlanta last year were being held at Pitchess jail Sunday, awaiting probable extradition back to Georgia, a Sheriff’s Department spokesman said.

Elijah Salahuddin, 23, and Freeman Salahuddin, 21, have been in jail on unrelated charges since December but had given deputies aliases, said Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Department spokesman Bill Martin.

Authorities were recently able to connect them to the Atlanta killings by comparing fingerprints, Martin said, adding that Atlanta officials would seek to extradite the brothers.

Atlanta Police Department officials declined comment Sunday.

The Salahuddin brothers were arrested Dec. 20 while driving a black Buick Le Sabre on the San Bernardino Freeway in Rosemead, authorities said.

Deputies noticed the car was emitting “an excessive amount of smoke,” Martin said, and after checking the car’s Louisiana license plate, found the plate had been stolen.

“After a brief chase and struggle with one of the brothers, deputies arrested them,” Martin said.

Each brother had a handgun but apparently did not attempt to use them, he said.

The Salahuddins were booked on suspicion of receiving stolen property, falsely using license plates, carrying a concealed weapon, evading arrest, assault with a deadly weapon, challenging an officer to a fight, armed robbery and possession of a stolen vehicle.

Each was held in lieu of $45,000 bail and transferred to the North County Correctional Facility at Pitchess.

Atlanta police requested a fingerprint check through the FBI, which matched with suspects in the killings in that city, Martin said. He said he didn’t know why Atlanta authorities asked for the check.

Elijah Salahuddin has been charged with four counts of murder, one count of battery and been indicted on one count of armed robbery in Fulton County, Georgia.

Freeman Salahuddin has been indicted in the same armed robbery and is wanted for questioning in the murder case.

Each of the four men killed in Atlanta was shot at least once in the head after a dispute over a car, authorities said.

Three of the victims were mechanics at a nearby auto repair shop. Police believe that the attacker’s target was probably one man and the others were in the wrong place at the wrong time.

One man was shot in the jaw and neck but survived.

A few days after the slayings, detectives searching northwest Atlanta for Elijah Salahuddin encountered him sitting on a porch. But he fled and police failed to capture him.

* The Associated Press contributed to this story.