Authorities identified the victim as Jeremiah Badeker, whose first name has also appeared as Jeremy in some online victim listings. Badeker was a 50-year-old White/Caucasian man from Los Angeles. Although some databases record July 28, 2026, as the date associated with his death, investigators determined that the fatal shooting occurred several days earlier, during the early morning hours of July 24, inside an apartment in the 1900 block of Wilcox Avenue in Hollywood.
According to Los Angeles police and prosecutors, Badeker was inside the apartment with Jack Cartegena, Michael Bogacz and Patrick Kevin Spurlock when an argument or altercation broke out. Investigators allege that Spurlock produced a firearm and took control of the situation, ordering Badeker, Cartegena and Bogacz to get down on the floor at gunpoint. Authorities say that while the three victims were lying on the floor, Spurlock opened fire, shooting them numerous times. Prosecutors have described the shootings as occurring at close range. All three men were killed.
The killings were not discovered immediately. After relatives became concerned when they could not reach one of the men, police were asked to conduct a welfare check. Officers eventually entered the Hollywood apartment and found all three victims dead. Contemporary reports differ somewhat on the exact date of the welfare check, but multiple major news organizations reported that the bodies were discovered several days after the July 24 shootings. One relative reportedly contacted authorities after receiving a disturbing text message from an unknown number indicating that her brother was dead. Investigators said no firearm was found with the victims, and police did not believe the killings were gang-related.
Detectives with the Los Angeles Police Department's Robbery-Homicide Division focused their investigation on Spurlock. Authorities have not publicly explained what initially connected him to the shootings or disclosed the evidence that led investigators to identify him as the alleged gunman. Police also have not released a motive or explained the nature of the relationship between Spurlock and the three victims. What authorities have publicly alleged is that all four were together before the confrontation began and that Spurlock fled after the three men were shot.
Weeks after the killings, detectives arrested Patrick Kevin Spurlock in the 6600 block of Franklin Avenue, only a short distance from the apartment where the shooting occurred. He was booked on suspicion of murder and ordered held without bail. The Los Angeles County District Attorney's Office subsequently charged him in case 26CJCF05140 with three counts of murder in connection with the deaths of Badeker, Cartegena and Bogacz. Prosecutors also alleged that he personally and intentionally used a firearm, committed multiple murders and had qualifying prior serious or violent felony convictions under California's three-strikes law.
The case attracted additional attention because Spurlock had previously been convicted of second-degree murder in Washington state. That earlier case stemmed from the fatal shooting of DeWayne Williams following an argument in 2003. Spurlock was convicted in 2005, served approximately 17 years in prison and was released from Washington state custody in 2022. Prosecutors have cited that previous murder conviction as one of the special allegations in the California case.
Spurlock pleaded not guilty to the three murder charges. He was subsequently found mentally competent to stand trial and remained jailed without bail. Because of the multiple-murder allegations, the firearm allegations and his prior murder conviction, prosecutors said that a conviction as charged could expose him to life imprisonment without the possibility of parole or potentially a death sentence under California law. As of the latest public reporting located, the case remained pending, with no trial verdict or conviction yet reported in the deaths of Badeker, Cartegena and Bogacz. The allegations against Spurlock remain accusations unless proven in court.
