Sunday, March 22, 2026

Sheriff’s Detectives Release Video, Seek Four Suspects in Unsolved March 22, 2023 Altadena Murder

Sheriff’s detectives said last week they believed one of the suspects wore a garment like the one pictured. [LASD]

Three years after Daniel Ursitti was shot during a home-invasion burglary, investigators and his father appeal for the public’s help

Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Department homicide detectives released surveillance video Thursday showing four suspects outside a home in Altadena’s gated La Viña community, renewing a public appeal for help solving a three-year-old murder that remains unsolved.

Daniel Ursitti, 27, was shot and killed inside the home in the 700 block of West Owen Court about 2:30 a.m. on March 22, 2023, after four men entered through what investigators said was a lower-level door that had been left open. No arrests have been made.

Lt. Mike Gomez of the Sheriff’s Homicide Bureau said Ursitti and his girlfriend were asleep in his bedroom when they awoke to find four men standing over them. One of the men demanded that Ursitti “show him the stuff” and threatened to shoot.

“Before Daniel could react the male suspect shot at him as he lay in bed,” Gomez said at a March 19 press conference at the department’s Monterey Park headquarters.

Ursitti died of multiple gunshot wounds at a hospital, according to the medical examiner’s office. A family member and two friends who were also inside the home were not injured.

The four suspects fled in a vehicle described as a white, second-generation 2015–2020 Chevrolet Colorado pickup truck. Investigators have been unable to determine the vehicle’s license plate number.

Gomez said investigators discovered that Ursitti had been advertising psilocybin mushrooms for sale through a social media platform. The mushrooms and money were likely what motivated the burglary attempt, he said. The suspects may also have had some prior association with the victim, Gomez said.

At the press conference, detectives played a portion of surveillance video captured by a nearby home’s security camera showing the four suspects in dark clothing walking on the sidewalk outside the victim’s home before the shooting. They also displayed an image of a gray or light-colored hoodie similar to one worn by one of the suspects.

Richard Ursitti, the victim’s father, joined investigators at the press conference to urge anyone with information to come forward.

“It has been devastating to our family. We have suffered,” Richard Ursitti said. “If you know anything at all, we ask that you please come forward and help bring justice to this tragic loss that we’ve been dealing with.”

The family’s loss extended beyond Daniel Ursitti’s death. The home on Owen Court where the shooting occurred was destroyed in the January Eaton Fire.

“Another loss the family had to take on after the death of their son,” Gomez said.

Anyone with information about the case is asked to call the Sheriff’s Homicide Bureau at (323) 890-5500. Anonymous tips can be submitted through Crime Stoppers at (800) 222-8477, at lacrimestoppers.org, or through the P3 Tips app.

“The pain this family is carrying is unimaginable,” Gomez said. “We’re asking for the public’s assistance and encourage anyone with information to come forward and help identify the individuals responsible for this senseless act of violence and provide some measure of closure for the victim’s family.”