PICO RIVERA — Deputies are seeking a 20-year-old man accused of assaulting his mother and robbing her at knifepoint earlier this week.
Manuel Ortiz, 20, is a transient known to frequent the Pico Rivera area, Los Angeles County sheriff’s Lt. Robert Smith said.
He was spotted early Wednesday, prompting a brief manhunt in the 5400 block of Lindsey Avenue, though he was ultimately not captured and the search called off, the lieutenant said.
Ortiz was arguing with his mother at her home about 9:30 a.m. Monday, in the same neighborhood where he was spotted Wednesday, when he went into the home and began taking valuables, Smith said.
“When she confronted him, he pulled a knife on her (and) pushed her to the floor,” he said. She was no injured.
After receiving information that he may be in the area, deputies spotted Ortiz about 6:30 a.m. Wednesday sleeping on the roof of a home in the 5400 block of Lindsey Avenue, but he ran when he spotted deputies.
Officials searched the area but did not find Ortiz, and the search was called off about 8:30 a.m.
Ortiz is described a Latino man, about 5 feet 10 inches tall, 175 pounds, with black hair and brown eyes, Smith said.
Anyone with information on his whereabouts is asked to call the sheriff’s Pico Rivera Station at 562-949-2421.