Ballistics Tests Awaited in West Covina Slaying

West Covina police said Monday they are waiting for results of ballistics tests before determining whether two men will be charged in the shooting death of a West Covina man last week.

Paul Watkins, 21, and Lucian Martin, 18, were arrested last Tuesday in connection with an unrelated armed robbery of a Gardena market. They are being held in Los Angeles County Jail in lieu of $75,000 bail, Gardena Police Detective David Melnyk said.

“They definitely have not been eliminated as suspects” in the shooting earlier Tuesday of Raymond Garrett Shield, 61, in an apparent robbery attempt, Melnyk said. Investigators are waiting to see if a 9-millimeter bullet which killed Shield matches a gun recovered from the suspects, he said. Shield was gunned down in front of a Holiday Inn as his wife, daughter and two grandchildren looked on. A truck Watkins and Martin were found driving fit witnesses’ descriptions of the getaway vehicle in the killing, police said.