Man struck and killed on freeway after fleeing immigration agents, California official says

LOS ANGELES (AP) — A man fleeing immigration authorities outside a Home Depot store in Southern California was struck and killed by an SUV when he ran across a nearby freeway, officials said.

Police in the city of Monrovia about 20 miles (32 kilometers) northeast of Los Angeles received a call Thursday about the presence of U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents. A responding officer saw ICE agents approaching the store and conducting enforcement activity there, City Manager Dylan Feik said in a statement.

One man fled on foot and headed toward the nearby freeway, where he was struck by a vehicle, Feik said. He was taken to a hospital, where he died, the statement said.

“We extend our condolences for the individual and his family,” Feik said.

The incident comes amid a series of arrests at Home Depot stores, car washes and other locations as President Donald Trump's administration steps up immigration enforcement in Southern California. The raids by masked agents have stoked widespread fear in immigrant communities, and the man is the second person reported to have died in Southern California while trying to flee federal immigration enforcement authorities.

On Friday, a team of unmarked SUVS with tinted windows carrying Border Patrol agents sped up to a food stand outside a Home Depot location in Los Angeles. They hit the brakes and filed out with masked faces, some with camouflage uniforms and carrying M-4 rifles.

Agents had been doing surveillance on a Guatemalan woman who they said had a criminal background. A plainclothes agent approached the food stand to confirm it was her, and then the operation began. Bystanders sounded whistles and shouted profanities.

The team repeated the drill at a car wash in the nearby community of Montebello but with less resistance. Two workers were arrested there.

On Thursday in Monrovia, the California Highway Patrol said the man was running across the lanes of eastbound Interstate 210 when he was struck by an SUV traveling about 50 or 60 miles (80 or 97 kilometers) per hour.

The man's name was not immediately released pending the notification of family. The CHP said the crash, and the circumstances surrounding why the man was on the freeway, are under investigation.

A vigil was planned for Friday by immigrant advocates, who denounced the widespread raids.

Feik said he did not have information about the immigration operation or whether anyone was arrested.

A spokesperson for the U.S. Department of Homeland Security wrote in an email that the agency was not notified of the incident until hours after operations in the area had concluded. “This individual was not being pursued by any DHS law enforcement,” said the spokesperson, who was not named.

The spokesperson did not respond to questions about the operation.

The Trump administration has made arrests at Home Depot stores, car washes, garment factories and other locations, with many people held in immigration detention. Last month, a farmworker fell from a greenhouse roof during an immigration raid at a cannabis facility northwest of Los Angeles and died from his injuries.

Last month, a federal court in Southern California temporarily blocked the Trump administration from carrying out indiscriminate sweeps. A hearing on the issue is set for September.

George Lane, a Home Depot spokesperson, said in an email that the company isn't notified when immigration operations will take place and is not involved in them. Lane deferred questions to ICE.

Taxin contributed to this report from Santa Ana, California.

A woman is detained by U.S. Border Patrol agents outside a Home Depot Friday, Aug. 15, 2025, in Los Angeles. (AP Photo/Gregory Bull)

A man is detained by immigration agents at a car wash on Friday, Aug. 15, 2025, in Montebello, Calif. (AP Photo/Gregory Bull)

A woman watches as immigration agents conduct an operation at a car wash on Friday, Aug. 15, 2025, in Montebello, Calif. (AP Photo/Gregory Bull)

Immigration agents conduct arrests and check identifications at a car wash on Friday, Aug. 15, 2025, in Montebello, Calif. (AP Photo/Gregory Bull)

A woman is detained by U.S. Border Patrol agents outside a Home Depot Friday, Aug. 15, 2025, in Los Angeles. (AP Photo/Gregory Bull)

FILE - A U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement officer listens during a briefing, Jan. 27, 2025, in Silver Spring, Md. (AP Photo/Alex Brandon, File)

COLUMBUS, Ohio (AP) — Police in Ohio's capital city said Wednesday that they have gathered enough evidence to link a man charged in the double homicide of his ex-wife and her husband in their Columbus home last month to the killings.

Columbus Police Chief Elaine Bryant said in an Associated Press interview that authorities now believe Michael David McKee, 39, a vascular surgeon who was living in Chicago, was the person seen walking down a dark alley near Monique and Spencer Tepe's home in video footage from the night of the murders. His vehicle has also been identified traveling near the house, and a firearm found in his Illinois residence also traced to evidence at the scene, she said.

An attorney representing McKee could not be identified through court listings.

His arrest Saturday capped off nearly two weeks of speculation surrounding the mysterious killings that attracted national attention. No obvious signs of forced entry were found at the Tepes’ home. Police also said no weapon was found there, and murder-suicide was not suspected. Further, nothing was stolen, and the couple’s two young children and their dog were left unharmed in the home.

“What we can tell you is that we have evidence linking the vehicle that he was driving to the crime scene. We also have evidence of him coming and going in that particular vehicle,” Bryant told the AP. “What I can also share with you is that there were multiple firearms taken from the property of McKee, and one of those firearms did match preliminarily from a NIBIN (ballistic) hit back to this actual homicide.”

Bryant said that the department wants the public to keep the tips coming. Investigators were able to follow up on every phone call, email and private tip shared from the community to the department and some of that information allowed them to gather enough evidence to make an arrest, she said.

That work culminated in the apprehension of McKee in Rockford, Illinois, where the hospital where he worked — OSF Saint Anthony Medical Center — has said it is cooperating with the investigation. He has been charged with premeditated aggravated murder in the shooting deaths. Monique Tepe, who divorced McKee in 2017, was 39. Her husband, a dentist whose absence from work that morning prompted the first call to police, was 37.

McKee waived his right to an extradition hearing on Monday during an appearance in the 17th Judicial Circuit Court in Winnebago County, Illinois, where he remains in jail. Bryant said officials are working out details of his return to Ohio, with no exact arrival date set. His next hearing in Winnebago County is scheduled for Jan. 23.

Columbus Mayor Andrew Ginther said Wednesday that the city doesn't prioritize high-profile cases any more than others, noting that the city's closure rate on criminal cases exceeds the national average. The city also celebrated in 2025 its lowest level of homicides and violent crime since 2007, Ginther said.

“Every case matters. Ones that receive national attention, and those that don’t,” he told the AP. “Every family deserves closure and for folks to be held accountable, and the rest of the community deserves to be safe when dangerous people are taken off the street.”

Ginther said it is vital for central Ohioans to continue to grieve with the Tepes' family, which includes two young children, and loved ones, as they cope with “such an unimaginable loss.”

“I want our community to wrap our arms around this family and these children for years to come,” he said.

This undated booking photo provided by the Winnebago County Sheriff's Office Tuesday, Jan. 13, 2026, shows Michael David McKee, who was charged in the killing of his ex-wife, Monique Tepe, and her husband Spencer Tepe at their Columbus, Ohio, home on Dec. 30, 2025. (Winnebago County Sheriff's Office via AP)

Spencer and Monique Tepe's home in Columbus, Ohio, on Tuesday, Jan. 6, 2026. (AP Photo/Patrick Aftoora-Orsagos)

This image taken from video shows Michael David McKee walking into the courtroom on Monday, Jan. 12, 2026, in Rockford, Ill. (WIFR News/Pool Photo via AP)