Woman beaten to death with electric scooter

LONG BEACH, Calif. — A person of interest is now in police custody in connection with the beating death of a woman in California. Witnesses said the man used an electric scooter as a weapon.

Heartbroken friends and family members told KTLA that Rosa Manjarrez, 63, had spent the morning visiting with friends just a few blocks from her Long Beach home. "She went to eat over there because they enjoy all the time, you know, they made food and they enjoy," said Gabriel Luquin.

After lunch, friends said she started making the three-block walk home when a man began attacking her just a few steps from her friend's home. Police said the suspect then picked up a scooter that had been lying on the sidewalk and beat her to death.

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Friends said they know her attacker as someone who always hangs around the neighborhood and seems mentally unstable. "We saw him all the time around there. So my wife, she warned me about the guy few times and I was ... OK, just try to avoid him," said Luqin.

Police said they took a person of interest into custody from a convenience store about a half mile from the homicide scene within a few hours of the deadly attack.

Neighbors said she loved gardening, her husband and her extended family, and was like family to many others in the neighborhood. "I just heard the news, so it's shocking. She was a nice woman. Everybody in the neighborhood knew her. She's always walking. She didn't drive," said neighbor Veronica Morales.

CNN/KTLA