Paul Anthony Cruz Jr.
Introduction
Paul Anthony Cruz Jr., a 20-year-old man from the Los Angeles suburb of Arcadia, California, is accused of forcing his way into the apartment where his 15-year-old ex-girlfriend, Mina Kurdian, lived with her family on the morning of October 22, 2026, and fatally shooting her, according to authorities. Police found Kurdian dead at the scene; Cruz fled, was located about an hour later in a Pasadena parking lot with an apparently self-inflicted gunshot wound, and remained hospitalized in critical condition as of October 24. No charges against him had been reported as of that date.
Background Information
Kurdian’s relatives told The Post the two began an on-again, off-again relationship about a year earlier, when she was 14, and that she largely kept it hidden — in part, a relative said, because the family believed Cruz was a teenager himself. “I think she was embarrassed to say he was 20. If I knew he was, it would be a whole different situation,” the relative said. Family members said she broke up with Cruz several weeks before the killing, and that he grew upset when she would not reconcile. Neighbors’ accounts differed: some believed the two were still dating, while others said the split came roughly two weeks before the shooting.
The Controversy or Incident That Led to Their Cancellation
Accused of murder, not charged. Cruz has not been charged with any crime; the Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Department’s homicide bureau is still investigating the killing. The account of the shooting below comes from authorities and from the victim’s family, and Cruz — hospitalized in critical condition — has made no public statement. He is presumed innocent.
According to the family’s account in The Post, Cruz arrived at the apartment around 5 a.m. on October 22 drunk and belligerent, carrying a bottle of Hennessy, and the two fought until Kurdian kicked him out. Her last text to a family member, sent around 8:53 a.m., said she was going to shower and get ready. Relatives said Cruz returned around 11 a.m., tried unsuccessfully to break the apartment’s glass door, then shot through a window to force his way in and shot Kurdian in the head.
The official timeline matches it: Arcadia police said they responded to the 800 block of West Huntington Drive around 11 a.m. after a caller reported a man inside the home who had fired a gun, and found the girl wounded; she was pronounced dead at the scene. Authorities said Cruz had already fled. About an hour later, Pasadena police located him roughly five miles away — in a Petco parking lot near South Arroyo Parkway — where, the Sheriff’s Department said, he shot himself in the head as officers prepared to contact him. “They tried to arrest him. They tried to get his attention, and before they reached out to him, he took a gun out and shot himself,” witness Edgar Perez told NBC4.
An auto-body shop manager across the street from the Arcadia apartment told stations he heard a gunshot and saw police handcuff a man on the sidewalk; Michael Amini of Alliance Auto Body Works told The Times that as police pursued the car, the driver parked at the Petco lot, walked to the sidewalk and pulled out the gun. The Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Department, which took over the investigation from Arcadia police, said no one else was injured.
Public Reaction and Consequences
Kurdian’s relatives, who described the 15-year-old as “funny, happy and adventurous” and an aspiring cosmetologist, said they hoped the man accused of killing her survived to face justice. “She was just a kid,” one family member told The Post. Neighbors questioned the relationship itself: “If you’re a 20-year-old man, I mean, you don’t have business with a 15-year-old,” Arcadia resident Andrew Beasley told ABC7, calling Cruz’s alleged final act a way to “flush your life down the toilet.” The Arcadia Unified School District said Kurdian was a former student who was not enrolled in the district at the time of her death and offered condolences to everyone affected.
Current Status
Cruz remained hospitalized in critical condition as of Friday, October 23, with multiple law enforcement sources describing a self-inflicted gunshot wound to the head, according to NBC4. He was not listed in the Sheriff’s Department’s online inmate system as of Friday afternoon — he has never been booked — and no criminal complaint against him had been reported as of October 24, 2026. Sheriff’s homicide detectives asked anyone with information to call (323) 890-5500. An investigation into Kurdian’s death is ongoing.
Impact on Their Career/Life
The episode left a 15-year-old dead in the San Gabriel Valley suburb and a 20-year-old man whose only pathway to a courtroom, as her family put it, is surviving his own wound. Whether Cruz lives to be charged, tried or named in a criminal complaint remains unresolved; until then the allegations against him are accusations by authorities and the victim’s family, not findings. What is already fixed is the record he leaves in coverage of the case: a relationship that family members say began when Kurdian was 14 and ended, weeks later, in her killing and his own shooting.
Sources
- New York Post, “New details in Arcadia teen murder as accused killer exposed,” October 24, 2026 — source
- Los Angeles Times, “Man kills his teen ex-girlfriend in Arcadia, then shoots himself in Pasadena, authorities say,” October 22, 2026 — source
- ABC7 Los Angeles, “15-year-old identified as victim fatally shot by man she was ‘dating,’ authorities say,” October 23, 2026 — source
- NBC Los Angeles, “15-year-old Arcadia girl identified after being shot, killed by 20-year-old boyfriend,” October 24, 2026 — source
- CBS Los Angeles, “20-year-old man allegedly shoots teen girl to death in Arcadia apartment,” October 23, 2026 — source
- Southern California News Group/Daily News, “Teen girl killed in Arcadia; suspect in critical condition from self-inflicted gunshot wound,” October 22, 2026 — source
- X (@nypost), “Chilling new details emerge in teen girl’s alleged murder by 20-year-old ex in LA suburb,” October 24, 2026 — source