Recently in Homicides Category

A new study from Harvard looks at the changes in the Los Angeles Police Department over the last nearly 20 years. Today, 53 percent of new graduates were Latino, compared with 45 percent in 1990.

dailynews.com

On Monday evening a man was killed in the parking structure at the Beverly Center. Los Angeles Police Department homicide detectives are investigating the murder.

On May 18, 2009, at 3:11 p.m., officers from Wilshire Area responded to a call for service at the Beverly Center, located at 8500 Beverly Boulevard. When they arrived, the officers found an adult male suffering from several gunshot wounds.

The Los Angeles Fire Department was notified and transported the victim to a local hospital where he died a short time later.

During the investigation, homicide detectives identified the suspect who left the scene before the officers arrived. The suspect, Aubrey Louis Berry, a 23-year-old male, from Georgia was arrested for the murder at the Los Angeles International Airport. Berry is being held on $1 million bail.

Wilshire Area homicide detectives are handling the investigation and are still looking into the motive for the murder.

The victim's identity has not yet been confirmed, pending verification from the Los Angeles Coroner's Office. The victim was identified by friends, family and his publicist as the rapper Dolla, whose real name was Roderick Anthony Burton II.

Anyone with information about the incident is encouraged to contact Wilshire Homicide Detective Frank Carrillo at (213) 473-0446. During off-hours, calls may be directed to a 24-hour, toll-free number at 1-877-LAPD-24-7 (527-3247). Callers may also text "Crimes" with a cell phone or log on to LAPD and click on Web tips. When using a cell phone, all messages should begin with "LAPD." Tipsters may remain anonymous.

Los Angeles police detectives are asking for the public's help in identifying the suspects responsible for the shooting deaths of 25-year-old Alejandro Robleos Perez and 19-year-old Javier Cordero Gonzalez.

The men were killed Saturday, May 16, 2009 about 4:30 a.m. near 2909 West Hyde Park Boulevard. The victims were standing on the sidewalk when the suspects approached them. The suspects suddenly began shooting multiple rounds, killing Perez and Gonzales.

Detectives have not determined whether the shooting is gang related.

Anyone with information regarding this murder investigation is asked to contact Criminal Gang Homicide Group Detectives Kenneth White and Refugio Garza at (213) 485-1383. After hours or on weekends, calls may be directed to a 24-hour, toll-free number at 1-877-LAPD-24-7 (527-3247) or by texting CRIMES (274637) and beginning the message with the letters LAPD. Tipsters may also submit information on the LAPD website: www.lapdonline.org. All tips may remain anonymous.

An anticlimactic end to a violent incident went down yesterday when a man who had just shot and mortally wounded his ex-girlfriend led police on a pursuit that started in the San Fernando Valley and ended with his arrest in Corona.

On Wednesday, May 13, 2009 at around 12:05 p.m., Mission Area Patrol Officers were dispatched to a radio call of a shooting that had just occurred in the 8300 block of Van Nuys Boulevard. Officers found the victim, a female, Hispanic, 27-years-old, suffering from multiple gunshot wounds.

Witnesses described seeing the suspect, identified as 27-year-old Jasper Stallings, force the victim into a red Dodge Ram pickup truck that was parked in the Rite-Aid parking lot in the 8400 block of Van Nuys Boulevard. They then heard gunfire as the truck drove away, across the parking lot. As the truck neared the 24-Hour Fitness Center the victim either fell, or was pushed out of the truck. Witnesses heard at least one additional gunshot.

Stallings drove away headed south through the parking lot, got onto the Hollywood Freeway, and eventually headed to Corona. There, the suspect stopped and was arrested.

During the investigation detectives discovered that the truck Stallings was driving had been taken in a kidnapping/carjack incident that had occurred earlier in the day in the northeast area of the San Fernando Valley. The victim of that incident was forced at gunpoint to get into the passenger seat and was driven to Victorville where he was robbed and left at the side of the road, unharmed.

The shooting victim, whose identity is being withheld until her family can be notified, was pronounced dead at a local hospital at about 2:50 p.m.

Stallings was booked into jail on a murder charge and is being held without bail. He faces charges including, domestic violence, kidnap, robbery, and carjacking.

Anyone with additional information is encouraged to contact LAPD Mission Detective Jim Freund at (818) 838-9810. After hours and on weekends, calls may be directed to a 24-hour, toll-free number at1-877-LAPD-24-7 (527-3247). Callers may also text "Crimes" with a cell phone or log on to www.lapdonline.org and click on Web tips. When using a cell phone, all messages should begin with "LAPD." Tipsters may remain anonymous.

Paul M. Weber, president of the Los Angeles Police Protective League, issued the following statement today regarding the release of the SWAT report to the media:

Our legal advisors have expressed serious concerns over the LAPD's decision to release to the news media such a detailed report containing opinions of officers' performance and describing in detail safety tactics used by our officers during this tragic event. Nevertheless, the report from the Chief of Police supports what the LAPPL has always said about the February 7, 2008 SWAT incident in West San Fernando Valley - the officers involved are heroes in every sense of the word. Their bravery and courage under fire epitomizes what it means to be a police officer and it is no wonder the President of the United States recognized these officers.

The Times' Joel Rubin follows the inquiry into last February's fatal killing of LAPD SWAT Officer Randal Simmons during a standoff in Winnetka.

An internal investigation found that the officers involved acted appropriately, the officers were not perfect, LAPD Chief William J. Bratton said.

Although the officers' conduct, including their decision to use deadly force, was within department rules, the review panel and Bratton expressed concern about some aspects of the response. For example, communication among the officers was imperfect at times, as inaccurate information about the situation was relayed to responding SWAT officers.

L.A. Now.

Read the Daily News' complete coverage of the incident.

The city of Los Angeles is offering a $50,000 reward to help locate a murder suspect.

On January 25, 2008 about 11:30 p.m., Alvaro Ely Calderon was walking near the intersection of Strathern Street and Bellaire Avenue in North Hollywood when someone shot him. Witnesses saw a white, four-door Toyota, Honda or Nissan speed away from the scene.

Cops are asking that anyone with information about this crime call North Hollywood Homicide Detectives at (818) 623-4075. After hours or on weekends, calls may be directed to the North Hollywood Watch Commander at (818) 623-4016, or a 24 hour toll-free number at 1-877-LAPD-24-7 or by texting CRIMES (274637) and beginning the message with the letters "LAPD." Tipsters can also submit information on the LAPD website www.lapdonline.org. All tips may remain anonymous.

Police announced the arrest of a man and an accomplice believed responsible for the murder of a 24-year-old man named Victor Solis.

Solis was killed May 2, 2009, at 1:45 p.m. at Pepper Street in Cypress Park. He was discovered shot inside a vehicle. He was taken to a local hospital but he died.

Detectives identified two suspects, 21-year-old Adrian Martinez and 18-year-old Joshua Ricardo Galindes. Both men were believed to be gang members. Detectives believe Galindes was the triggerman.

Martinez late last week. Police found Galindes Monday afternoon in an area he was known to hang out in and saw him getting out of a car carrying a gun. Galindes tossed his weapon and tried to run away but was caught a short time later. His gun was also recovered, although it was not the same caliber as the weapon used in the killing, police said.

Police are asking that anyone with additional information is encouraged to contact LAPD Northeast Division detectives at (213) 847-4261. After hours and on weekends, calls may be directed to a 24-hour, toll-free number at1-877-LAPD-24-7 (527-3247). Callers may also text "Crimes" with a cell phone or log on to www.lapdonline.org and click on Web tips. When using a cell phone, all messages should begin with "LAPD." Tipsters may remain anonymous.

Relatives of a 17-year-old youth slain by an illegal alien -- sparking an unsuccessful drive to put what became known as "Jamiel's Law" on the city ballot -- have sued the county for wrongful death.

A Canoga Park man faces arraignment later this month on a murder charge stemming from the alleged fatal shooting of his older brother, whose body has not been found, the District Attorney's office announced.

Deputy District Attorney Beth Silverman of the Major Crimes Division filed the case on Monday against 34-year-old Hossein Shirazi. Shirazi was charged with one count of murdering his 49-year-old brother, Mohammad Shirazi, sometime between April 12, 2008, and May 2, 2008. The complaint alleged Hossein Shirazi personally used a handgun to commit the crime.

Authorities alleged that Hossein Shirazi shot his brother at the family home in Canoga Park while the men's parents were on vacation in Iran.

Silverman said Hossein Shirazi is scheduled to appear for arraignment on May 13, in Department 100 of Van Nuys Superior Court. He is in custody on $2 million bail.

The defendant was arrested by detectives from the Los Angeles Police Department's West Valley Division on April 30. The case was filed on Monday and the arraignment postponed after a brief court appearance in Van Nuys that day.

If convicted, the defendant faces a possible life-with-parole sentence.

This afternoon at 12:30, Los Angeles City Attorney Rocky Delgadillo is holding a press conference to announce his latest crack down with a gang injunction against Barrio Van Nuys.

"BVN or Barrio Van Nuys gang is as dangerous or as potent as MS-13, 18th Street or any gang in the city," Delgadillo said Wednesday after filing paperwork seeking the injunction in Los Angeles Superior Court.

dailynews.com

Cops put out this release about a homicide in Pacoima.

Los Angeles Police Department (LAPD) detectives are asking for the public's help to find the persons responsible for the shooting death of 19-year-old Samuel Trujillo of Pacoima.

On Wednesday, September 10 at about 8:40 p.m., Foothill patrol officers responded to a radio call of a shooting that occurred in the 11600 block of Woodcock Avenue in Pacoima. When officers arrived, they found a victim of a gunshot wound.

The victim was transported to a local area hospital where he later died of his injury.

Investigators believe that unknown suspects approached Trujillo and exchanged words concerning gang affiliation. The suspect, who was accompanied by several others, shot the victim.

The suspects are described as male Hispanics, in their 20s, wearing dark clothing.

Anyone with information is asked to contact Foothill Homicide Detectives Jose Martinez and Joshua Byers at 818-834-3115. After hours and on weekends calls may be directed to the 24-hour, toll-free number, 1-877-LAW-FULL (529-3855).

Two months after he took over the city's anti-gang programs, Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa on Monday attributed a sharp drop in gang violence in some of the city's worst neighborhoods to a late-night summer program that offers sports, movies and marble tournaments in eight city parks. dailynews.com

Police today were asking for the public's help to find the person responsible for a weekend stabbing death of a 42-year-old man in the West Valley area.

The man was stabbed Saturday at 11:55 p.m. in the 21900 block of Ventura Boulevard. Cop sfound the victim on the ground in the rear parking lot, suffering from multiple stab wounds.

Cops don't know why the man was stabbed, but they described the culprit as heavy-set and white, wearing light-color clothing.

The victim's identification is being withheld until officials can notify family.

Anyone with information is asked to contact West Valley homicide detectives at (818) 374-7725. After hours and on weekends calls may be directed to the 24-hour toll free number, 1-877-LAW-FULL (529-3855).

CENTURY CITY -- Police searched today for a man who stabbed a woman to death in the parking structure of a Century City high-rise office building.

Pamela Fayed, 44, had her throat cut in the garage at 1875 Century Park East about 6:35 p.m. Monday, according to police and coroner's spokesman Ed Winter.

Fayed, of Camarillo, was the wife of James Fayed, who operated eBullion and Goldfinger Coin and Bullion, which has an office in Camarillo and is one of the largest gold trading sites on the Internet.

A neighbor and friend of the woman, Mike Nelson, told local media that the couple were in the middle of a bitter divorce and Fayed was afraid of her estranged husband.

dailynews.com

San Fernando Courthouse
• Trial status conference in the case of Kimberly Carter, Northridge woman charged with murder.
• Preliminary hearing setting for Pedro Ortiz, charged with Valley child molestations.

Van Nuys Courthouse
• Preliminary hearing setting for Marquis Dejon Jiles, a man charged with murder in a hit-and-run crash.
• Preliminary hearing setting for Amir David Tamado Nejad, a Woodland Hills man charged with attempted murder.

San Fernando Courthouse
• Preliminary hearing setting for George Miller, a former priest charged with sexual molestation.

San Fernando Courthouse
• Preliminary hearing setting for Robert Ramon Gasca, a Pacoima man charged with shooting four people.

Pasadena Courthouse
• Jury trial in the case of Ezel Ethan Channel, a Nickelodeon employee charged with child molestation.

Antelope Valley Courthouse
• Pretrial conference in the re-trial of Raymond Lee Jennings, charged with murder.

Los Angeles County Sheriff's deputies shot and killed a man last night in Lennox. Sheriff's officials say the shooting occurred shortly before midnight Wednesday, and the suspect was pronounced dead at the scene. No deputies were hurt. Officials would not yet say what prompted the shooting. Lennox is an unincorporated area, about 10 miles southwest of downtown Los Angeles.

Channel 4 news is reporting that the man, tentatively identified as Christian Cortillo, who is between 33 and 35-years-old was not armed, but possibly had been reaching under a seat for something when at least three deputies approached his vehicle.

The deputies were investigating a narcotics dealer who was selling drugs on the street when they saw the suspect sitting in his car. When he reached under the passenger seat, a deputy thought he was reaching for a weapon and fired at least one shot, striking the man in the upper torso.

A stray bullet struck and killed a 9-year-old girl in South Los Angeles Wednesday night.

Two male teens opened fire on a group of people near East 76th and South San Pedro streets around 8:45 p.m., and "a stray bullet struck a girl in the chest," Officer Jason Lee of the Los Angeles Police Department's Media Relations Section said.

9-years-old ...

dailynews.com

The jury in the Juan Alvarez Metrolink train death case has spoken - He'll get life in prison without the possibility for parole. Readers of Mean Streets have also spoken through the nifty survey I set up here last week. So far 71 people have responded, 45 people saying Alvarez should be sentenced to death, 26 saying he shouldn't.

Thirty one people took the time to write comments about the case. Here they are:

• thery (should) carry not the sword in vain :New Testament Wed, 7/16/08 7:37 AM
  
• One thing for sure - he wont kill again! Wed, 7/16/08 5:15 AM
  
• There is no forgiveness from the grave !!! Tue, 7/15/08 9:08 PM
  
• Got to make an example of train wreckers or we'll have trains crashing everywhere Tue, 7/15/08 7:32 PM
  
• he deserves the same treatment as he gave to his victims Tue, 7/15/08 7:23 PM
  
• he had no right to take a life, but now is the time to heal! Tue, 7/15/08 10:17 AM
  
• life in prison Mon, 7/14/08 4:15 PM
  
• Cops are gang members too!So is Bush he's a skull & bones gang member! Mon, 7/14/08 1:55 PM
  
• It was not premeditated Mon, 7/14/08 1:51 PM
  
• He was being selfish when he decided to leave the vehicle on the tracks and had disregard for others. Mon, 7/14/08 1:46 PM
  
• As an excon I know how difficult life in prison is. You are not in control of your daily life's activities, you live with people that are not of your caliber, sleep, eat (explitive), shave,and shower when some (explitive)(that is more than likely younger than you} uses their tranical dictitorial demeaner towords you , etc...... Is killing Alvarez going to bring back the 11 people? Does 11 wrongs make 1 right? Alsoif yeah are without sin cast the first stone!!!!!! Mon, 7/14/08 1:46 PM
  
• he wanted to kill himself so now he can get his wish. Mon, 7/14/08 1:04 PM
  
• death will not make him suffer, hard labor will,that what they give you in the millitary for killing someone Mon, 7/14/08 11:32 AM
  
• pig Mon, 7/14/08 8:46 AM
  
• harvest his parts so that those with failing organs can get a second chance at life Thu, 7/10/08 5:15 PM
  
• I don't believe a life is justified by taking another life. Thu, 7/10/08 4:01 PM
  
• It cost more to execute him then to keep him alive. Thu, 7/10/08 12:03 PM
  
• his life is already destroyed why would you kill him on something he didn't really try to do? it will not bring back any of those lives. there gone face it. he will have to deal with it for the rest of his life that he killed people unjustly. people need to get a clue. people are always talking about when someone is put on deathrow or put to death how they have closure. what type of person are you then. my mother was killed brains blow out. if i had or the officials killed him would that make my pain easy? no i am a more compasionate person. because it really lets me know how precious life really is. Thu, 7/10/08 9:03 AM
  
• give the idiot what he is a little prick... Wed, 7/9/08 1:36 PM
  
• Grant his original wish and tie him to the tracks. Wed, 7/9/08 12:39 PM
  
• If he was suicidal, maybe just a prison sentence will serve him good Wed, 7/9/08 11:51 AM
  
• Wasn't he trying to kill himself in the first place? No, he should be kept alive to feel even a tiny bit of the torment the families are feeling. Wed, 7/9/08 9:42 AM
  
• Costs more to keep him imprisoned. Wed, 7/9/08 9:41 AM
  
• He won't be able to do it again to anyone. Wed, 7/9/08 7:15 AM
  
• Let him suffer in prison (alive), since the victims families are all suffering without them. Wed, 7/9/08 7:13 AM
  
• he is responsible for 11 deaths Tue, 7/8/08 8:31 PM
  
• won't bring them back and killing is wrong and it's one of the ten commentments Tue, 7/8/08 8:24 PM
  
• But only if the necessary elements for its imposition are met. Tue, 7/8/08 6:13 PM
  
• Give him "Life" (Last part deleted by editor) Tue, 7/8/08 3:01 PM
  
• All gang members should be sentenced to death. Tue, 7/8/08 12:51 PM
  
• Let him suffer in prison. Tue, 7/8/08 12:45 PM

  Feel free to take the survey by clicking here.

I put a survey up yesterday asking readers of Mean Streets, "Should convicted murderer Juan Manuel Alvarez get the death penalty?"

Twenty nine people responded. Thank you. Here's how you voted - 19 people said yes; 10 said no.

Here are the comments:

• he is responsible for 11 deaths
  
• won't bring them back and killing is wrong and it's one of the ten commentments
  
• But only if the necessary elements for its imposition are met.
  
• Give him "Life" (ergo: being anally raped in prison)
  
• All gang members should be sentenced to death.
  
• Let him suffer in prison.
  

Click Here to take the survey

I've created a Web survey to gather responses on whether Juan Manuel Alvarez, who was convicted of killing 11 in the 2005 Metrolink train disaster.

Click Here to take survey

The FBI gathered investigators, psychologists and crime analysts from across the country to come up with profiles of serial killers.

Their study released today from the Behavorial Science wing of the bureau is supposed to help cops detect those killers. Along the way it busts some of those myths that serial killers are freaky loners like Hannibal Lecter, or that they simply want to get caught, like the Zodiac Killer.

It's an interesting read, with background on where the phenomenon of serial killers began and even a letter from Jack the Ripper.

Dear Boss I keep on hearing the police have caught me but they wont fix me just yet. I have laughed when they look so clever and talk about being on the right track. That joke about Leather Apron gave me real fits. I am down on whores and I shant quit ripping them till I do get buckled. Grand work the last job was. I gave the lady no time to squeal. How can they catch me now. I love my work and want to start again. You will soon hear of me with my funny little games. I saved some of the proper red stuff in a ginger beer bottle over the last job to write with but it went thick like glue and I cant use it. Red ink is fit enough I hope ha. ha. The next job I do I shall clip the ladys ears off and send to the police officers just for jolly wouldn't you. Keep this letter back till I do a bit more work, then give it out straight. My knife's so nice and sharp I want to get to work right away if I get a chance. Good luck. Yours truly Jack the Ripper

Here's the report.

......And a few "myth busters" from the press release:

1) Serial killers are not all dysfunctional loners: some have had wives and kids and full-time jobs and have been very active in their community or church or both.
2) Serial killers are not all white males: the racial diversification of serial killers generally mirrors the overall U.S. population.
3) Serial killers do not want to get caught: over time, as they kill without being discovered, they get careless during their crimes.

A Vineland Boyz member will spend the rest of his life in prison for shooting to death a 16-year-old girl who had testified against one of his fellow gang members. Raul Robledo was sentenced to the life term in a closed hearing Monday. The 30-year-old shot Martha Puebla outside her San Fernando Valley home on May 12, 2003. Days earlier she had testified at a hearing against Jose Ledesma, a fellow gang member of Robledo's. Ledesma and another member, Javier Covarrubias, admitted their roles in Puebla's death and are serving life sentences.

I wrote about Puebla in the pages of the Daily News in 2003. Her family told me she was a caring aunt to a then-7-year-old nephew who, admittedly, associated with troublesome friends.

She was shot across the street from her home in the 7600 block of Case Avenue. She was standing in front of her house, talking to friends when a man walked up to her and fired several shots from a pistol, then took off in a dark blue midsize sedan.

Family members told me that before the man fired the gun, he asked her sister, ``Do you know me?'' and Puebla responded no.

Police said then that the case was a "slap at the fiber" of the criminal justice system because they rely on witnesses to come forward and they promised to pursue the case with "great vigor."

This is not the right way to start a Friday morning, especially for the family of the guy who was killed.

Another homicide in the Valley overnight. Details are sketchy. But we'll flesh it out...

Police this morning were trying to piece together the circumstances surrounding the shooting death of an 18-year-old man whose body was found on a Sylmar street.

The shooting occurred in the 13500 block of Kismet Avenue at 12:15 a.m., police said.

If you haven't checked out our new Valley Crime Map, you should. It's a list of 92 significant crimes - from homicides, to assaults to shootings, to robberies and burglaries - in the Valley since May. I've been compiling the data and uploading it into a new online database that maps the crimes out by street and allows you, the viewer to, search by neighborhood and get up-to-date information about crime near you.

Thanks to the Los Angeles Police Department's Valley Bureau, the information comes to me about daily. I'd like to know what you think about the map and how we can make it more useful. E-mail me with your thoughts.

The spokesman for the state's Justice Department forwarded me the state's significant cases for May. Included are big weapons, drugs and fraud cases. Enjoy.

CACHE OF WEAPONS AND AMMO FOUND IN PROBATIONER'S RESIDENCE

Special Agents with the Bureau of Firearms (BOF) checked the Armed Prohibited Person System and noted that a subject, Tom Powell, was listed as owning three firearms; however, due to previous criminal conviction he is prohibited from possessing and owning firearms. When agents determined that Powell was on searchable probation out of San Benito County, they conducted a search of his residence and located over 1,300 rounds of ammunition and a large gun safe. Powell told officers he had sold all of his weapons but he could not produce any records regarding the sales. A locksmith was called to the residence and opened the safe where agents retrieved five rifles, four handguns and one shotgun. Powell was arrested while other agents continued the search of the house. Located in the attic were additional weapons, including an unregistered AR-15 assault weapon, a 12-gauge shotgun and a revolver.

COMMERCIAL BRIBERY SCHEME AT CAL CASINO

While Special Agents from the Riverside Office of the Bureau of Gambling Control (BGC) were investigating several management employees of the Pechanga Resort and Casino, the Agents uncovered evidence that floor supervisor, Kathy Zhou, who was recently suspended from her job, was charging casino job applicants $3,000 each to falsify their job applications to secure employment. Agents monitored a telephone conversation between Zhou and one of her "customers," during which she instructed the individual not to say anything to DOJ agents. Zhou admitted to the witness during this conversation that she lied to the agents when they questioned her, and was admonishing everyone involved to "keep their stories straight." Zhou was arrested on charges of commercial bribery and obstructing a criminal investigation.

LAPD blog updates us on another South L.A. killing.

A man standing in a large group on the street is shot and killed.

On June 8, 2008, at around 11:50 p.m., police were called to the area of 88th Street and Western Avenue to investigate a shooting that occurred at that location. When officers arrived they discovered 20-year-old Frederick Eugene Moore, lying on the sidewalk. Moore had received a gunshot wound.

Los Angeles City Fire personnel responded and provided emergency treatment for the victim before transporting him to a local hospital. Moore failed to respond to emergency treatment and died.

Detectives say that Moore was standing within a large group of people at 88th Street and Western Avenue. For unknown reasons, shots were fired. The suspect was last seen entering a light colored vehicle and left the location.

Anyone with information about this crime is asked to call South Bureau Homicide Detectives Durazo and Barling at 213-485-1383. On off hours, weekends, and holidays call the toll free number 1-877 LAWFULL (529-3855).

The summer season of violence got off to an early start with 14 people killed across the county this weekend, six of which were in the Valley.

The LAPD is updating its Web site with some of the latest shootings. Here's one from South L.A.

One man died and one escaped injury during what detectives believe was a gang related shooting.

On June 7, 2008, at around 6:25 p.m., Michael Smith, 20-years-old, was walking with his friend near the corner of 95th Street and Vermont Avenue. Smith and his friend had just walked a female companion to a nearby bus stop.

The suspect who was described only as a male Black, approached Smith and the other man from the opposite corner and began firing a handgun at them. Smith was hit by gunfire in the upper body and staggered a short distance before collapsing in the center median on Vermont Avenue. The other intended victim was not injured.

Anyone with information about this crime is asked to call South Bureau Homicide Detective Sal LaBarbera at 213-485-4341. On off hours, weekends, and holidays call the toll free number 1-877-LAWFULL (529-3855).

In a bloody weekend of violence, a dozen people were killed - six in the San Fernando Valley in mostly gang-related crimes.

The victims were killed in five incidents in the central-eastern parts of the San Fernando Valley. Two were gang related, two were unknown and one was a bizarre rear-ender car crash that left the driver and a passenger dead and resulted in the arrest of a DUI suspect.

dailynews.com

A popular 17-year old football player who was slain last weekend after he confronted gang members crashing a graduation party will be buried Friday at Valhalla Memorial Park Cemetery.

Jesus Florian, known to friends as "Chimpo," was beloved among students at Francis Polytechnic High School.

"There was a lot of grief about the loss," said the school's interim principal Gerardo Loera. "He was a popular guy."

Over the past week grieving Polytechnic students raised $4,540 for Florian's family while the football booster club raised $3,000 for them.

Police said Florian did not associate with gangs but the shooting comes amid a spate of juvenile homicides in the San Fernando Valley _all gang-related.

On May 12, Manuel Rodriguez, a 16-year-old was shot and killed as he rode his bicycle near Remick Avenue and Weidner Street in Pacoima.

On May 5, Alejandro "Slash" Villa, a 14-year-old was shot in the back and killed after a fight with a group of teenage boys along the 12700 block of Van Nuys, less than a block from his Pacoima home.

On April 18, Victor Fajardo, a 15-year-old was shot and killed as he walked along the 7000 block of Ethel Avenue near Madison Middle School in North Hollywood.

The youngest of those murdered, Villa was a former Maclay Middle School student who had attended meetings at Communities in Schools, a gang intervention group, but friends and family said teetered on the edge of trouble.

His killing prompted a series of meetings at the school where students range in age from 9 to 14 years of age and experts say the lure to gangs begins. Counselors met with the parents of at-risk youth, each from separate gang territories to warn them of the dangers.

But some just didn't believe their young children could get tangled in the violence.
Now, with the summer months approaching --traditionally the most violent days in the city-- gang intervention groups and others are worried about the numbers of teens on the streets.

"There's no outreach out there. There are things to do for kids but it is minimal, especially in this part of the Valley," said Luis Rodriguez, author of "Always Running La Vida Loca, Gang Days in LA" and owner of Tia Chucha's Cafe in Lake View Terrace.

Police are still searching for Florian's killers and a $50,000 reward is expected to be posted next week.

SUN VALLEY -- With police still searching for the killers of a 17-year-old Polytechnic High School football player shot to death at a house party, officials announced Wednesday they will be seeking a $50,000 reward for information leading to an arrest.

Police say Jesus Florian, known as "Chimpo," was not associated with gangs but confronted gang members who crashed the party after midnight Saturday. He was shot several times in his upper torso.

It's unclear why he confronted the shooter, but the high school graduation and birthday party near Neenach Street and Amboy Avenue had just been winding down. Police say teens had been dancing, and the person who threw the party was not involved.

City Councilman Tony Cardenas, who represents the area, introduced the reward motion to the council Wednesday. It is expected to be approved next week.

"This is another tragedy involving a promising student who had a wealth of opportunities and a bright future brutally taken away from him," he said.

The suspect is described as a Latino in his late teens or early 20s with a shaved head and a thin mustache, 5 foot 8 to 5 feet 9 inches tall with a stocky build.

Anyone with information is asked to call LAPD North Hollywood detectives at 818-623-4045.

Good morning. Cops are looking this morning for a hit-and-run driver who killed a 9-year-old boy in East Los Angeles.

Jesus Sanchez and his family were crossing Ford Boulevard just south of Cesar Chavez Avenue at 12:04 a.m. Sunday when a vehicle going northbound at a high rate of speed struck him, CHP Officer Luis Mendoza said.

The red, late 1990s to early 2000s two-door Honda with tinted rear windows and a spoiler with brake lights did not slow or stop after hitting the boy, Mendoza said. The car then ran a light at Cesar E. Chavez Avenue at Ford and turned left.

dailynews.com

On the 40th anniversary of Robert Kennedy's slaying at a Los Angeles hotel, The San Francisco Chronicle writes about the conspiracy theories that abound in the case.

Examples:

-- Sirhan fired his .22-caliber revolver from a few feet in front of Kennedy, according to police, yet Los Angeles County coroner Thomas Noguchi reported that the fatal shot was fired less than one inch from Kennedy's head, behind his right ear. Of the four shots fired at Kennedy, all came from the rear. None of this was raised at Sirhan's trial because his defense was based on the theory that he suffered from "diminished capacity" rather than on any challenge of prosecutors' evidence.

-- Sirhan's revolver held eight rounds; a radio reporter's tape recording of the shooting has sounds of what one audio expert describes as 13 shots. Sirhan never had a chance to reload before bystanders tackled him. Two of the sounds on the tape are what forensic experts call "double shots," which means two shots so close together that they couldn't have come from the same revolver.

-- Several witnesses saw a security guard just behind Kennedy draw his revolver, and one reported seeing him fire it.

-- Over the years, Sirhan has told investigators who interviewed him in prison that he was in a hypnotic trance during the shooting and can't remember it at all. He said he could not remember writing, "RFK must die." He did not respond to an interview request for this story.

sfgate.com

Los Angeles Police detectives are asking for the public's help to identify the person responsible for the shooting death of a 17-year old teen.

On Saturday, May 31, 2008, just after midnight, North Hollywood patrol officers responded to a shooting call in the 12000 block of Neenach where they found the victim lying on the ground with multiple gun shot wounds to his torso. Los Angeles Fire Department responded and immediately rendered medical treatment. The victim did not respond to their efforts and as result they pronounced him dead.

The preliminary investigation revealed that both the victim and the suspect had attended a party and had been engaged in a heated argument with each other. The suspect produced an unknown caliber handgun and fired multiple shots at the victim from close range, striking the victim in his upper torso. The victim fell to the ground and the suspect fled from the location.

The victim's identity is being withheld pending notification of his family.

Suspect and weapon are still outstanding.

Anyone with information regarding this incident is asked to call North Hollywood Homicide Detective Richard Wheeler at (818) 623-4075. After hours and on weekends, call the 24-hour toll free number at the Detective Information Desk at 1-877-LAW-FULL (529-3855).

Los Angeles Police detectives are asking for the public's help to identify the person(s) responsible for the shooting death of 21-year old Derek Chambers.

On Saturday evening, May 31, 2008, at around 11:00 p.m., Southeast patrol officers were patrolling in the area of 108th Street and Figueroa Street when they heard four to five shots from the immediate area. The officers saw several people who were fleeing eastbound on 108th Street from Figueroa Street. As officers continued to investigate they found Chambers in front of 511 W. 108th Street, who had been shot multiple times.

Los Angeles Fire Department Paramedics transported Chambers to local hospital where he died from his injuries.

No suspects were seen. Witnesses told investigators that they had seen a dark four-door sedan drive away after hearing the gunshots.

The motive for this shooting is unknown, however it was likely gang related. The suspect(s), vehicle and weapon remain outstanding.

Anyone with information regarding this incident is asked to call South Bureau Homicide Detectives Roger Allen or Scott Wilhelm at 213-485-1383. After hours and on weekends, call the 24-hour toll free number at the Detective Information Desk at 1-877-LAW-FULL (529-3855).

lapdblog

NPR is taking a deep look at rising gang violence in Los Angeles, starting out in South L.A. during a ride-along with veteran LAPD Sergeant Herb Cirilo. npr.org

A Superior Court judge on Monday upheld the murder charge against Ara Grigoryan, the man charged in the July 2007 hit-and-run death of Elizabeth Sandoval. Grigoryan's defense team had sought to reduce the murder charge before going to trial, arguing that prosecutors made certain assumptions about the incident and had overblown the 20-year-old's prior driving infractions to infer a "wanton disregard" for human life -- a key finding for murder.

Here's a few more of LA's coldest cases from the turn of the century...

July 10, 1901
Craiton, H.R., Emp. 2nd hand store, So Main St. - Returning from visit to his girl, 2 this a.m.,; front of Horace Bell's place Figueroa St., was shot at from ambush, behind shrubbery.

July 10
Compfort, L.B., Driver of milk wagon - Shot in back, while on his wagon, 21st & Toberman, abt. 3 this a.m. Taken to Cal. Hospital, 4:30 a.m.

July 14
Macchiaroli, Cano, 829 Yale St. - Shot at 8 this a.m., West Glendale by Antonio Pellegrine, living at 729 Castellar.

Aug. 21
Bachelors, Body of man, to't to be Bachelors, found in Westlake. Kelly and Quinn.

Sept. 3
Rasche, Fred, Foreman, baker, Ebingers Bakery, 3d and Spring St. - At or near 9th and Wall St., 3:30 this a.m. on way home from work, shot in right side (flesh wound). Was a non-union man. Susp. Stevan Faviamovich, union baker, arrested by Sergeant Williams.

Oct. 7
Chow Youck Toy, C----
Shot and killed, Chinatown, abt. 7 this p.m. by Wong Bing arrested at Pasadena by Ritch, this eve.

Nov. 19
Wilcox, Abram P., wife and child - Found murdered in their ranch house near Downey; probably killed night of 16th inst.

Dec. 19
Neilson, Carl, Chatsworth Park Tunnel - Held up by three men, just above S.P. yds., this evening, and compelled to lie down while they committed sodomy on him. Says his companion, W. McGrew was with him. (Captain Hensley).

Dec. 3
Sampson, John - Shot and killed his wife at 4th and Spring St. on sidewalk, this p.m. Immediately arrested by crossing officer O.T. Walker.

Feb. 19, 1902
Wiley, Mrs. H.S. - Shot at her rooming house, (about noon) At The Columbia, 512 So. Broadway by D.C. Kent. He shot her twice in right side and once in left arm, then shot himself in forehead, only making a flesh wound; then cut throat with razor. Kent was her partner in lodging house (and lover). Kent committed suicide by taking carbolic acid in receiving hospital on March 12, 1902.

Wong Ung Wong - Murdered, about 1 this a.m., at Simons Brick Yard, 825 Boyle Ave. by On Ling Sing, who was arrested in San Francisco April 4th, and returned to Los Angeles by Hawley. Hawley, Auble, Steele & Kelly on case.

Good morning ... Below are the latest significant crime reports from the LAPD.

ROBBERY/GTA:
DATE / TIME: 5/13/08, 1215 hrs LOCATION: Atoll Ave /
Victory Blvd
TYPE OF WEAPON: Bodily Force SUSPECT(S) IN CUSTODY: No
# OF VICTIM(S): 1 # OF SUSPECT(S): 1
INJURIES: No TYPE OF INJURIES: None
GANG RELATED: Unk NOTIFICATIONS: W/C, Dets, C/O's
COMMENTS: Victim was painting when the suspect approached him. The
suspect pushed the victim to the ground and took the vehicle keys from
the victim's hands. The suspect fled in the victim's vehicle.

HOMICIDE

DATE / TIME: 5/13/08, 0250 hrs LOCATION:
9000 block of Nagle St
TYPE OF WEAPON: Handgun SUSPECT(S) IN CUSTODY:
No
# OF VICTIM(S): 1 # OF SUSPECT(S): Unk
INJURIES: Yes
TYPE OF INJURIES: GSW
GANG RELATED: Yes
NOTIFICATIONS: W/C, Dets, O/C's, OVB, RACR, CM
COMMENTS: Suspect(s) shot the victim multiple times, then fled the
location. The victim was transported to the hospital where he was
pronounced dead. Homicide detectives are handling. The incident does
not appear to be gang related.

HOMICIDE

DATE / TIME: 5/13/08, 1500 hrs LOCATION:
12700 block of Lourve St
TYPE OF WEAPON: Handgun SUSPECT(S) IN CUSTODY:
No
# OF VICTIM(S): 1 # OF SUSPECT(S): Unk
INJURIES: Yes
TYPE OF INJURIES: GSW to chest
GANG RELATED: Yes
NOTIFICATIONS: W/C, Dets, C/O's, OVB, RACR, CM
COMMENTS: Suspect(s) shot the victim (gang member) in the chest, with a
handgun. The victim succumbed to his injury at 1813 hrs. Homicide
detectives responded to the crime scene and collected evidence.

Police today are going to offer a reward in conjunction with the killing of a Northridge homeless man.

At 8 a.m. at the Devonshire Community Police Station, 10250 Etiwanda Ave., Northridge, Los Angeles City Councilman Greig Smith, and Los Angeles Police Department homicide detectives will ask for the public's help to identify a suspect who accosted an elderly homeless man, causing him to suffer fatal head injuries. For additional information, contact Matt Myerhoff, Communications Director, Council District 12, Cell: (818) 613-2248. Matt.Myerhoff@lacity.org.

A Latino in his 20s punched Harold Gene Loftis, 69, at Roscoe and Reseda boulevards about 10 p.m. April 14

A Santa Barbara prosecutor who consulted in the making of the movie "Alpha Dog," about an accused killer facing the death penalty, may stay on the case, the California Supreme Court decided unanimously today. Ruling against the capital defendant, the state high court said a prosecutor may be removed from a case only if it is determined that his or her actions created a conflict of interest that made it unlikely for the defendant to receive a fair trial.

Earlier, I wrote about some of Los Angeles' oldest murder cases from the turn of the century. In one of them, a man named John Slovinski shot himself with a shotgun. He had been arraigned in a case involving attempted extortion through what was called a badger game. And I put out a call to readers asking if they knew what that was, to weigh in. Well, thanks to Mick O, who found the description on good ol' wikipedia.

Los Angeles Police Department (LAPD) is asking for the public's help to identify a hit-and-run suspect who killed a bicyclist in the Hollywood area.

On March 16, 2008, at around 6:45 a.m., 72-year-old Artine Zarkarian was riding his bicycle northbound on Western Avenue when an unknown vehicle struck the rear of his bike just south of Elmwood Avenue and failed to stop.

Ejected from his bicycle, Zakarian landed on the street and sustained serious head injuries. He was transported by Los Angeles Fire Department paramedics to a local hospital and eventually died from his injuries on April 29.

Anyone with additional information about the incident is encouraged to contact Detective Acosta at the LAPD West Traffic Division, (213) 473-0234. During off-hours or on weekends, calls may be directed to a 24-hour toll free number at 1-877-LAWFULL (529-3855).

Here's another bit from LAPD's coldest murder cases from the turn of the century. One of the more salacious ones turns out not to be a murder ... A guy shot and wounded another guy for getting intimate with his wife. The victim pressed no charges.

Christensen, Simon - Supposed to have been murdered, night of Sept. 9, '99, and put on S.P bridge where he was run over by cars. On March 8-1900, Hawley & Auble arrested a Mexican on suspicion of being the murderer but turned him loose as could not find the Mexican that gave the information.

1900, March 10
• Gooding, Judge Henry C. - Held up in front of his residence on night of Mar. 10th, 1900, by two unknown men and shot (not fatally). Grant, Rev. Peter, held up same night on 29th St., about half hour before the above occurence. Wm. O'Brien and Kernell arrested and held to answer on the Grant charge. Mr. Sutter, held up same night; propr. of jewelry store next door to Lee Bros. on So. Spring.

  Apr. 21
  

• Hilduer, George - Shot and killed abt. 9:15 p.m. on 1st St., between Breed & Soto, while on way home, in company with his mother, by two foot pads. Shot in left side while running away from them, evidently with 38 Colts, from bullet extracted from body. No trace of foot pads.

  21
  

• Johnson Palomi, Mexican - Stabbed to death some time last night in rooms of M. Castella, New High St.; susp. Castella. Both drunk. Steele & Auble on case. Castella captured.

  May 22
  

• Kong Gon Chung, (Chinaman) - Shot-killed-Chinatown, this eve.; susp. Wong Ah Gong, Lem Yick and Wong Ah Hugh, highbinders.

  31
  

• Copeland, A.R. Private watchman - Held up and shot in back of neck by 2 highwaymen, 6th & Union, 8:45 this p.m.

  June 2
  

• Breckenridge, W. J., 2407 Budlong Ave. - Held up and shot, 9:15 this p.m. by 2 men, 24th St. near Vermont. Died 3:15 p.m. June 3d.

  July 15
  

• Mitchell, Elmer, Fireman, Santa Fe R.R. - Shot last night by C.C. Tilley, grocer, for being intimate with his, Tilley's wife. Taken to Pacific Hospital under care of Dr. Rebecca Lee Dorsey. Mitchell got well and no complaint issued.

  Aug. 10
  

• Slovinski, John - Committed suicide, shot self in mouth, with shot gun, @ room @ Lawrence, W 5th St. Had been arraigned in Judge Austin's court, in company with his wife for attemp to extort money by badger game or similar device. (Any of Mean Street's readers know what a badger game is? Post your comments here.)
  

Gunmen killed the head of Mexico's federal police force early Thursday in a brazen hit against the man who had become the public face of the country's war on drug cartels.

What's wrong with this picture?

I'm taking you back to the turn of the century Los Angeles, to take a peek at the LAPD's oldest murders. It was a time when police logs were typed out and when police used less-than politically correct words to describe minorities in official police reports.

This is from the LAPD's Murder Book, courtesy of LAPD Detective Robert Bub, a veteran homicide investigator:

• Oct. 28, 1900
  Wong Won, Chinese - Shot in belly about 12 last night, by another C----, Alameda and Marsch. Assailant shot in leg by Officer Dixon.

• Dec. 12
  Austin, Police Judge - Called to side door abt. 8:10 this P.M. by one who rattled the screen. Opened door and shot was fired through the screen, passing thru his coat. Did not see any one.

• Jan. 12, 1901
  Stade J, Divine Healer - Shot in left eye, in his room at 1151 Maple Ave., between 6 and 7 a.m. today; evidently while he was asleep, by unknown party who went up stairs to room and later made his escape by front door without being seen. Shot was heard by Tucker brothers in next room. Was not discovered by Mrs. Clark, landlady, until 2 p.m. Shields, Talamantes, Benedict and Bradish and Steele on case.

• Jan. 18, 1901
  Wong Doo, (Chinaman) - Supposed to have shot and wounded Wong Quong; arrested and dismissed.

• April 21
  Carlson, Anna, 3512 Eureka St. - Knocked down with rock, in hands of unknown man, 12:10 a.m., April 19, front of above addr. (Benedict)

  
  

• April 22
  
  Cusick, al. Conway, Mrs. Lillie - Shot and killed at 9:15 p.m., 515 1/2 S. Main St., by Wm. or Billy Nelson, rooming at her house; formerly employed Chutes. Mrs. Conway thought to be from Hastings, Nebr.

• May 11
  Winters, Grace Pefton, wife of J. Ross Winters - Shot in left side and killed, between 10 and 11 o'clock this morning while out with her husband in canyon, east of Shorb; body broo't back to his home Workman St. East Los Angeles, by husband who claimed it was an accident. J. Ross Winters arrested by Auble and Ritch.

• June 9
  Brown, Will, Colored - Shot and killed in front of White Wing saloon, 1st St., abt. 6:30 this p.m. by Willard Griffin, colored, who runs tamale wagon. Griffin arrested, Shield and Tom Quinn; dismissed, acct. self defense.

• July 4
  Hurth, E.C. - Shot about 12:30 this a.m. by Winfred, al. Fredd Hettinger, commonly called Debs, in rear of Ahrens Bakery, 425 South Broadway, where Hurth was employed.

More on the death of a 14-year-old boy, Alejandro Villa ...

PACOIMA - In one of the last photos taken of Alejandro Villa before he was shot to death less than a block from his home, he is smiling, sitting in the back of a limousine.

The snapshot is from a quinceañera, where the 14-year-old boy danced so much and had such a good time that he promised to dance more often, his sister said.

And for months, he had been telling his mother he was going to stay out of trouble. He even had joined a boxing class through the gang intervention group Communities in School.

But Alejandro teetered on the edge, sometimes mixing with the wrong crowd. And in the end, his words to his family weren't enough.

dailynews.com

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One worked at a second-hand store, another drove milk wagons. One was a foreman at a bakery.

All had one thing in common. They were murdered, at about the turn of the century in Los Angeles. They were visiting their girls, found murdered in a ranch house or a rooming house, shot in the back, shot in the belly, shot in the eye. One was knocked down with a rock.

These are snippets of lives cut short from long ago.

These are the oldest cold cases in Los Angeles Police Department history, courtesy of homicide Detective Robert Bub.

From the LAPD. A homicide in South L.A.

On April 19, 2008, at about 4:15 a.m., 31-year-old Charles Corey was in front of his apartment building at the 3200 block of West 60th Street when a suspect in a tan, newer-model car, possibly a Toyota Corolla, drove by and fired multiple gunshots. Corley was hit several times and collapsed on the street. The vehicle and suspects proceeded eastbound on West 60th Street toward 8th Avenue.

Los Angeles Fire Department personnel responded to the incident and the victim was transported to a local hospital where he underwent surgery and was placed on life-support systems until his recent death on April 23, 2008, at 12:50 p.m.

The motive for the murder is unknown and the suspects, their vehicle and weapons remain outstanding.

Anyone with information is asked to call South Bureau Homicide Detectives Bill Ritch or Bertha Durazo at (213) 485-1383. After hours and on weekends, calls may be directed to a 24-hour detective information desk at 1-877-LAW-FULL (529-3855).

Woman kills live-in boyfriend ... This from the LAPD ...

Los Angeles police have arrested a woman who murdered her live-in boyfriend yesterday afternoon in South Los Angeles.

Just before 4:30 p.m., Reginald Wilson, 44, and Elizabeth Shields, 52, were involved in a heated argument at their residence in the 5200 block of south Van Ness Avenue. The dispute turned violent when Shields picked up a kitchen steak knife and brutally stabbed Wilson in the chest, authorities said.

After the victim staggered to the living room area where he subsequently collapsed, the suspect called 911and waited for police to arrive.

Paramedics rushed the victim to a local hospital where he died of his injuries, and Shields was taken into custody and charged with murder. Her bail was set at $1 million.

Both the victim and the suspect have been involved in an ongoing feud, investigators said.

Anyone with information is asked to call South Bureau Homicide Detectives Roger Guzman and Eric Crosson at (213) 485-1383. After hours and on weekends, please call the 24-hour Detective Information Desk at 1-877-LAW-FULL (529-3855).

Anyone out there know this kid, a 15-year-old shot in a gang related incident? Anyone else out there as outraged?

Police say a young teenager was shot to death amid gang related shooting yesterday evening in North Hollywood.

The shooting happened around 7:15 p.m., in the 7000 block of Ethel Avenue. When police arrived they found the body of 15-year-old Victor Fajardo lying on the sidewalk suffering from gunshot wounds.

Paramedics rushed Fajardo to Holy Cross Medical Center where he died.

According to investigators, two Latino men confronted Fajardo as he walked along the sidewalk. One of the men pulled out a handgun and brutally shot Fajardo. Both suspects drove off in a 2000 or 2004 black Mustang.

Detectives have few leads and described the gunmen only as Hispanic.

Anyone with information regarding this shooting is asked to contact North Hollywood Homicide Detective Richard Wheeler at 818-623-4075. During off-hours or on weekends, call the 24-hour toll free number at 1-877-LAWFULL (529-3855).

A walk through history as told through LAPD photographs ...

The Los Angeles Police Department has embarked on an ambitious plan to catalog and preserve nearly one million photographic negatives accumulated during decades of police service in the city of Los Angeles. The images constitute a visual record dating primarily from the early 1920s to the late 1960s. “Our agency has a rich heritage that parallels and reflects the history of the city,” said Mary Grady, Public Information Director for the LAPD, whose Entertainment Trademark Unit will coordinate the undertaking. lapdblog

A little more from the homicide from Sunday in North Hollywood ...

A shooting that left a 23-year-old man dead outside of a liquor store Sunday stemmed from a dispute the victim had with an associate of the same gang, police said this morning. Dennis Runner, of Canoga Park, was killed as he sat in the passenger seat of his girlfriend's car outside a liquor store about 9:30 p.m. Sunday at Sherman Way and Lankershim Boulevard, police said. He was hit in the head and died later at a hospital. Los Angeles Police Detective Martin Pinner said he was just out of prison six weeks.

dailynews.com

LAPD officer Manuel Tarango uses a microscope to look at a .380 bullet shell casing at the Hertzberg-Davis Forensic Science Center/LA Regional Loboratory. The shell casing comes from the gun of a suspect in a shooting in the Valley.

Rachel takes us into the offices of the LAPD's ballistics unit for a story about how cops piece together bullet fragments and shell casings found on the streets to the people responsible for pulling the trigger.

She writes that the unit is the backbone of law enforcement and can make or break cases.

dailynews.com

I just got this press release from Glendale Officer John Balian in my e-mail inbox. It is an update on the Glendale police shooting last night at Forest Lawn that left a gunman wounded.

On 4-3-08 at approximately 9:45 pm, Glendale Police Department officers were dispatched to Forest Lawn, located at 1712 South Glendale Avenue, regarding a report of possible shots fired at the location. Forest Lawn security advised the arriving officers that there was a suspicious vehicle (black Cadillac Escalade) parked at the top of the cemetery.

As officers approached the vehicle, a shot was fired in their direction. The officers were unsure if they could safely exit the area so responding officers brought the armored “Bearcat.” Officers established a perimeter around Forest Lawn Cemetery, with the assistance of LAPD.

A short time after the perimeter was established; Officers were contacted at the Forest Lawn entrance by a family friend who reported that the subject in the black Escalade was suicidal and armed with a firearm.

A team of Glendale Police Officers approached the Cadillac Escalade in the Glendale Police Bearcat (armored vehicle) and attempted to block the vehicle from being able to leave while negotiations began.

The suspect and his vehicle were in the City of Los Angeles portion of the cemetery. LAPD SWAT was requested to respond to the scene.

During the telephonic negotiations, LAPD reported that the suspect is possibly involved in a murder that occurred on 4-3-08 at approximately 8:19 pm, in the Wilshire District of LAPD.

Prior to SWAT’s arrival; the suspect drove forward and attempted to flee at a high rate of speed. Glendale Police Officers had blocked the roadway with two empty patrol vehicles, in an attempt to keep the Escalade from leaving the cemetery into the community after shooting at officers. The suspect crashed his vehicle into one of the patrol vehicles, coming to a stop. At this time, an Officer Involved Shooting took place. The suspect, who sustained a gunshot wound, was taken into custody. Los Angeles Fire Department transported the suspect to Los Angeles County Medical Center where he is in serious but stable condition. The identity of the suspect is not being released at this time. Refer all media inquiries regarding the homicide to LAPD.

Earlier 'Gangster killed by cops had fatally shot friend'

The Los Angeles Times today has a piece chronicling the life of a part of South Los Angeles reeling from violence, a neighborhood where shootings occur, where residents try to get cops to tackle the problem of mobile prostitution vans and to crack down on unscrupulous landlords who run slum apartments where many of his students live in dangerous and unsanitary conditions. One resident doesn't bother calling the cops. "No one does, she explained, not so much because the police are feared but because you will become a target yourself if you are known to have ratted out a criminal."

latimes.com

A little more about the story of the man who was found shot in the head in a crashed car on the 101 Freeway this weekend in Sherman Oaks.

Shortly before Marlon Gordillo Sical sped down the Ventura Freeway and apparently shot himself, he sent a text message to one of his best friends, Stacy Blanco, who was sitting next to the hospital bed of his dead girlfriend.

"If you can just tell ma parents goodbye ... stacy take care of ma baby OK," he wrote.

dailynews.com

SHERMAN OAKS - A man whose body was found with a gunshot wound to the head Sunday in a car on the Ventura Freeway was despondent over the suicide of his girlfriend and might have killed himself, police said this morning. Marlon Gordillo Sical, 20, had been arguing with his girlfriend, Virginia Castillo, 19, when he disappeared and she hanged herself, police said. "He was apparently despondent," said Los Angeles Police Capt. James Miller, adding that police still are calling the case an undetermined death until the results of an autopsy tomorrow.

dailynews.com

I went out to the scene yesterday of a freeway shooting in which a 20-year-old man was found with a bullet to his head in his crashed car. The man's smashed up white car was found near the center divider on the eastbound Ventura Freeway between Van Nuys Boulevard and Woodman Avenue in Sherman Oaks at 8:14 a.m. yesterday.

Paramedics responding to what they thought was a crash saw the victim with the bullet and was taken to UCLA Medical Center where he died later. The man's car struck the eastbound freeway’s right sound wall, crossed all five lanes and slammed into the center divider. Los Angeles Police Capt. Jim Miller said police had no witnesses and few leads. Not much was known about the victim, identified as Marlon Gordillo Sical.

This was the second deadly freeway shooting in the Fernando Valley this month. About 2 a.m. March 1, Bunthan Roeung, 26, of Sylmar died after being shot on the 101 near Barham Boulevard.

In that case, Roeung and some friends had gotten into an argument with a group of black men in a Chevrolet Monte Carlo on Hollywood Boulevard.

A chase ensued on the 101, and the shooting occurred a few miles away. No arrests have been made, and police and city officials have offered a $50,000 reward for information.

Anyone with information on that shooting can call the Los Angeles Police Department's North Hollywood Division homicide detectives at 818-623-4075.

Detectives are looking into whether the two shootings are connected, but it appears unlikely, Miller said.

dailynews.com

The buzz this morning is over the big front page mea culpa The Los Angeles Times wrote over a recent story about a brutal 1994 attack on rap superstar Tupac Shakur.

They were hoodwinked by a con artist informant who faked up documents to look like legitimate FBI file papers. Today, The Times' reporter Chuck Philips and his supervisor, Deputy Managing Editor Marc Duvoisin, who were responsible for the story, apologized as they took the heat.

The Shakur article appeared on latimes.com last week and two days later in the paper's Calendar section. The criticism came first from The Smoking Gun Web site, which said the newspaper had been the victim of a hoax, and then from subjects of the story, who said they had been defamed, The Times reported today.

"In relying on documents that I now believe were fake, I failed to do my job," Philips said in a statement yesterday, according to The Times. "I'm sorry."

In his statement, Duvoisin added: "We should not have let ourselves be fooled. That we were is as much my fault as Chuck's. I deeply regret that we let our readers down."

Times Editor Russ Stanton announced that the newspaper would launch an internal review of the documents and the reporting surrounding the story.

The Shakur article described a Nov. 30, 1994, ambush at Quad Recording Studios in New York, where the rap singer was pistol-whipped and shot several times by three men. No one has been charged in the crime, but before his death two years later, Shakur said he suspected allies of rap impresario Sean "Diddy" Combs.

The assault triggered a bicoastal war between Shakur and fellow adherents of West Coast rap and their East Coast rivals. One such rival, Notorious B.I.G., whose real name was Christopher Wallace, was shot to death, as was Shakur.

The Shakur story said The Times had obtained FBI records in which a confidential informant accused two men of helping to set up the attack on Shakur -- rap talent manager James Rosemond and James Sabatino, identified in the story as a promoter. The story said the two allegedly wanted to curry favor with Combs and believed Shakur had disrespected them.

The purported FBI records are the documents Philips and Duvoisin now believe were faked, The Times reported.

The story prompted vehement denials from lawyers for Combs and Rosemond, both before and after publication, according to The Times.

latimes.com
dailynews.com

16-year-old Stoney Point High School student Michael Fabian was shot and killed Sunday after a fight broke out at a Northridge birthday party that gang members might have crashed. Stoney Point Principal George Padgett said that it is a tragedy that, "all around the Valley, students are being killed."

It's unclear what started the fight, but it involved someone who might be a gang member. A second person, whose name was not released, was also shot in the fracas, suffering a gunshot wound to the shoulder.

Michael wasn't a gang member, Padgett said.

Yet another act of senseless violence takes the life of a young man.

dailynews.com

Here's an update to yesterday's post about the Green Skeleton Bandit being shot in North Hollywood by a U.S. marshal.

NORTH HOLLYWOOD - Police this morning identified the man shot to death by a U.S. marshal outside an auto-parts store. Lawrence Dean Smith Jr., 24, of Palmdale was the robber local police called the Green Skeleton Bandit, responsible for six holdups in the North Hollywood area since Feb. 28.

Smith was fleeing the scene of a robbery holding a knife and $600 in cash Tuesday evening when he was shot by a marshal escorting a Central American official into AutoZone, police said.

dailynews.com

So it appears the activities of the Green Skeleton Bandit come to an end. Cops say a U.S. marshal shot him as he was running out of an AutoZone. The marshal was escorting a Central American official in town for a gang summit and who happened in on the shop when the heist occurred. Weird timing, huh?

NORTH HOLLYWOOD - A United States marshal shot and killed a man believed to be the "Green Skeleton Bandit," responsible for six robberies in the North Hollywood area since Feb. 28, police said this morning.

The man happened to be fleeing the scene of a robbery holding a knife and $600 cash Tuesday evening when he was shot by a marshal who was escorting a South American official into an auto parts store, police said.

The man, who has not been identified, was taken to a local hospital with unspecified injuries where he later died, police said.

The marshal was one of two U.S. marshals escorting a police official from the Central American country of Belize who was in town for a gang summit.

They stopped in at the AutoZone, in the 5100 block of Vineland Avenue, about 5:45 p.m. because the Belize official wanted to shop there.

"Basically, he walked into a robbery," Harding said of the marshal. "He sees a man walking out with a large amount of cash and a butcher knife."

A source close to the investigation said the man was the "Green Skeleton Bandit" who robbed North Hollywood fast food restaurants and mini-markets since Feb. 28. He was responsible for taking possibly as much as $689. In one heist, the source said, he took $9 from an H&K Mini Market on Sherman Way. In two others, he wasnt' able to get anything because the clerks could not get the cash registers to open, the source said.

He was dubbed the "Green Skeleton Bandit" because he was seen on at least one surveillance camera with a sweatsuit with a green skeleton outline on front and back and a hood with an outline of a green skull that zipped up to conceal his face.

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This is one of two homicides that were recorded over the weekend in North Hollywood. The total number of homicides in North Hollywood so far is five. One is solved.

NORTH HOLLYWOOD - Police continued this morning to search for the men responsible for a weekend Hollywood Freeway road rage shooting that left a 26-year-old man dead.

Police said the incident started about 2 a.m. Saturday on Hollywood Boulevard near the Hollywood Freeway when a group of men in a black Chevrolet Monte Carlos asked a group of Asians in a Honda, "Where's the party, boys?"

One of the males in the Honda, accused of being drunk, responded by shouting profanities at the men in the Monte Carlo and the Monte Carlo began tailgating the Honda.

The Monte Carlo followed the Honda onto the northbound 101 Freeway, driving onto one side of the car, then another, before getting in front of the Honda, forcing it to pull off to the shoulder near Barham Boulevard, said Los Angeles Police Detective Rich Wheeler.

Once the cars pulled over, the Honda then went around the Monte Carlo and tried to drive away. The Monte Carlo followed again. As the Monte Carlo pulled alongside the Honda's driver's side, someone inside the Monte Carlo fired a shot, shattering the left-rear passenger's side window.

A bullet struck Bunthan Roeung in the upper left back, Wheeler said. The passenger sitting on his right was cut by glass.

The victims in the Honda did not see where the Monte Carlo went. They pulled off the freeway at Lankershim Boulevard and drove to Hesby Street, where they called paramedics.

Roeung was taken to Cedars-Sinai Medical Center where he died at 2:29
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a.m.

At the time of the 911 call, Wheeler said, the friends of Roeung thought he was going to be OK. He was talking and coherent. Wheeler commented that the case was extremely unfortunate because the person who instigated it was in the victim's car and was not the person who ultimately paid the price.

"This is another wasted life, a needless homicide," Wheeler said.

Initially, police believed the four black men they were looking for were in a newer Chevy Impala. Now police say the car is a black 2005 Chevrolet Monte Carlo.

Anyone with information is asked to call North Hollywood homicide detectives at (818) 623-4075.

We have the scoop this morning from the LAPD's North Hollywood Division about a series of raids on Vineland Boys gang members, the ones you may recall were responsible for the shootout in 2003 that left rookie Burbank Officer Matthew Pavelka dead and wounded his partner Gregory Campbell. I bet the gangsters are wishing they had chosen a lower-profile enterprise.

NORTH HOLLYWOOD - Nearly 200 cops blitzed the North Hollywood area this morning, arresting nine suspected members of the Vineland Boys gang on narcotics and gun possession charges in an operation dubbed 'Wild Card,' a detective said this morning.

LAPD Metro officers, gang cops, and school police fanned out during pre-dawn raids at 15 homes mostly in the North Hollywood area where the Vineland Boys claim as their turf, police said.

Wild Card is the police department's effort to challenge a particularly active and violent clique of Vineland known as the Jokers, police said.

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A year after Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa and LAPD Chief William Bratton declared gangs public enemy No.1, crime has plummeted, homicides are at 30-year lows, and for the first time cops are working with hard-core gang interventionists to quell rivalries. Despite the gains, though, some of the boldest initiatives of Villaraigosa's anti-gang plan are barely getting off the ground, while other efforts that have been touted as "successes" aren't so clear-cut. A gang czar appointed in June who was supposed to bring the problems into sharper citywide focus so far has little power.

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Simmons' former partner, SWAT Officer James Hart, who worked with Simmons for eight years, shared a number of personal, on- and off-duty memories.

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Update at 12:03 p.m.

Holding back tears, LAPD Chief William Bratton spoke at length about Simmons' tireless contribution to the LAPD, the community, church life and especially to children.

"He had been given the opportunity to make his life as a cop count and he has succeeded far beyond anyone's expectations," Bratton said.

Bratton praised Simmons' extensive involvement with at-risk youth, including taking inner city kids on horseback riding outings for their first time.

"It is said no man stands so tall as when he stoops to help a child. If that's so, then Randy was truly a giant.

"No man ever brought so many childten to God. That was his true passion in life.

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Police, friends and others pay their respects for LAPD Officer Randy Simmons today at the Glory Christian Fellowship International Church in Carson.

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A former Daily News reporter who's now covering crime at the San Francisco Chronicle had this bizarre tale today that reminded me of a similar case we wrote about here back in December in which police and firefighters overlooked the body of a woman who was found under an airbag after a crash in Tarzana.

The Chronicle writes:

The bizarre case of a San Francisco computer software developer who was apparently slain in December - and whose body lay undiscovered in the back of a van in a police impound yard for a week - finally became public Tuesday, as investigators said they were looking for two suspects who shared a home with the victim.

Leonard Milo Hoskins, 49, was reportedly attacked with a piece of lumber Dec. 23 at or near his home at 60 Lamartine St. in Mission Terrace, authorities said.

From the Daily News Dec. 18:

Coca went out last night to cover an event at the West Valley Division in Reseda at which Chief William Bratton and the mayor praised the work of officers during last week's deadly SWAT raid in Winnetka.

RESEDA - Police Chief William Bratton and Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa thanked Los Angeles police officers from the West Valley station Tuesday for their heroism during last week's bloody shootout in Winnetka that left five dead, including one SWAT officer.

At a somber roll call attended by about 30 LAPD officers and a handful of Los Angeles Fire Department officers, Bratton praised their response.

"So many of you the other night contributed so much - bravery, heroism. ... Thank you for all you did that night and thank you for all you do day in and day out."

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Keeping you up to date on last summer's slaying of 31-year-old Eric Perez, a suspected gang member from Arleta. A man who was arrested last month was re-arrested last Thursday after a short search in the Sylmar area.

Murder charges have been filed against Santos Anthony Topete. He was arrested Feb. 7 at a gas station near Foothill Boulevard and Maclay Street, after a roughly 30-minute search by police, said Los Angeles Police Lt. Ernie Eskridge.

The Los Angeles County District Attorney's Office has filed murder charges with gang and gun enhancements against Topete in connection with the death of Eric Perez, 31, a suspected gang member from Arleta, police said. Perez was shot at 12:30 a.m. July 1 after leaving a party in the 16000 block of Los Alimos Street in Granada Hills, police said. Topete was previously arrested Jan. 8 in connection with the slaying, but the DA's Office declined to file murder charges then for a lack of evidence.

A woman who said she was Topete's fiancee said the incident occurred before she was in the picture, but that, "he was in the wrong place at the wrong time.

"He's a good person," said the woman.

Los Angeles County Superior Court records online show that Topete was convicted in November 2005 of engaging in a speed contest and being an unlicensed driver.

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As we get closer to the date of Officer Randal Simmon's funeral set for Friday, check the blog as we are talking with SWAT officers and others who knew the selfless veteran cop and use this space for remembrances. On Friday I talked with retired SWAT Officer Rick Massa who recalls the day back in 1988 or so when he first saw the man come through the door at Elysian Park for his first day on the SWAT team after having been transfered from the South side of Los Angeles.

Massa was in awe of Simmons the first time he saw him.

He had come to SWAT from patrolling the Southside of Los Angeles. The former football player was a weight lifter, a muscle builder. He was well defined, fast, athletic, the perfect fit for the rigors of SWAT.

“We used to talk football from day one,” Massa said last week recalling his friend over the phone. “We immediately clicked.”

He was always there, always wanted to do more, always wanted to put time in.

Not only was he physical, but he also could shoot well and was mentally tough.

“When I say he's well-rounded, Randy was it.”

Tense times for LAPD out there. We're still piecing together stories as quickly as we can get them going about the death of Officer Randal Simmons and the wounding of his partner James Veenstra. Meanwhile, check out these comments coming in from across the country, paying tribute.

Daily News readers from across the country expressed their appreciation and their sorrow for SWAT Officer Randal Simmons' death on the newspaper's Web site.

"Randy Simmons is a hero to all of us in this community," wrote Nasiha, a Winnetka resident. "I live across the street from the crime scene and I cannot express my gratitude and my sincere condolences to his family and fellow SWAT team members.

"God bless Randy Simmons. May he be blessed and rewarded in Paradise for his sacrifice."

Michele Gardiner, another Winnetka resident, sent her appreciation and her sympathy.

"I want to thank Officer Randy Simmons for his unique bravery - over 20 years of dangerous duty until the end, when he risked (and gave) his life to save others," she wrote. "This sort of courage is needed more than ever these days.

"As someone who lives in the very community he helped to defend, I want his family and fellow officers to know he and his service will be greatly missed."

Other tributes came from Escondido, Calabasas, Inglewood, Moorpark, Brea, Victorville, Downey, Tehachapi, Cypress, Lytle Creek and other California communities, and even from as far away as San Antonio, Texas, and St. Louis, Mo.

"Thank you for protecting and serving my community I used to live in," wrote Frank Reyes, who now lives in Texas. "God bless you."

"I read that (Simmons) ministered (to) youths and I cried," wrote Kevin Childress of Inglewood. "We try to make sense that he was doing the
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Lord's will and (he) should be here now, but everything is in God's divine plan and he was needed in the 'Upper Room.' May God bless his family and comfort them in this tragic time."

"While I did not have the honor to ever meet Randy Simmons, he is a true hero and I thank him for all his work in this community and giving his life to make the streets safer for us," wrote Michele Willer-Allred of Moorpark. "He will not be forgotten."

Some writers addressed Simmons directly.

"Thank you, sir, for a job well done," wrote Jeff Klepp of Calabasas. May God comfort your family, friends and fellow officers. Our world needs more people like you."

"This is never a good time when we lose a hero," wrote Terry Riestra of Lytle Creek. "You touched many lives; it's time to rest."

Leave a tribute.

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A SWAT officer was killed and a second was injured in a gunbattle with a barricaded suspect this morning in Winnetka. We're following this one closely. We've got a photographer at the hospital where cops are gathered and a reporter is heading out to the scene of the home where we're hearing that the suspect is still inside the home. Don't know if he's dead or alive. We'll keep you posted.

WINNETKA - A man who had telephoned authorities to say he had killed three family members shot to death an LAPD SWAT officer today and wounded another during a gunbattle inside a Winnetka home, police said.

It was the first fatality in the history of the elite LAPD SWAT team, which was created in 1967.

Officer Randy Simmons died at 1 a.m. James Veenstra was injured, police said this morning. Both worked on the SWAT team for 20 years.

At 5 a.m., the man remained barricaded inside the home in 19800 block Welby Way, First-Assistant police Chief Jim McDonnell said in a briefing outside Northridge Medical Center on Roscoe Blvd. in Northridge.

Some 200 officers, included SWAT team members, surrounded the residence in a standoff that McDonnell referred to as an ongoing "dynamic tactical situation." An armored SWAT vehicle was at the scene and helicopters circled overhead.

Police did not immediately confirm that three civilians had been killed, as the suspect said when he called police last night, but people familiar with the operation told camera crews at the scene that two bodies were inside the residence in addition to the one that could be seen on the front lawn.

McDonnell said SWAT officers entered the residence shortly after 12:30 a.m., triggering an exchange in which two veteran officers were wounded. One died at Northridge Medical Center shortly after 1 this morning, and the other was in surgery as of 5 a.m., he said in a briefing also attended by Los
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Angeles Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa.

Each of the two officers who was shot spent more than 25 years in the Los Angeles Police Department, more than 20 in the SWAT team, McDonnell said.

Even though the SWAT team has been involved in thousands of incidents, this was the first to have claimed the life of one of the unit's members, he said.

"I want to say how deeply saddened we are this morning that we lost a member of our LAPD family," McDonnell said. "Our hearts and prayers go out to these families at this tough time."

Villaraigosa said the officer's death was a reminder of how perilous the work performed by police.

The incident began around 9 p.m. yesterday when a man locked himself up inside a home near Vanowen Street and Oakdale Avenue, according to an officer at the Los Angeles Police Department's West Valley Station.

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The photo is of actor Josh Hartnett posing with murder victim Jose Carrillo, who was a caterer to the stars on movie shoots. Carrillo was strangled Jan. 12 in a Sylmar motel room. He was killed after allegedly being set up to be robbed by his stepdaughter and three other alleged accomplices. Here's the story.

SYLMAR - A fourth suspect has been arrested in connection with the murder of a 45-year-old chef whose strangled body was found earlier this month inside a Sylmar motel.

Erika Denisse Rodriguez, a 25-year-old resident of Sylmar, surrendered to police last night at the LAPD's Mission Hills police station in the death of Jose Eugenio Carrillo, whose body was found at 9:30 a.m. on Jan. 12 at the Country Side Inn, at 14955 Roxford St., in Sylmar, police said.

She was booked into the Los Angeles County Jail on a murder charge, with bail set at $1 million.

Carrillo was a veteran chef at Hollywood Caterers, a company that catered to the film industry. He catered for such hits as "A Simple Plan" and met actors Billy Bob Thornton and Bill Paxton and "Here on Earth" with Josh Hartnett, with whom he posed for a photo.

"Film crews from Minnesota and L.A. are going to miss him," said Deb Staloch, a longtime friend who worked with him for years. When she heard the news of his death, "I didn't believe it. I can't even describe it. He'd give you the shirt off his back. He'd do anything for you. If you needed money, he'd give it to you. He was like a big brother to my kids. He was my best friend."

Carrillo left behind a wife and two young daughters.

"He was a great father and loved his kids and the kids couldn't wait for him to get home," said Staloch. "They loved their daddy."

Police believe Carrillo had been set up by his own stepdaughter, Itzel Ponce Gutierrez, a
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19-year-old waitress from Sylmar, to be robbed, but for reasons police did not reveal, the man was killed. Gutierrez faces one count of robbery conspiracy, police said.

She allegedly set up the robbery in which she and two alleged accomplices took Carrillo's Chevrolet Avalanche to ATMs and used his credit cards to withdraw cash, police said.

The day after Carrillo's death, police quickly identified two suspects, caught in their neighborhood in the 14200 block of Calvert Street in Van Nuys, stripping the Avalanche. Its seats, radios, speakers, and wheels all had been stripped, police said.

"They were stripping," said Los Angeles Police Detective Gene Parshall. "When police came in, the two guys ran from where the car was."

Parshall said the two kicked in a door to an occupied apartment nearby to try to hide, forcing a brief standoff with police before surrendering. There were no injuries.

The suspects, Armando "Tripps" Torrez, 23, and 17-year-old Anthony Hernandez, aka "Little Shadow" or "Habit," are accused members of Barrio Van Nuys. They have been charged with murder, robbery, burglary, lying in wait, and a gang enhancement, according to the Los Angeles County District Attorney's Office.

Torrez is an ex-con who spent two years, eight months in state prison custody stemming from two convictions in 2002 - assault with a deadly weapon and grand theft, according to the California Department of Corrections.

The two female suspects were described as acquaintances of the two males, police said.

• A shooting occurred Friday at 6:45 p.m. in the 5500 block of Bonner Avenue in North Hollywood. Two men approached in their vehicle, produced a gun, and shot at the victim. The victim ran so one suspect got out of the vehicle, chased him and fired several more rounds. One of the rounds struck the victim’s right arm. Both suspects fled in their vehicle. The victim was transported to Holy Cross Hospital. The case is possibly gang related. The victim is not being cooperative, said Los Angeles Police Detective Rich Wheeler.

• This is the police note of the homicide that I wrote about in the previous post. Police said the case occurred Friday about 11:45 p.m. on Strathern and Bellaire in North Hollywood. Firefighters responded to a radio call of a man down. On arrival, they saw a male, lying on the sidewalk unresponsive with a gunshot wound to the upper torso. The victim succumbed to his wounds and was pronounced at Holy Cross Hospital.
  

There was a gang-related homicide in North Hollywood Friday night. I just spoke with Detective Rich Wheeler, a supervisor over at the Los Angeles Police Department's North Hollywood station about it. No arrests have been made. Here's what I've got so far.

NORTH HOLLYWOOD - A 31-year-old man with no apparent gang ties was fatally wounded Friday night in a drive-by shooting two blocks away from his North Hollywood home, police said.

Alvaro Ely Calderon was on his way home from an am/pm mini market with a 40-ounce bottle of Miller Lite when somone inside a white vehicle fired shots, striking him at least four times before 11:40 p.m. on Bellaire Avenue near Blythe Street, said Los Angeles police Detective Rich Wheeler.

Calderon died later at a local hospital.

The gunman was inside possibly a Honda or Nissan car with as many as four people in it, Wheeler said.

Calderon, who is divorced and has a child has no known gang ties, nor any gang-related arrests, Wheeler said. He was living with his mother and father who were asleep at home at the time their son was shot.

"This is a murder you hate to get," Wheeler said. "There's not a lot of good, juicy clues to follow up on."

Anyone with information is asked to call Wheeler or Detective Martin Pinner at (818) 623-4075.

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Jason Kandel wrote a heart-breaking piece about Kristina Davis, a woman whose hard-luck life seemed to be on the upswing before her body was discovered on La Tuna Canyon Road. We wish her family well and we certainly hope her killer is caught.

Problematic life ends in tragedy on side of canyon road
Kristina Davis had skeletons in her closet, and her family knew it.

She had three children - one born addicted to methamphetamine - with two men, neither of whom she married. She hung out with the wrong crowd, got high often and chose terrible boyfriends.

Still, there was a glimmer of hope. She recently got a new job and with it came a new outlook on life.

That's why, despite all her problems, her family was stunned when police called Jan. 9 to tell them her body was found bound and gagged on the side of a San Fernando Valley canyon road with a bullet in her head.

Read the whole story here.

Police announced the arrests of eight gang members in connection with the slaying of a 23-day-old baby - you read it right, a 23-day-old baby - killed during a likely extortion attempt near MacArthur Park in September. The baby Luis Angel Garcia, was shot at Sixth Street and Burlington Avenue. Francisco Clemente, 37, also was shot and critically injured. Police said they believe Clemente was the intended target of an extortion attempt. This case is one of the most egregious that we've seen in a while. Wonder if this is the youngest murder victim. There's really not a whole lot more to say about this case. Stunned.

Here's the very latest on the body found under the freeway. We don't have a whole lot more than we had previously, but at least it's something. Stay tuned.

PORTER RANCH - The body of a man believed to be in his 20s that was found below a Ronald Reagan (118) Freeway overpass early Saturday morning has yet to be identified.

Caltrans workers picking up trash under the freeway overpass at Topanga Canyon Boulevard about 8:30 a.m. Saturday discovered the decomposing body in some twigs, thinking he was asleep, said Los Angeles Police Detective Mike Fesperman.

After taking a closer look, the workers noticed the man was dead and called police.

The man, who was wearing jeans and a jacket and had no ID, appeared to have been stabbed repeatedly in the chest area and dumped under the overpass, Fesperman said.

Fesperman said he could not tell the race of the victim and said the body had no tattoos.

An official cause of death will be determined by an autopsy.

SYLMAR - The stepdaughter of man whose body was found asphyxiated over the weekend in a Sylmar motel room has been charged along with two accused gang members in a robbery conspiracy in connection with the case, officials said today.

Itzel Ponce Gutierrez, a 19-year-old waitress from Sylmar, was charged in connection with the death of her stepfather, Jose Eugenio Carrillo, 45, whose strangled body was found Saturday at 9:30 a.m. at the Country Side Inn, at 14955 Roxford St., in Sylmar.

She faces one count of robbery conspiracy in a case in which Los Angeles Police Department Detective Gene Parshall said she allegedly set up a robbery in which she and two alleged accomplices took Carrillo's Chevrolet Avalanche to ATMs and used his credit cards to withdraw cash.

Parshall did not say why Carrillo was killed or offer details about the slaying.

"They planned to rob this guy for his car and money," Parshall said. "The sad thing is that the stepdaughter set up her stepdad who raised her her whole life."

Police quickly identified two suspects who were caught in their neighborhood in the 14200 block of Calvert Street in Van Nuys the day after the slaying, said Los Angeles Police Detective Jim Freund.

They were identified as Armando "Tripps" Torrez, 23, and 17-year-old Anthony Hernandez, aka "Little Shadow" or "Habit." They are accused members of Barrio Van Nuys.

They have been charged with murder, robbery, burglary, lying in wait, and a gang enhancement, according to the Los Angeles County District Attorney's Office.

Torrez is an ex-con who spent two years, eight months in state prison custody stemming from two convictions in 2002 - assault with a deadly weapon and grand theft, according to the California Department of Corrections.

Noticing a trend here. A couple of domestic violence related killings in the area lately.

This one last night, though, was a role reversal from the one last week. Police arrested a 26-year-old woman in connection with shooting her estranged husband to death in Silver Lake.

Delilah Acevedo, 26, was booked on suspicion of murder in the death of Alejandro Palacio, 31.

Palacio was killed about 2 a.m. yesterday in the 3600 block of West Bellevue Avenue.

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Last week, we reported the violent deaths of three people in a domestic case.

Walter Garcia, 38, stabbed his ex-girlfriend Damaris "Didi" Quiles, 35, and her mother, Carmen, 73, to death. Police said Garcia stabbed ex-girlfriend and her mother, then ran from neighbors down an alley where he discarded the knife. He sped away in a black Mercedes, parked the car on Pasadena's Colorado Street Bridge and plunged to his death.

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The woman whose body was found shot in the head on the side of La Tuna Canyon Road last week was identified as Kristina Davis, 24, and detectives are still searching for her killer. Foothill Division homicide detectives were going to talk with the family today to find out more about the woman. We'll keep you posted.

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Here's an update to an earlier post from last week.

The Los Angeles County District Attorney's Office declined to file murder charges against a 20-year-old man who was arrested in connection with a suspected gang-related shooting that left a 31-year-old man dead and wounded another man this summer.

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Walter Garcia, 37, was the man identified as stabbing his ex-wife and ex-mother in law to death in Tujunga yesterday morning, then killing himself in a very public way by plunging off a bridge over the Arroyo Seco in Pasadena. His ex-wife was 35-year-old Damaris Quiles. Her mother was identified as Carmen Quiles, 73.

The stabbings occurred around 8:45 a.m. yesterday in the 6800 block of Quinton Lane.

Garcia and Damaris Quiles were likely arguing over a restraining order that Quiles requested a couple weeks ago. And it boiled over into the streets of Tujunga, outside the home. The mother, Carmen Quiles was stabbed apparently when she came out to intervene.

This story continues to get even darker. A mother is stabbed to death and her daughter suffers fatal stab wounds and the man responsible jumps to his death in Pasadena.

The latest at 12:15 p.m.

Keeping you posted on the unfolding situation with a gruesome murder/suicide this morning that started in Tujunga and ended in Pasadena. This comes on the heels of the grim discovery yesterday in Sun Valley of a woman who had been shot in the head.

A man stabbed his ex-wife's mother to death, injured his ex-wife and then killed himself by jumping off a bridge in Pasadena this morning, police said.

Police got a call of a stabbing at 8:43 a.m. in a residential area in the 6800 block of Quinton Lane and Haines Canyon Avenue, police said.

The man, whose identity was not immediately available, was arguing with his ex-wife, and when her mother intervened, she was stabbed to death, said Los Angeles Police Officer April Harding.

The ex-wife was injured in serious condition at a local hospital, Harding said.

After the stabbing, the man drove to a historic bridge on Colorado Boulevard over the Arroyo Seco in Pasadena and jumped to his death, Harding said.

It was the second homicide in as many days in the Northeast San Fernando Valley.

At 2 a.m. Wednesday in Sun Valley, police discovered the body of a woman who was found with a gunshot wound to the head in the dirt along La Tuna Canyon Road.

Someone driving by spotted the body face-down on the shoulder of La Tuna Canyon Road about a half-mile west of the Foothill Freeway, Los Angeles police Capt. Joe Curreri said.

Coroner's officials spent the day conducting an autopsy and trying to identify the woman. She appeared to be 35 to 40 years old, possibly white, about 5 feet 4 to 5 feet 6 inches tall and heavyset, police said. She was wearing black pants and a white shirt.

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Police made an arrest in a gang murder case.

GRANADA HILLS - A 20-year-old man was arrested in connection with a gang-related shooting that left a 31-year-old man dead and wounded another man this summer, police said.

Santos Anthony Topete, unemployed from Sylmar, was arrested Tuesday at his home in connection with the July 1 killing of Eric Perez, a suspected member of the San Fer gang, according to the Los Angeles Police Department.

The shooting occurred at 12:30 a.m. as two men were leaving a party in the 16000 block of Los Alimos Street in Granada Hills, police said. The suspect fired multiple rounds striking each victim numerous times. Both victims were transported to a local hospital in separate, private vehicles.

Perez, of Arleta, died shortly after his arrival at the hospital. The second victim, an unidentified 25-year-old resident of Sylmar, was treated for his injuries and later released. Mission gang unit officers LAPD homicide Detective Terence Keyzer said Perez was a member of the San Fer gang a Pacoima gang.

Topete was in jail awaiting a court hearing.

This is just coming in...

Homicide detectives were in route this morning to the scene of a possible stabbing in Tujunga.

Few details were available. But police got a call of a possible stabbing at 8:43 a.m. in a residential area in the 6800 block of Quinton Lane and Haines Canyon Avenue, police said.

Police said early reports indicated that a man stabbed either his ex-wife or daughter and one of them has died.

The suspect is being sought.

Keep checking back for more details.

dailynews.com

It's early yet on this one. But we're trying to pin down some more details. Stay tuned.

SUN VALLEY - The body of woman killed with a gunshot to the head was found today in the dirt along a desolate road in the Sun Valley area, authorities said.

The body was discovered just before 2 a.m. on the side of La Tuna Canyon Road just west of the Foothill (210) Freeway, said Sgt. Derek Brown of the Los Angeles Police Department's Foothill Station.

"We're completely out in the middle of the boonies," Brown said. "There are no street lights around here at all."

The woman was not immediately identified.

"This looks like it will be a long investigation because of the nature of the death," Brown said.

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GLENDALE - A 23-year-old Glendale man dubbed the "Zorro Bandit" has been arrested for six bank robberies, the Glendale Police Department said today.

Luis Miguel Corado was arrested yesterday at his Glendale residence without incident, police said. Corado was dubbed the "Zorro Bandit" because of his facial features. Corado was in jail, awaiting an arraignment hearing today. Corado was identified when Glendale Police Department's Forensics Unit lifted a print from a demand note used in a bank robbery in the city of Los Angeles, said Glendale Police spokesman John Balian.

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GLENDALE - A Glendale man accused in a hit-and-run crash this summer that left a 24-year-old woman dead pleaded not guilty to second-degree murder and other charges, officials said.

Ara Grigoryan, 21, entered his plea yesterday in a Pasadena courtroom. He also pleaded not guilty to one count each of vehicular manslaughter and felony hit-and-run involving a death in connection with the July 10 crash that left Elizabeth Sandoval dead.

Grigoryan was driving a black Mercedes-Benz S430 at highway speeds when he hit Sandoval at 9:40 that night at South Glendale Avenue near Windsor Road, police allege.

Four days after the crash, by activating the vehicle's tracking device, police found the Mercedes-Benz near a Van Nuys body shop, with signs of fresh body work on the vehicle, police said.

The car was registered to a relative of Grigoryan's and he became the subject of a weeklong international manhunt that ran through Tijuana before he was arrested July 18 in Mexico City. He was detained while trying to flee without proper travel paperwork to Spain, Glendale police Chief Randy Adams said at a news conference when he announced Grigoryan's arrest.

Spain was believed to be a pit stop on the way to Russia, then Armenia, where Grigoryan was born, police spokesman John Balian said.

Grigoryan has been cited for seven traffic violations over two years while driving the car, police said. They include failure to yield to pedestrians and three incidents of speeding.

Grigoryan is in jail, awaiting another court hearing set for Feb. 13.

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Earlier

A man was shot at the gravesite of his mother - Los Angeles' first murder of the year.

Alex wrote the story.

Jason Grey, 29, was visiting his mother's grave on New Year's Day when he was shot to death, becoming Los Angeles' first homicide of 2008.

On Wednesday, Grey's stricken father and three other relatives watched as detectives examined the area around the freshly dug grave of Grey's mother, where the Elysian Valley man was standing when he was killed.

"Back in the days, he was involved with a gang, but he had left," said Erik Escobar, 32, of South Los Angeles, Grey's cousin. "He was trying to fix his life. But I'm guessing - you know, this is a public place, and probably some other rival gang found him here."

Escobar said his cousin, a father of two, was no longer in a gang and, in fact, wanted to become a parole officer.

Grey's mother died of a heart attack a couple of weeks ago, and Grey was alone at her grave site when he was shot, Escobar said.

The grave of Grey's mother - in Forest Lawn Memorial-Park, Glendale, in a section that actually is in the city of Los Angeles - has white roses and fresh patches of sod. The grave is at the base of a hill, and Grey never made it up that hill after being shot, said Detective Jose Carrillo of the Los Angeles Police Department. Grey was pronounced dead at the scene.

"It's almost unheard of, because a cemetery is sacred ground. It's supposed to be, anyway," said Sgt. Sanford Rosenberg, watch commander with the LAPD's Northeast Division, which is investigating the shooting.

Investigators had few details on L.A.'s first homicide of 2008, but they said Grey was shot multiple times in the upper and lower body about 12:30 p.m. Tuesday.

"We're looking for any information, anyone who might have been here that might have witnessed any part of it," Carrillo said.

Carrillo said police know Grey and the shooter exchanged words before he was killed, but it was unclear what sparked the shooting.

"We believe the motive could be a gang-related crime," Carrillo said, confirming that Grey was apparently once a gang member.

William Martin, a spokesman for Forest Lawn, Glendale, said he cannot recall any other slaying at the cemetery.

Forest Lawn, Glendale - a sprawling, green expanse of graves, statues and churches - is the final resting place of a number of movie stars, including Humphrey Bogart, Sammy Davis Jr. and Jean Harlow.

Escobar said he attended Belmont High School with Grey, and the two ran track together but drifted apart as adults. Escobar said he knew his cousin had just started a new job, but he was unsure what it was.

Silvia Head, 62 - herself the mother of a homicide victim - was at the cemetery about the time Grey was shot, but did not see the killing.

Her son, Sonny, 26, was killed in 2001, and she comes to the cemetery three times a week to visit his grave.

As Head stood near the scene of Tuesday's shooting, she expressed sympathy for Grey's family.

"This happened to me six years ago, and this is so hard when you lose a son," she said. "The pain never (goes away)."

dailynews.com

I wanted to take the time to thank all of the "It's a crime" readers who took time out of your busy lives to tune into crime and mayhem that we've documented here since we started up the blog in May. It's been a pleasure for me and I hope it has for you too. Also wanted to make sure you saw this year-end homicide project that we did. We built a homicide database that you can search by name. We profiled three people who are trying to make a difference in their communities. And we put a face on some of the recent homicides, by inviting families to talk about loss. You can read it here.

I'll be off in the bay area with the in-laws this week and won't be blogging. But I'll be back after the first of the year.

Cops used to call the Devonshire Division up in the northwestern corner of the San Fernando Valley, Club Dev. It was a place that LAPD cops used to go to retire. Well, that distinction, unfortunately, no longer holds true. And the reports we got yesterday afternoon about a shooting in Granada Hills were grim.

Here's the story Rick Coca wrote last night that ran today.

GRANADA HILLS - Two men were found shot to death inside a home Thursday, and police were searching for the killer, authorities said.

A woman who lives at the house in the 17000 block of San Jose Street with her boyfriend and another woman discovered the two men dead about 2 p.m., said LAPD Detective Humberto Fajardo.

The victims, both Latinos who appeared to be in their mid-20s, were found inside the home near the entrance, lying on the floor, Fajardo said. There was no sign of forced entry.

The woman did not identify either of the dead men, so police could not confirm if either was her boyfriend. The men's names were not released, and nobody has been arrested.

Before the current occupants moved in about nine months ago, police raided the house and discovered that the last tenant was using it to grow marijuana, next-door neighbor Jerry Williams said.

Soon after, the home's owner fixed up the property and assured Williams that the next tenants would be an improvement because he found them through his church.

Up until Thursday's killings, Williams has had no complaints.

"They've been model neighbors," he said.

Although police said one man and two women lived at the home, Williams said it appeared to him that two younger men, two young women and an older man lived there.

In March, shortly after they moved in, the two young men helped Williams trim some trees that were hanging over from his yard into theirs, Williams said.

The young men would offer a respectful wave when they saw their neighbors but wouldn't converse much beyond that, neighbors said.

"They stuck to themselves," neighbor Justin Jameson said. "They weren't the outgoing neighborly type."

dailynews.com

Doing my routine checks of all the arrests from overnight around the city, I got the story of a drug rip off crew with a back story that gets real murky and involves a drug sale to a teen girl who overdosed this summer. This is the top of the story.

Three men have been charged and a fourth was being sought in connection with a semi organized dope-rip off ring that targeted dealers in the San Fernando Valley and Hollywood.

The latest arrest came Wednesday when one of the suspects, Fatshi A. Touresian, a 21-year-old North Hollywood salesman, showed up in a Van Nuys courtroom to appear on an earlier case of vehicle tampering. He was booked into the Los Angeles County Jail on charges stemming from a pot rip off in April at Laurel Canyon Boulevard and Mulholland Drive that went bad when Jeffrey Jenkins, 25, was shot in the neck and survived, said Los Angeles Police Detective Martin Pinner. Bail was set at $626,570.

dailynews.com

Police said someone was killed last night in Tujunga, which police call The Rock. A 21-year-old man was found shot to death on a Tujunga sidewalk last night and police are searching for his killer. I'll see what we can develop out of this one. If anyone knows anything out there, drop me a line. dailynews.com

Wally Fay over at In The Hat, has a good editorial today about the lack of outrage over the recent killing of a Mexican deputy police chief by drug gangs in a case he goes out on a limb to say qualifies as terrorism. And that if we continue to turn a blind eye toward what's happening south of the border, we could be facing bigger problems than just street and prison gang crime.

I've always been cautious about using the T word. And I'll still refrain from applying it to U.S. based street gangs and their associates in organized criminal enterprises. But what's happening south of the border absolutely qualifies as terrorism.

The difference between us and them isn't subtle. Criminal gangs and organized groups in the U.S. generally speaking are not trying to change institutions like LE agencies, the media and the authorized civilian authorities. There are exceptions like Cudahy that still need to be addressed.

The latest proof of the criminal cartels' intent of literally destroying civilian authority is the machine gunning of Tecate's recently appointed deputy chief of police, Jose Juan Soriano Pereira. He was shot fifty times while asleep in bed next to his wife. This is just one more step in Mexico's suicide spiral into total anarchy. When a dope dealer kills another dealer, it's just business. When they start killing cops, newspaper editors and writers, priests and entire families it's not just business anymore. It's an attempt to destabilize the entire edifice of civil order.

Check out the rest of it here.

Summertime is traditionally what cops call the killing season, when kids are out of school, temperatures are hot and things get a little buggy in the big city. But last night there was a double killing in Van Nuys. Not a whole lot of details yet, but stay tuned. So far here's the skinny:

VAN NUYS - Police sought the public's help today in the search for whoever fatally shot two men on a sidewalk near an apartment building in Van Nuys.

The shooting occurred last night in the 7000 block of Hazeltine Avenue, just south of Sherman Way, said Capt. Jim Miller of the Los Angeles Police Department's Van Nuys Station.

Police received calls around 10:15 last night reporting that shots had been fired near Sherman Way and Hazeltine Avenue, but officers dispatched to the area could find no evidence of a shooting, he said.

About 10 minutes later, however, a caller reported two males on the ground in the 7000 block of Hazeltine Avenue, and there - on the grass by a sidewalk adjacent to an apartment building - the officers found two victims with gunshot wounds to the upper body, he said.

One victim was pronounced dead at the scene, and the second died later at a hospital, he said, adding that both victims appeared to be adults. Their identities were not immediately released because family members had not been notified, said Los Angeles Police Detective Mike Coblentz.

"We have no witnesses to the shooting so we are asking for the public's help," Miller said.

"It's just a whodunit," Coblentz said.

dailynews.com

A $50,000 reward is being put up for information leading to the arrest and conviction of the gunman who killed 16-year-old Johnny Cano, the first homicide recorded in the San Fernando Valley this year. He was shot shortly Jan. 6 near the southeast corner of Sherman Way and Van Nuys Boulevard in Van Nuys. In his story Jan. 11, my colleague Rick Coca wrote that Cano was killed as he was coming back from running an errand for his sister and was apparently mistaken for a gang member.

Here's Coca's story:

Cano, originally reported to be 16, was not a gang member, but a good kid and a good student -- in the wrong clothes.

Wearing baggy khaki pants and a dark-colored flannel shirt -- clothes associated with gang members -- Cano was walking home from a shopping center near Sherman Way and Van Nuys Boulevard when he was attacked. A Latino male, 18 to 20 years old, wearing a gray hooded sweat shirt and white baggy shorts, approached Cano and shot him several times before fleeing in a white passenger car, said Detective Craig Rhudy of the Los Angeles Police Department.

``Most of the people that dress that way that get killed in Van Nuys are gang members,'' Rhudy said. ``It's really dangerous to dress that way.''

Street gangs battle it out in a competition for territory in the area where the shooting occurred, Rhudy said. Police said Cano might not have known that.

Police said Saturday's fatal shooting underscores the risks young people take when emulating their favorite rap or hip-hop stars, who often don fashions inspired by prison and gang culture.

Rhudy said Cano's family believed that his fashion choices put him at risk.

``They did have an idea he was dressing that way, and they did try to get him to stop, and apparently they weren't successful,'' Rhudy said. ``I think he probably thought it was cool to dress that way at school, and he didn't think that it would lead to his death.

``Unfortunately, he was wrong.''

Police, city officials and activists are hammering out ways to combat the escalating gang shootings and homicides, including a shooting in which two teenage boys were wounded Tuesday outside of Grant High School.

While alternatives are debated, Rhudy offered up some advice for young people.

``If they don't have shaved heads, don't have visible tattoos, don't have baggy pants, they're probably not going to be bothered,'' he said. ``You can also avoid being stopped by the police if you're not wearing gang attire in a gang neighborhood.

``It's sad when someone dies,'' he said.

If you have any information on this homicide, call Van Nuys detectives at (818) 374-0040 or, after business hours, at (818) 374-1963.

dailynews.com

Updated at 5:20 p.m.

Brent was tapped this afternoon to step in and give us more details from an afternoon press conference about the Cano murder.

dailynews.com

Cops arrested two people in a November stabbing death of a guy and guess what police believe it was all about - disrespect. Over and over again, we hear and read about bloodshed that started over someone getting ticked off at someone else, whether it was the way the person looked at the other person or whether it was over some perceived problem. There's a better way to deal with this than the way this case went down.

VAN NUYS - Two males were arrested in connection with last month's stabbing death of a 19-year-old man in a case police said started when one person disrespected another.

Rudolf Mekhakian, 20, and a 17-year-old male were each being held in custody on a murder charge in connection with the slaying of Abraham Polisadzhyan, who was among a group of nine Armenian males gathered in a parking lot Nov. 5 on the southeast corner of Woodman Avenue and Vanowen Street to settle an argument, police said. The teen's name was withheld because he is a minor.

They were arrested Thursday after being identified by witnesses to the murder, said Los Angeles Police Detective Mike Coblentz.

dailynews.com

A polygraph machine used in the 1950's by the Los Angeles Police Department is on display at Parker Center. (Tina Burch/Staff Photographer)

When leads dry up or the truth is murky, LAPD detectives end up here, on the fourth floor of downtown's Parker Center, headquarters of the Polygraph Unit. In these tattered 10-by-10-foot rooms, lies were exposed that cracked a Manson murder case and opened a trail to a stolen $3.5million Stradivarius cello. dailynews.com

Notorious BIG's family has long maintained that the LAPD covered up key evidence in his murder. And yesterday the U.S. District Court Judge Florence-Marie Cooper ruled that Detectives Stanley Nalywaiko and Stuart Maislin of the Los Angeles Police Department's Risk Management Group, along with Detective Steven Katz can be added as defendants in the Wallace family's wrongful death lawsuit against the City of Los Angeles.

"Judge Cooper's ruling today gives the family a chance to prove to the world that police were involved in the murder -- and that high officials have covered up for those officers," said Wallace family's lead attorney, Perry R. Sanders, Jr.

The estate of Christopher Wallace, A.K.A Biggie Smalls sent out a press release.

Whatever way it ends up, it's a shame that such a great voice was lost. It's just one of hundreds of violent murders that occur everyday in the streets but so many of those stories don't get told.

Here's a little tribute to Biggie. And one of his most memorable songs, Big Poppa.

"If you got a gun up in your waist please don't shoot up the place
Cause I see some ladies tonight who should be havin' my baby
Bay-bee" _ lyrics from Big Poppa

Pat Aidem out in Santa Clarita follows up today on the death of 20-year-old Joshua Pipho, an audio technician planning to go to college, who was rammed by a car, stabbed and then run over again about 12:15 a.m. Saturday while trying to stop a group from vandalizing a friend's truck, his friends and family said Monday. A friend, Chad White, also 20, was stabbed multiple times and remained hospitalized Monday in critical condition.

dailynews.com

Wow. I can't imagine what it would be like to put together a story like this.

Even after Addie and I split, I would still drop in on Li’l Mike. When he saw me walk in the door, he’d get this really big smile on his face, rush over and punch me in the leg. But eventually the visits faded, and the last time I saw Mike he was maybe 6 or 7 years old. Then last summer, Addie called. I hadn’t spoken to her in years. Michael, now 19, had been arrested and charged with a gang-related murder.

Michael Krikorian, formerly of the Times, now an aspiring novelist, wrote this searingly memorable first person piece in the New York Times Magazine about his ex-girlfriend's son who turned out not to be his kid. It's a hell of a story, but I'm sure glad I'm not writing it. Well done, Mr. Krikorian.

The headline above came from a long-ago three-day weekend, where a copy editor judged the death toll to be somewhat minor. I thought it was an interesting phrase at the time, cut it out and taped it to my old desk. It's probably still there with all the other stuff I left when they moved me over with the rest of the Metro folks.

A news item out of El Sereno caught my eye and reminded me of that odd concept. I'll paste it below.

A 27-year-old man turned himself in to police early this morning after allegedly shooting his brother-in-law to death following a Thanksgiving celebration, according to a detective.

Formal murder charges were pending, Smith said.

This is apparently not all that uncommon. Hans and I rode with the Southeast gang unit for a story around this time last year and the officers were remarking at the time that holidays are magnets for homicide.

I suppose it's not that hard to fathom. You're packed together with your relatives, there's holiday stress, old family arguments and a new boyfriend, aunt, brother, whomever to change the family dynamic. Add in some alcohol and, pretty soon, shouting turns to pushing, then pushing turns to punching. Then someone grabs a knife, someone else goes for their gun and, all of a sudden, you have one of the most horrible things you could imagine.

Even if the killings are infrequent and the holiday seems relatively untragic, that doesn't matter if it's your relative who got toe-tagged and taken to the morgue. Our condolences, as always, go out to the Gutierrez family. Talk about a rotten way to remember the holiday every year going forward.

Mr. Becerra at our downtown competitor went cruising with the South Bureau gang unit in Southeast division.

Saturday night, July 21, and it's been slow in South Los Angeles, scary slow. Two Los Angeles police officers stop a pair of young gang members for jaywalking, a good excuse to ask some questions.

The gang member, a lanky 20-year-old who goes by the name Mally, chews coolly on a toothpick. A large gilded crucifix dangles from his neck as he and a friend slouch, handcuffed, against a rusting gate on a street corner just west of the Nickerson Gardens projects.

Much like the night itself, the full story starts slowly and builds in dramatic intensity when violence breaks out. It's a great piece, well worth the time to read the whole thing. Rick Loomis compliments the words nicely with some great photos.

The most chilling moment to me didn't come during the actual shooting, however, but when a 14-year-old tries to confess to possessing a gun, so his big homie won't get arrested. I always want to believe in people's ability to turn themselves around, but if you're volunteering to pick up a case at an age where you should be still learning algebra, the future does not look bright.

And Mr. Becerra does a great job of showing exactly that.

Hans and I spent some time in the Southside while working on our series on Kristina Ripatti and Tim Pearce and Mr. Becerra's account rings true on many levels.

There are a lot of guns and there's a lot of anger down there. It's not surprising. When you're stacked into rundown apartments and your neighbors were shooting at you, it's not hard to see why you might be tempted to pick up a gun. Then a fight breaks out, another young kid who happens to be walking past gets killed and the cycle begins anew.

The thing that's most striking is the crowds that gather 'round. The story and its companion slideshow capture that really well. Cops wade into these disputes, sometimes with a kid bleeding his life away in the middle, and they're surrounded by dozens and dozens of onlookers.

Some are just curious, some have more malicious intents. Even on minor traffic stops, you can have 50 people clustered around, watching and offering commentary. And yet, when it comes time to ask who pulled the trigger, miraculously, no one saw nothin'. Some other mother's son goes to the morgue and everyone else goes on with their lives.

The latest news this morning here in the Valley is about the arrest of a man in connection with a stabbing from this summer. In short, a group of folks were hanging out drinking. A fight broke out. A stabbing occurred. Here's the story.

A 35-year-old laborer was arrested yesterday in connection with the alcohol-fueled fatal stabbing of a 25-year-old Panorama City man this summer, police said.

Alberto Carrillo Deisidro, a 35-year-old laborer from Sun Valley, was arrested before noon yesterday at his work at a marble countertop cutting place in Palmdale, said Los Angeles Police Department Detective Jim Freund.

He was being held at the Los Angeles County Jail on a murder charge in connection with the slaying of David De La Cruz, who was found suffering from multiple stab wounds in the hallway of a three-story apartment building around 5:20 a.m. July 22 in the 8900 block of Tobias Avenue.

dailynews.com

Riverside County sheriff's Deputy Ron Johnson stands near a home in Temecula, Monday, Nov. 12, where five people were fatally shot Sunday. Four died on the scene and one died later in a hospital. (AP Photo/The Press-Enterprise, Ed Crisostomo)

The Times today follows up on the dark story of the murder suicide that left five dead in Temecula on Sunday. The story describes the victims - a hardworking single mother who was raising twin 15-year-old daughters, who she hoped one day would become responsible, churchgoing adults.

"I love my mom! She's the coolest ever," Nikita Williams wrote on her Web page. "My mom is truely who i look up to."

By all accounts, Naomi Grangroth was a hardworking single mother devoted to her 15-year-old twin daughters. Her hope, she told friends, was to raise them to become responsible, churchgoing adults.

On Tuesday, however, friends and relatives were struggling to understand how this 34-year-old mother's dream could end so suddenly, and so violently.

Grangroth, Nikita and her sister, Narissa, died Sunday at a Temecula house -- apparent victims of a murder-suicide shooting that took the lives of five people in a quiet cul-de-sac. Also found dead were Grangroth's boyfriend, Jeffrey Blixt, 45, and his 17-year-old son, Matthew.

Authorities are still trying to determine who fired the gun that killed all five people in Blixt's home near Temeku Hills Golf and Country Club. Sheriff's spokesman Dennis Gutierrez said that news reports indicating Matthew Blixt was the shooter "can't be confirmed at this time." Autopsies will be performed today or Thursday and could reveal who the killer was.

latimes.com

I was traipsing through the Internet this morning, looking for a phone number for Operations Valley Bureau, when I found it turned up in a very odd place. Lt. Gary Nanson, who coordinates gang efforts for OVB, showed up in an article in a Canadian newspaper, criticizing his north-of-the-border counterparts' handling of a homicide.

"They're using traditional ways of solving a homicide," said Lt. Gary Nanson, head of the LAPD's Valley Gang unit. "They're actually embarrassing themselves."

(Cpl. Dale Carr, spokesman for the Integrated Homicide Investigation Team) took exception to the comment, saying Nanson "has absolutely no basis to make a comment like that. That's an uninformed, unresponsible quote from him."

Nanson seems to have either really ticked off the Canucks or inspired equal agreement that they don't know what they're doing.

I've interviewed the lieutenant a few times and it sounds exactly like something he'd say. He's an intense, outspoken guy who will go on at length about what he sees as the failures of law enforcement to respond to gang violence. He foresees a future where gangs will evolve into sophisticated, more organized operations relying on financial crime, rather than traditional stuff on the street. As such, he'd like to see more gang intelligence and detectives, rather than uniformed officers doing suppression.

My only question is: how the hell did the newspaper find him? Whatever the case, the veteran cop probably won't be enjoying any Labatts courtesy of the IHIT next time he's up in Surrey.

Our blogging counterpart, Mr. Girardot at Crime Scene got a story on a terrible murder-suicide in Monrovia last week. I'd heard about this third-hand and asked him on Friday-- turned out to be true and worse than I'd thought.

MONROVIA - A man shot and killed his girlfriend in front of her children minutes before killing himself in the woman's apartment, authorities said Friday.

"We have a personal connection to this case," Lee said.

Read the whole thing here. It's really, really sad.

Quick one here on the rappin' gangster of Toonerville. Mr. Castro's on the trial trail, once again.

Convicted multiple killer Timothy Joseph McGhee might have received a reprieve on a date with the death penalty Friday when a mistrial was declared in the penalty phase of his trial.

His autobiographical notebook of gang lyrics, in which he boasted about his crimes, proved vital in the conviction - which is not affected by the mistrial in the penalty phase.

Here's the whole thing.

Also, Mr. Blackmoore weighs in with some choice words that we're not allowed to use in the newspaper.

The name of the fetus that was inside the part-time student from Cal State Northridge is called "Baby Blanche" in court papers - dark senselessness. A woman now faces capital murder charges in connection with the deaths.

Capital murder charges were filed today against a woman who allegedly drove her car into a crowd in South Los Angeles, killing a pregnant woman and her fetus.

Unique Kiana Bishop, 21, was scheduled to appear late this afternoon in Los Angeles Superior Court Division 30 for arraignment. She was charged with two counts of murder with the special circumstance of multiple murder, and three counts of attempted murder.

Bishop allegedly drove her car into a crowd of other women during a dispute in the 5800 block of South Western Avenue on Monday. Police said the dispute involved a crowd of women. A melee erupted and fist fights broke out, authorities said.

Read the rest of the story here.

The Times has been all over this one and we pretty much missed the boat, since it happened so far away. But, as a sad reminder of how interlinked this city is, this fight down on Slauson and Western killed a lady with Valley ties.

A deadly and highly unusual melee among 30 young women in South Los Angeles was triggered by a dispute over a man who dated two of the female combatants, Los Angeles police said Tuesday.

On Tuesday, authorities announced that they had taken the driver into custody and booked her on suspicion of murder. According to police, the driver, Unique Kiana Bishop, 21, fled the scene but showed up at the 77th Street Division station with her mother. Police officials said Bishop told them that she struck the crowd by accident.

Read the whole thing here.

As always, our condolences go out to Ms. Blanche's family. Regardless where this happened, or why, it's terrible to lose someone so young.

Earlier in 77th, Will Beall- Packing heat and a pen.
The neon lights aren't so bright on the Broadway -- Another trip to 77th.
Solving murders in 77th.

At the end of September, we had the sad story about Canoga Park High School teacher Hadas Winnick, who was allegedly stabbed and killed by her son, Jesse. We set up a Reader Reaction blog to allow people to share their memories. Most were kind words from former colleagues and students, but we got an unexpected post from Amy Winnick, Hadas' daughter, the other day.

I doubt anyone will read this since it's "old news" at this point - but it will never be old news to me. This was my family. Jesse and my mom were my best friends. Because of his savage, idiotic, selfish, disgusting act of violence, I no longer have either of them. There is no excuse. My mom was not brutal. Opinionated, yes. But perhaps the fact that Jesse told her she was fat, ugly, worthless, pathetic, deserved to die, was the reason she was so sad? Can you imagine having to go through that every day, whenever Jesse had a bad day or just felt like dumping on her? She was a beautiful woman, dedicated beyond belief to her children, students, and friends. She was the best mother she could have ever been. I wake up missing her more and more each day, but also thank God more and more each day for the time I did get to spend with her. So, to you, SKT - I pity your close-minded, ignorant views. And to everyone else, especially Paula, thank you. Mom and I love you dearly.

I can't imagine how painful it must have been to write those words. Our hearts go out to you, Amy, and to everyone else touched by your mom's life. Hang in there and good luck.

Mr. Bartholomew has an amazing, heartbreaking story of a terrible West Hills murder in today's paper.
Using his unique, masterful touch, he sets it up like this:

WEST HILLS - She was the bubbie who could turn matzo balls - and nearly everything else - into gold. He was the grandpa who couldn't get enough cuddling with his grandkids.

Gregory Douglas Miner, 32, faces life in prison without parole if convicted on two counts of murder, with special circumstances of committing robbery and burglary.

For the whole thing, click here. The whole thing gives me the shivers.

I'm not the first one to tell the story of Rachel Levy and Ayat al-Akhras. As much as I hate to admit it, I didn't even do the best job with it. I'd give credit to Joshua Hammer of Newsweek or Joel Greenberg of the The New York Times for writing better pieces. But I hope I got a sense of what Rachel's life was all about. Here's the beginning:

In another world, Rachel Levy and Ayat Al-Akhras could have been friends.

"One wanted to kill, one wanted to live," said Edna Levy, Rachel's aunt. "They could have been good friends, they could have gone to school and studied together. But it wasn't like that. It's just so sad."

The rest of the story's here, or if you're more of an audio person, check out Public Radio International's "The World" report on the film.

I didn't get a chance to watch the whole documentary, so I can't get into the specifics of what all the director covered. But I will say this is one of the rare times I find myself in agreement with President Bush, who makes a rare appearance as a quote in my story (oddly enough, he doesn't weigh in on a whole lot of San Fernando Valley crime issues).

I don't claim to be an expert on the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, nor will I try to take sides in the argument. With thousands of years of fighting, my coffee cup insights aren't gonna make any difference.

But, hopefully, Rachel and Ayat will. These aren't soldiers dying in a war-- they were kids. Real, actual kids. One teenager who blew up another, solely because she was an Israeli girl walking to the market. A security guard, 55-year-old Haim Smadar, prevented the carnage from being greater.

Any way you look at this, it's a tragedy. Perhaps if the folks pointing fingers back and forth on both sides will keep this example in mind and remember these weren't abstract numbers in a newspaper column. They were real, vibrant people who could have had much ahead of them.

As Edna Levy told me, in a quote that didn't make it into the story:
"It's been five-and-a-half years and it's not behind us. It's a big scar for the whole family-- everybody loved Rachel. She was a star-- we didn't want to see her in a grave. When I go back to visit, I don't want to kiss a stone."

Unfortunately, that and 17 years worth of memories are all that's left of Rachel Levy. The same for Ayat al-Akhras. Let's hope those memories can inspire people to change, but with thousands of dead before them, I'm not all that optimistic.

So Tony Castro has filed an early dispatch from the courthouse on one of L.A.'s most wanted fugitive gang members, who now faces the death penalty for three killings and four attempts. Here's the top of the story.

in three murders One of Los Angeles' most feared gang leaders with a penchant for writing rap lyrics about his killings was convicted Thursday of murdering rival gang members for control of a lucrative drug trade -- and now could face the death penalty.

Timothy Joseph McGhee, 34, leader Toonerville gang in Atwater Village, was found guilty of three counts of first degree murder and four of attempted murder in a case in which prosecutors were heavily aided by an autobiographical notebook in gang lyrics in which he boasted about his crimes.

"I am why you lock your doors. I am why your daughters are whores " McGhee wrote in one set of lyrics that authorities said underscored his murderous rampage for which McGhee came to be called the Monster of Atwater, with cops even comparing his murderous nature to Charles Manson.

The three murder convictions and two of the attempted murder counts - involving attempts to kill peace officers - carried special circumstances charged upheld by the jury and qualify McGhee for the death penalty.

Superior Court Judge Robert J. Perry immediately set penalty phase hearings to begin Friday morning.

Check out the rest of the story by clicking here

There was a homicide last night in the Northeast Valley area. Looks like two guys possibly got into a drunken fight and one man stabbed the other. It's still early so there aren't a whole lot of details available, but police did arrest a man.

LAKE VIEW TERRACE - A 42-year-old man was stabbed to death in an apparent drunken fight with an acquaintance who now faces a murder charge in connection with the death, officials said this morning.

A man identified as Cesar Jose Diaz died after being stabbed in the abdomen just before 8 last night in the 11600 block of Hunnewell Avenue, a coroner's official said.

Police responded to a call of a cutting at the home and found the victim and the suspect, identified as Jose Luis Aviles, at the scene.

Diaz was taken to Pacifica Hospital where he died.

Aviles, 38, was booked into the Van Nuys Jail with bail set at $1 million. No other details were immediately available.

Just two months ago, Sandra Ruiz was the victim of a shocking, senseless attack that wounded her and killed her son, Sev'n. On Friday, she thanked the people who've helped her through this horrible time. Rick attended and wrote a very moving piece.

THOUSAND OAKS - Two months removed from a vicious attack that took her young son's life and left her near death, Sandra Ruiz stood behind a church lectern Friday, remarkably composed and strong.

Ruiz was so touched by the outpouring of support from the community that she decided to have a memorial for her son, which also featured touching words from family members, school officials and church leaders.

For the rest, please click here
Previously, Cleaver attack kills 6-year-old, part 1.
Cleaver attack, part 2.

This is a really tragic story. It started yesterday when one of our photographers, Hans, heard about a body being found in an alley behind a house in North Hollywood. Rumors flew that maybe it was a overdose from an unknown source. Unfortunately, the story took a darker turn.

A 33-year-old North Hollywood man is accused of choking his girlfriend -- who was four months pregnant -- because she disrespected him, then dumping her body in an alley behind a North Hollywood house, police said this morning.

Michael LaBrunda was booked into the Los Angeles County Jail on suspicion of murder in connection with the death of Alisha Johnson, 21, of Westminster, said Los Angeles Police Detective Rich Wheeler. "It's tragic," Wheeler said. "She didn't deserve this. She's 21. And like all 21-year-olds, she was starting her life out."

A resident who lives in the 8100 block of Vanscoy Avenue spotted the body of a woman laying on some tires in an alley and called police about 11 yesterday. Detectives determined the case was a homicide, and after identifying her, contacted family and friends who told police Johnson had told family and friends that she was pregnant by LaBrunda, whom she met at college, Wheeler said.

Police spotted LaBrunda later in his Mazda 626 near Bellaire Avenue and Lorne Street, near where the body was dumped, and detained him for questioning, Wheeler said.

LaBrunda told police that he choked her in his car after she disrespected him, Wheeler said.

Police said today a 5-year-old boy injured during a road rage crash in Reseda died at a hospital, and his mother and younger sister remained in critical condition. The boy died about 11 last night, said Kevin Maiberger of the Los Angeles Police Department. His name was not immediately released. We'll keep you updated. Now the case becomes a homicide. dailynews.com

Robert Becerra
Here's the latest on the Simi shooting.

SIMI VALLEY -- Police formally identified Robert Becerra today as the gunman in a mysterious Tuesday shooting that left a customer dead and two workers at Tire Pros franchise wounded. Becerra, 29, of Simi Valley allegedly then took his own life with a shot to the head.

Becerra also got a speeding ticket this year on Feb. 14, but had no other criminal contact with the department.

We didn't get a whole lot more from yesterday's post, but by the end of the day, at least all the people involved were ID'd. Here's the top of the story:

SIMI VALLEY - Was it just an argument that left two people dead and two wounded? Or did a senseless, random killing begin the bloodbath? Or was it all premeditated?

"Anytime something like this happens, it's very shocking," Lt. Roy Jones said. "Even to us."

I actually wasn't thrilled with the way our story came out, but it was the best we could do with the material we had. Jason did a great job gathering info, but I didn't feel like I held up my end of the bargain. My apologies-- and even more importantly, my condolences to the Sutcliffe, Ramirez, Heeber and Becerra families. It sounds like a horrendous day for everyone.

Here's the video Ms. Burch shot

Elsewhere, here's the Ventura County Star's news story and a very touching remembrance of Susan Sutcliffe. While I hate to give credit to the competition, they beat us. The Times piece was pretty well done, as well.

But newspapers' competition with each other doesn't matter. Two kids lost their mom yesterday. A troubled guy killed himself. Two guys' lives will be forever changed, just because they showed up for work. It's a damn shame all around.

Jason's en route to the scene of this grim-sounding scene. We're going to work together today to see what more turns up. I'll keep you posted on what he turns up.

UPDATED, 2:10 p.m. (replacing earlier version of story below)

SIMI VALLEY — A shooting at a tire shop this morning left two people dead and two others critically injured.
Officers found the victims at 7:30 a.m. when they responded to reports of shots fired at Tire Pros at 4386 E. Los Angeles Ave.
Shop owner John Heeber, 37, had been shot in both arms, and employee Albert Ramirez, 20, suffered a gunshot wound to the stomach. Both were taken to a nearby hospital, where they were expected to recover.
An unidentified female customer was dead, along with a fourth man, believed to be the killer. Police believe he shot himself.
Cosmo Torres, who owns nearby Newcastle Motors, said Heeber ran a block to his shop, screaming for help and leaving a trail of blood.
“He was all bloody, Torres said. “He was pale. He was saying, “Call 911!’”
Heeber told Torres that he didn’t know the killer. Torres got his friend a towel and called for help. As they waited for an ambulance, Heeber’s wounds oozed onto the sidewalk, leaving a dark stain on the pavement.
Investigators cordoned off an area between Tapo and Park streets and blocked one lane of Los Angeles Avenue while they scoured the scene.
A coroner’s van pulled into the Tire Pros service bay and workers examined a body, believed to be the killer, laying within. Another body sat slumped in a row of plastic chairs outside the shop, a woman’s purse at its feet.
“This just doesn’t happen in Simi,” said Dani Alley, who lives nearby and heard the sirens. “I was so shocked.”
At the hospital, Pastor Joe Schimmel of the Blessed Hope Chapel led a group of 50 friends, family members and congregants in a prayer circle. He said he’d spoken with Heeber and expected him to recover from a shattered right arm and graze wound to the left.
“Our hearts are broken for those who have lost loved ones,” Schimmel said. “They’re not out of the woods yet.”

Richard Winton, over at the Times, had a great piece yesterday that's both very well-written and weird. Read on below:

It was 1:30 a.m. on a July morning in 1994. On 5th and Crocker streets in the heart of skid row, a woman nicknamed "Chocolate" was slinging dope.

It was never really clear what caused their fight. But it ended when Chocolate, whose real name is Shelia Burton, shot Anderson in the back as he ran down the street.

Our colleague Ms. Maeshiro has a wild tale out of Lancaster which I'll excerpt below. What really got me was the headline: "Salsa-slayer gets 11 years behind bars."

LANCASTER - A 19-year-old Lancaster man has been ordered to serve 11 years in prison for throwing a bottle of salsa that fatally injured a volunteer collecting donations for the homeless.

Peterson pleaded no contest Wednesday to voluntary manslaughter after prosecutors agreed to dismiss a charge of murder. He was sentenced to 11 years.

The whole story's here.

It just reminds you how fragile life can be, where an innocent guy tries to do the right thing and gets killed over some candy and a bottle of sauce. That's a true tragedy.

My apologies for not updating this sooner, but it's been a busy few days. We did get the full, first-day story on Hadas Winnick's tragic death, so I'll post the top here and provide links.

CALABASAS - Hadas Winnick lived and taught with passion, preaching the value of math to teenagers but trying to save her greatest life lessons for her troubled son, Jesse.

His sister, who declined to comment, called police about 11 p.m. Tuesday to report the slaying in the affluent, hillside community. It has seen just three homicides since its incorporation in 1991, most recently a decade ago.

For the rest of the story, click here.
We've also been getting some touching blog posts on our reader reaction site. Here's one:

Posted by: PaulaG | September 27, 2007 04:11 PM

Here's the rest on Reader Reaction.
Elsewhere, The Ventura County Star has a short story (though it looks like it's based on an earlier wire story that misidentified Jesse Winnick's age as 20).
The Acorn has a staff piece.
And finally, KNBC-4 has video.

Man, what a tragic story-- it sounds like Hadas Winnick touched a lot of folks, as a teacher, relative and friend. Our condolences go out to the family and everyone else involved.

UPDATE. 3:30 p.m. on Friday: (I'm just cutting and pasting this from our Web site, sorry for the repetition)
VAN NUYS - The district attorney's office filed murder charges today against 25-year-old Jesse Winnick, who's accused of stabbing his mother, Hadas, to death in their Calabasas home on Tuesday night.

The Los Angeles Sheriff's department believes Winnick called his sister Tuesday night after he attacked the popular Canoga Park High School math teacher. Neighbors and friends described her as a loving, forceful parent who tried to straighten her son out as he struggled with personal problems.

Winnick is expected to be arraigned later today.

I have a feeling this is going to be a grim day. Rachel's got the early news:

CALABASAS- A 20-year-old man was arrested today on suspicion of stabbing his mother to death in her home, authorities said.

He was booked at Lost Hills Sheriff's station on suspicion of murder.

I'm headed to Canoga Park High, where she taught, and Rick's going to head to the scene. More to come as soon as we get it-- sounds like a tragic day for the family, all around.

Shooting suspect still at large
A man in Watts shot his girlfriend while she was driving her SUV.

The man, Stephen Mark Picart, 33, had a history of domestic violence against the woman, Sharon Carter. Carter's two sons were in the vehicle when the shooting occurred in the 9600 block of South Compton Avenue in Watts.

The SUV hit two cars following the shooting.

Daily News
Free-spirited ex-boxer suffers same fate as idol
Please read Jason Kandel's excellent piece about an ex-boxer named Charlie Brown who died recently following a beating he took a year ago while walking a dog.

Maybe you or someone you know might have seen something to help put the killer behind bars.

Daily News

I'm out of the office today, so all I can post is a a link to the sad news of two brothers dying shot in a Pacoima. Hopefully, we'll get some more for you soon.

PACOIMA - A gunman shot two middle-aged brothers on the street early Sunday morning, leaving one dead, police said.
Albert Rushing, 63, died not far from his brother, Monroe Brazill, 51, after being shot several times around 2:50 a.m. near the corner of Dronfield Avenue and Vaughn Street.

Anyone with questions or information is asked to contact Foothill Homicide Detective Martinez or Detective Brownell at (818) 834-3115 or (818) 756-8861, during normal business hours or call after hours at 1-877-LAW-FULL (529-3855).

UPDATED, Monday, 10:38 a.m
Whew, I misread the earlier post and, thankfully, it appears Mr. Brazill is not dead. My apologies for the mistake and our condolences for his brother and best wishes for his recovery go out to the family.

Infant caught in barrage of gunfire
The city is offering a $75,000 reward for information on who shot to death a 3-week-old baby Saturday, authorities announced today.

The infant, Luis Angel Garcia, was killed in the shooting, which occurred near MacArthur Park. Francisco Clemente, 37, who police believe was the intended target of the three gunman, was critically injured in the attack.

Police say there were 50 to 100 people in the area when the 9:30 p.m. shooting occurred.

Anyone with information is asked to call (213) 485-2531 during normal business hours and (877) LAFULL after-hours.

abc7.com

LA TIMES

A former sheriff's deputy convicted of killing his wife was sentenced this morning to 25 years to life in prison. dailynews.com

Two gang members have been charged in a January driveby killing that left a 17-year-old rival dead. Edilberto Olivares, 19, of North Hollywood and Mardoqueo Guevara, 23, were being held at the Los Angeles County Jail on murder charges in connection with the Jan. 31 slaying of Daniel Martinez.

Not much on this one, unfortunately.... Here's what our morning crew got from LAPD:

CHATSWORTH - A man and a woman died in an apparent murder-suicide on the 22000 block of Lassen Street Saturday morning, according to the Los Angeles Police Department. Police said they were "having financial issues."

The couple's daughter found them both shot in the head at home around 9 a.m., police said, along with a note written in either Hebrew or Arabic.

Police haven't yet determined who did the shooting, nor have they released the victims' names.

The second suspect wanted in the stabbing death of Daniel Edward Koch has been arrested. On a tip, cops found him camping on Isla Vista near the University of California, Santa Barbara. A cop was passing out fliers and apparently someone said they saw him camping on the beach. L.A. police went up late last night, early this morning to bring Justin Thalheimer into Los Angeles County custody. Here's the latest scoop. dailynews.com

In case you missed it yesterday afternoon, here's the latest on the Porter Ranch park stabbing that occurred over the weekend of Aug. 25-26. I found out by searching through arrest reports that one of the two men wanted in connection was arrested for possession of a heroin needle sometime after the killing, released and then arrested later in connnection with the slaying.

Here's the story I wrote yesterday.

NORTHRIDGE - An 18-year-old Northridge man accused in the grisly park stabbing death of a 33-year-old homeless man was arrested in the hours after the murder in connection with possession of a heroin needle, but was released.

The suspect was arrested later on murder charges in West Los Angeles after trying to run from police.

Quinn Alexander Marez, a student, was arrested at 7 p.m. on Aug. 26 on the possession charge at his Northridge home, about seven hours after police found the bloodied body of Daniel Edward Koch laying face down in a creek. Marez was released from custody on that misdemeanor offense the next day on a written promise to appear in court.

Police said that when he was released on the misdemeanor charge Marez was a "person of interest" in the murder investigation, although they wouldn''t give specifics about the time line, said Los Angeles Police Lt. Tom Murrell. At some point, they said they had witnesses who could identify the men as suspects.

Police believe Marez and another man, Justin Thalheimer, 18, of Northridge, stabbed Koch after an argument late Aug. 25 or early Aug. 26 at Limekiln Canyon Park. The three apparently knew each other and had been drinking when an argument broke out, police said.

Police arrested Marez at 10 p.m. Tuesday after spotting him get off a bus in West Los Angeles. He was booked on suspicion of murder into the Los Angeles County Jail with bail set at $1 million. Prosecutors filed murder charges against him today. A judge issued an arrest warrant for Thalheimer, who is on the run.

At the time of Marez's arrest on Tuesday, he was out on bail in a case from July. He was due to appear in a Van Nuys courtroom yesterday to face charges of driving without the owner's consent, receiving stolen property, and narcotics possession, according to the court. A warrant was issued for his arrest when he did not show up in that case because the court was apparently not aware that he was already in custody in connection with the murder case.

Happy that Tina's still alive, sad that 1987 Jane Doe is not identified

I found out recently that a woman was still alive and, I must confess, I felt sad.

Let me explain.

After I wrote a story about the 1987 unsolved-murder of a woman known simply as "Jane Doe 53," I received a very thorough tip where a caller identified a potential suspect and victim.

The potential killer was already serving time for the death of another woman and all things (personal history, place of residence) suggested that this individual very well could have been involved in Jane Doe 53's death. When I gave detectives the information they were excited. And the more they looked into it, the more excited they got. This was the biggest break they had in the case in a good long time.

It seemed that our Jane Doe 53 -- so named because she was the 53rd unidentified female corpse the Coroner's Office had come across in 1987 -- might have a name ... Tina.
When I heard that name I said it aloud - maybe that might make it real: "Tina."

After seeing the horrid photos of what this woman looked like at the time of her death, I wanted to write a story that might help bring her killer to justice and bring some peace of mind to her family, if she had a family.

The key piece of evidence for me was her homemade blue dress. It struck me as something that people might remember. And considering the detectives had very little physical evidence left in the case, it was probably the biggest clue they had left.

In any case, after investigating further, detectives discovered that "Tina" is alive and well and living near Buffalo, New York, which, of course, is great news.

But, I can't help but feel sad as hell for Jane Doe 53.

I was hoping we could give her her name back. If you haven't read her story, please do.

And let the cops know if you know her name.

I could no longer link to the story - so here it is:

MYSTERY WEARING A BLUE DRESS
POLICE SEEK HELP IN 1987 SLAYING

BY RICK COCA
Staff Writer
ENCINO -- Although considered out of fashion for 1987, the powder-blue dress with a peekaboo opening below the neckline was perfect for summer.

Little did police know when they found the badly decomposed body of a young woman wearing the dress 20 years ago this month that it might one day represent their last hope of unraveling the mystery behind her death.
Through the years, detectives have followed every lead, with little luck. Now, they're hoping somebody recognizes that dress or some other peculiarity about the case.

They not only want to find her killer, they want to find out who was the woman they call Jane Doe No. 53. The woman's mutilated body was discovered on the morning of July 21, 1987, by a 32-year-old transient in the thick underbrush around the Hjelte Sports Center in the Sepulveda Dam basin area.

Strangled, her arms cleanly cut off at the elbows, she had been dead two weeks to three weeks when her killer, or killers, dumped her body in the park off Burbank Boulevard just east of Havenhurst Avenue, police believe.

``Who holds a murder victim that long and moves a body?'' wondered Los Angeles Police Department Detective James Nuttall. ``It takes a tremendous amount of risk.''

Jane Doe 53 is not alone. Since 1987, there have been 5,535 unsolved homicides in the city of Los Angeles. In 53's case, a bit of bad luck and timing have made the process of identifying her -- and the prospects of identifying her killer -- more difficult.

By removing her hands, the killer ensured there would be no fingerprints. After her death, detectives were on the lookout for any severed hands that turned up, hoping for a match.

They haven't found any.

And since the woman had been dead for weeks when they found her, police were unable to detect whether there had been sexual contact. In today's advanced scientific environment, such evidence might have led to the killer.

``We have her DNA,'' Nuttall said. ``We have nothing from the suspect.''

They also don't have a corpse.

The Los Angeles County Department of Coroner routinely hands over unidentified bodies to the county morgue, which cremates the remains.

Jane Doe 53 -- the 53rd unidentified female corpse in the county in 1987 -- was released to the morgue for cremation Aug. 17, 1987, said Craig Harvey, coroner operations chief. A femur from her leg was saved and remains in evidence.

Hard to identify
On a recent weekend, the coroner's office had 207 bodies in its possession. Identifying them can sometimes prove difficult, Harvey said.

``One of the biggest problems in identifying people is the fact that nobody's looking for them,'' he said. ``They don't file missing-person reports, so you really have nothing to go on.''

This is a scenario detectives have considered with Jane Doe 53.

It's possible they never saw a missing-persons report for her because she was killed by a husband or boyfriend, the very person who would normally report her missing.

``Right now, if we had the skull, we feel pretty confident we could get close (to identifying her), but unfortunately, it's not available,'' Nuttall said.

With the skull, they could do a facial reconstruction. That process could provide a highly accurate bust or drawing, something they could put out to the public to see if anybody recognized her.

Which leaves the blue dress.

Considering the horror she endured, the woman's dress is in remarkably good shape. Police determined it was ``not commercially manufactured.''

But who made the dress? The woman? A loving mother or grandmother? Police don't know. They do know it was considered out-of-date.

``Not San Fernando Valley 1980s,'' Nuttall said, which leads detectives to believe the woman might have been from out of state or perhaps from another country.

Drugs and high heels
Wearing black-strap high heels with her toenails painted a reddish-pink, the woman could have been out dancing, going to dinner or engaging in prostitution, detectives said. Toxicology tests show she had cocaine in her system at the time of her death.

Police believe their Jane Doe was a small-framed white woman, between 24 and 33 years old.

The brown-eyed woman wore contact lenses and had medium-length brown hair that fell just past her shoulders. She was approximately 5 feet 8 inches and weighed between 110 and 120 pounds. She wore a size 7 shoe.

Examiners concluded that at some point, her appendix had been removed and that she was once pregnant.

And due to the fact that she wore contacts and once wore braces, it's possible she came from an upper-middle-class background, police said.

``She had perfect teeth,'' Nuttall said.

Because of the tools used and the precision of the mutilation of her limbs, Jane Doe 53's case is similar to the deaths of six other Southern California women, although police haven't been able to make any definite connection.

Every stone has been turned. Now, they need help.

``There's really no place else for us to go,'' Nuttall said. ``Barring some breakthrough in modern science, it's going to take a phone call.''

rick.coca(at)dailynews.com
(818) 713-3329

How you can help
Anyone with information about the case of Jane Doe 53 can call Van Nuys detectives at (818) 374-1952 or the LAPD's Robbery Homicide Division at (213) 485-2155.

Two quick ones, hopefully with more updates to come....

In an update from our earlier post on the tragic killing of Danny Koch, cops snared half the duo suspected in his murder. Quinn Marez snuck all the way over to West LA last night, but the 18-year-old Northridge resident got popped hopping off the bus. Justin Thalheimer, also accused in Koch's death a week-and-a-half ago, remains at large.

In a separate recent case, Tanish Vasquez of Pacoima was charged with the murder of his wife, 59-year-old Jean Hyde last Saturday. He was spotted by her body, covered in blood and attempted to flee, but cops arrested him at home.

Not too much on this one, but it's something.... The timing didn't work out quite to get more info, so I fear this may be all we get. Our condolences go out to Ms. Hyde's family.

PACOIMA - Police arrested a man on suspicion of murdering his wife before sunrise on Saturday morning.

At 5:10 a.m., officers with the Los Angeles Police Department's Foothill Division responded to a call of an assault in progress at 11656 Dronfield Ave. When they arrived, residents directed them around the corner to 11701 Cometa Ave.

They found 59-year-old Jean Hyde, prone and unconscious, and her husband, Tanish Vasquez.

"He was covered in blood, right by the body," said Sgt. Enrique Mendoza. "He retreated back into the house. We surrounded the place, made contact and arrested him without incident."

Prior to the arrest, officers evacuated Hyde and called for an ambulance. The Los Angeles Fire Department responded at 5:40 a.m., said LAFD spokesman Brian Humphrey, and transported Hyde to Providence Holy Cross Medical Center. She was pronounced dead on arrival of wounds to the head and body.

Foothill Division homicide detectives seek additional witnesses to the alleged attack. They're asking anyone with information to call Detectives Gehry or Santana at either (818) 834-3115 or (818) 756-8861.

Here's an updated link for the story Jason and I collaborated on about the stabbing death of Danny Koch, who was found dead in a creek in Limekiln Canyon Park last Sunday. The watch commander told me later that they suspect Koch used to buy Marez and Thalheimer beer and that they got into some argument over the weekend.

I thought Det. Fesperman made a good point that we often forget: every homicide victim has a family. While it's easy to dismiss Danny Koch, since he lived in a park and didn't have a regular job. But in speaking to his parents and family members yesterday, it was clear that he meant a lot to them. Here's hoping they'll be able to find some closure soon and that his killers will turn up quickly.

Police today sought two men in connection with a brutal stabbing of a 33-year-old homeless man whose body was found in a creek Sunday afternoon. dailynews.com

Murder charges were filed today against a 23-year-old homeless man accused of fatally stabbing a 32-year-old woman on the patio of an Alcoholics Anonymous meeting. dailynews.com

A 32-year-old woman suffered fatal wounds from a stabbing on the patio of an alcoholics anonymous meeting and her alleged killer, a 23-year-old homeless man was in custody in connection with the case. dailynews.com

The Los Angeles Police Department launched its end-of-the-summer raids in North Hollywood on Friday.

More than 150 officers from the Los Angeles Sheriff's Department, Los Angeles Unified School District Police, Burbank Police Department, Federal Bureau of Investigation, Bureau of Alcohol Tobacco and Firearms, California Department of Corrections and Los Angeles County Probation focused on gangs and tagging crews linked to criminal activity in the North Hollywood and Sun Valley communities.

The operation went down at 6 a.m.

The cops served probation and parole compliance checks, arrest and warrant searches at 58 locations. A dozen people were arrested, including four juveniles. The gangs and tagging crews targeted were the Vineland Boys, 18th Street, North Hollywood Locos, North Hollywood Boys and Clanton (C-14).

18th Street is listed as one of the department's top targeted gangs.

Cops recovered three firearms, two machetes, narcotics including methamphetamine and marijuana, and several shaved keys that are believed to be used to steal cars.

Cops also say they seized a wealth of intelligence on gang activity in the eastern corner of the Valley.

The raids come as police report that gang-related crimes have increased in North Hollywood by 24 percent over last last year to date. In a recent four-week period, police in North Hollywood reported a 54.5 percent drop.

As of July 30, gang crime in the Valley is up 5.9 percent, a total of 47-additional crimes. While gang homicides are down 4.3 percent -- 22 through July 30 compared to 23 during the same time period last year -- some of the increase in gang crime can be attributed to more assaults against cops. This time last year, there had been seven; so far this year there have been 22, an increase of over 200 percent.

Through Aug. 18 crime is down 1.7 percent. That includes a 24 percent reduction in homicides - 42 compared with 55.

Cops say that gang crime accounts for 22 percent of of all crime in the Valley.

The mother of murdered CSUN student Michael Lynn Presley II. (photo by Kristine Keller, CSUN Daily Sundial staff photographer)

Son suffers same fate as slain father
Twenty years after his father was shot to death, Michael Lynn Presley II was also gunned down. The CSUN student had a stellar GPA and massive potential. According to this story from the Daily Sundial, CSUN's student newspaper, Presley is the third student murdered this summer.

A judge today sentenced two gang members to 15 years to life in prison for the beating death of a 17-year-old Glendale boy. dailynews.com

Jill Leovy of the Times' Homicide Report has a piece looking at the disproportionate number of homicides in minority communities today

Homicide is not fair, hitting hardest among Latinos and especially among blacks. Latinos are killed at more than three times the rate of whites, while blacks succumb to homicide at three times the rate of Latinos, the Times analysis shows.

Adult males are the eye of the storm. The national homicide rate is about six deaths per 100,000 people each year. But for Latino men in their 20s in Los Angeles County, the rate is 52 deaths, and for black men, 176 deaths. In human terms, that means that losing a son to homicide, a remote possibility in some neighborhoods, looms as a daily threat in others.

And while the Valley certainly has its share of problems, she points out that the possibility of your kid getting blown away in Woodland Hills is considerably slimmer than the chance in Compton.

I've been getting a bunch of emails looking for more info regarding Sandra Ruiz, who was badly injured in the attack that took her 6-year-old son on Sunday night. I've been out of the loop, covering other things lately, so I don't have much new info, but a source at Amgen passed along the news that the Ventura County DA had set up an assistance fund to help her out. Here's the info:
Attn: Catherine Duggan

Ventura County District Attorney's Office

Crime Victims Emergency Fund (for the benefit of Sandra Ruiz)

800 S. Victoria Ave

Ventura, CA 93009

Phone is 805-654-3622

Amgen, Ruiz's employer, will match any employee donations through its corporate charity. I'm going to be away for a few days, but hope to pass along any more details I can dig up.

Previously:
Cleaver attack kills 6-year-old

A Los Angeles police officer fatally shot a man Thursday night after he tried to choke another officer. latimes.com

A 54-year-old man has been arrested in connection with the 2006 stabbing and bludgeoning death of a 92-year-old woman who was out collecting recyclables. Bernell Ross, of Sylmar, was being held in lieu of $1 million bail at the Los Angeles County Jail on murder charges in the death of Sophia Gomez. dailynews.com

As Jason promised in an earlier post, here's the latest on the ax handle attack that left one man dead.

SUNLAND - A 38-year-old man was found dead Friday after being hit in the head with an ax handle, police said.

Hillrose residents silently watched as detectives searched Oh's house and the surrounding area Friday morning. Several of Oh's neighbors said they didn't know him very well, but that the incident frightened them.

Fifty-two anonymous women had preceded Jane Doe 53 to the grave in 1987 before a mysterious killer chopped off her hands and dumped her body in the Sepulveda Basin. More than 5,000 men and women have followed in unsolved homicides in Los Angeles. Rick's got an exceptional piece today on the sad end of Ms. Doe 53, who donned a handmade, out-of-fashion blue dress and painted her toenails reddish pink for one last night out before she was killed. It's a tragic, very well-written tale.

Just a quick one-- hopefully, we can get some more on this later.

PANORAMA CITY - A man died early this morning after being stabbed twice, Los Angeles police said.

Officers were called to the 8900 block of Tobias Avenue, where they found the man at 5:30 a.m. with two stab wounds.

The man, whose age and name have not been released, was taken to a nearby hospital where he died, officers from the LAPD's Mission Division said.

I'm juggling a bunch of things right now, so I'll just rip this straight from the LAPD blog earlier this week. My apologies for missing it up earlier.

On July 15, 2007, at about 12:45 a.m., the victim was in the backyard of a residence in the 14600 block of Astoria Street in Sylmar. He became involved in an argument with another partygoer and was shot numerous times by the suspect.

Anyone with any information about this crime is asked to call Mission Homicide Detectives Gene Parshall or John Macchiarella at 818-838-9810. After hours and on weekends, phone the 24-hour toll free Detective Information Desk at 1-877-LAW-FULL (529-3855).

Just a short one about a party that turned tragic, written up by our city desk. If they're able to update, I'll post more as it arrives.

SYLMAR - A 23-year-old man was shot several times in the chest at a house party and died after being taken to the hospital early today, an LAPD officer said.

A gunman fired at the man just before 1 a.m. in the 14600 block of Astoria Drive, Officer April Harding said.

Police had not yet determined if the shooting was gang related.

Weeks ago I wrote a short story, an update, identifying a victim of a homicide that happened in June in Pacoima as Alberto Molina Jr. The headline, which I wrote, read something like "Man identified in gang shooting." I got an e-mail from an acquaintance of the family telling me the headline was terrible. I responded, saying I would be pleased to hear from the family of Molina, to talk about the victim for a follow-up story. They agreed. Their son was not in a gang, both the family and the cops said, although the man who pulled the trigger may have been in a gang. Molina was an altar boy and an aid at his local church school in Sun Valley. What follows is the story as told to me by the family of their son who died in senseless violence one night in Pacoima. dailynews.com

My colleague Alex Dobuzinskis guest blogs here today. He has been covering a murder trial of John Racz. Here's his post:

She was a soccer mom before the phrase even came into vogue. Ann Mineko Racz disappeared 16 years ago. Now her husband, John Racz of Valencia, is on trial, charged with killing the woman whom friends and family members describe as a devoted mom, always taking her kids to soccer practice or helping out at their schools. The trial is taking place in San Fernando, but it's on hiatus this week.

The couple's three children are expected to testify next week. An important aspect of the case is that despite more than 30 searches, authorities have never found the body of Ann Racz, which contributed to the delay in charging John Racz. Although the Daily News has covered every day of the trial, with so much estimony and legal maneuvering by the two sides we haven't been able to fit all of it in our print articles. Here are some points that got left out:

The Associated Press ran an interesting piece recently in which experts blame higher homicide rates on everything from more powerful weapons to shifting resources to anti-terror from regular crime fighting. The most interesting suggestion, however, was that immigrants keep crime down, since they want to keep out of the way of the law.

Here's a link to the whole story, via the Miami Herald. Though the story's mainly based on East Coast incidents, Los Angeles, as a major destination for legal and illegal immigration, figures prominently. I'd be interested to hear what people have to say about this....

Homicides in the city have dropped 20 percent, according to the latest statistics released by the Los Angeles Police Department.

Citywide, police reported 181 homicides between Jan. 1 and June 26, 2007, compared with 225 in the same period last year, statistics show.

Total violent crimes which include, homicide, rape, robbery, and aggravated assaults, dropped 7 percent, from 14,016 total violent crimes to 13,047 between Jan. 1 and June 26, 2007.

Property crimes dropped 2 percent, from 48,747 last year to 47,827 so far this year, statistics show.

Click below for the day's crime news.

This year, 172 people have met violent ends so far. Twenty-five of them got killed in the LAPD's 77th Street station's territory. Though that's better than last year, it's still the most homicides of any of the department's 19 stations.

In the last month of gang stats that the department posted on its website, 77th also outpaced all the others with its 80 gang-related crimes. It is a dangerous, different world than most of us imagine from our safe living rooms.

Click below for the surreal, the grim, the wacky crime news of the day.

If you haven't yet, you have to check out The Times' story today on an old unsolved murder case that was recently closed with the arrest of a trucker who ran down and killed freelance photographer Douglas Burrows then fled to Mexico.

Fourteen years ago, freelance photographer Douglas Burrows was broadsided by a 18-wheeler in downtown Los Angeles — a fatal hit-and-run that seemed destined to fade into obscurity.

The alleged truck driver, Rogelio Pereira, fled to Mexico. The Burrows case remained active, but investigators always seemed to be inundated with more immediate — and pressing — cases.

Still, there was one constant: Every year around the anniversary of his son's 1993 death, John Burrows would place a call to detectives at the LAPD's Central Traffic Division to see if investigators had made any progress.

Vacations, promotions, transfers and retirements meant that nearly every time Burrows called, there was somebody new to talk to.

Each time, Burrows insisted on telling the story of his photographer son. He told the officer about Doug's struggle to overcome being born with a cleft pallet, requiring 30 operations to repair.

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Click below for all the crime news in the area ...

NORTH HOLLYWOOD - A $50,000 reward is being offered for information leading to the arrest and conviction of the suspects involved in the slaying of 15-year-old Francisco Garnica. Francisco was shot on Nov. 16, 2006 while walking on the east sidewalk of Lankershim Boulevard in North Hollywood -- the heart of 18th Street gang territory, cops say. Police say there were 18th Streeters hanging around that fateful night, but that witnesses are too afraid to say anything about the case out of fear of retaliation. Read the story here.

Homicide detectives were busy this weekend in the San Fernando Valley. Two men were shot and killed. Both cases looked like they were after or during parties. One of them is being tagged by the coroner as gang related. An 18-year-old man was killed in Granada Hills after a party was letting out. A 28-year-old man was killed outside a gas station near an Armenian club in Tujunga. So far there are few details, but you can read the story about the Granada Hills case here and the case in Tujunga here.

Keep reading this blog for further details. And if you have any tips, drop me a line.

Cops today identified a man shot and killed on Friday night outside an Armenian nightclub in Tujunga as Armen Tomanyan, 28. Anybody know anything about this gentleman?

Click here to read the story. You can view the updated Valley homicide map by clicking here.

The National Geographic Channel will retell the infamous North Hollywood bank shootout from a decade ago. This was one of the biggest shootouts in U.S. history. Larry Phillips and Emil Matasareanu in heavy body armor and armed with AK-47s and other weapons injured nine cops and wounded two civilians. The gunmen were killed. If there are cops out there reading this blog that were involved in the shootout and would like to share your experiences, we'd like to hear from you.

Hollywood Reporter via reuters.com

Show starts Tuesday at 9 p.m.

Click here for details.

Click below for the full plate of headlines about crime and cops ...

You've got to check all these crime stories. Click below.

Hollywood homicide detectives have just issued this bulletin. They are looking for the public's help to identify and locate the body of a woman who was murdered last month in Hollywood. Their press release follows.

On Friday, June 1, 2007, at approximately 12:30 a.m., patrol officers responded to a call stating that a woman had been shot to death in a home at 8581 Cole Crest Drive, in Hollywood. When police arrived, they found several individuals at the location, all of whom were taken to Hollywood Police Station for questioning.

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If you haven't yet, you've got to pick up a copy of the book "Into the Kill Zone, A Cop's Eye View of Deadly Force" by former Los Angeles Police Officer David Klinger, now a criminology professor at the University of Missouri, St. Louis. In his words, Klinger began the journey of his book years ago when as a young officer in L.A., he killed a man to save his partner's life. His gripping book is told from interviews with unnamed officers who've had to use their weapons in the line of duty and who explain how they feel about what they did.

Good morning ... A little crime news with your coffee ...

• No charges were filed against two suspects in the April 26 murder of Marat Manukyan, killed after a beef over "disrespect."
  dailynews.com
  
• Guilty pleas in a case of food stamp fraud ...
  

  The owner of several markets in the “skid row” area of downtown Los Angeles has pleaded guilty to defrauding the federal Food Stamp Program out of more than $6 million by purchasing benefits for 50 cents on the dollar. Tigran Malkhasyan, 42, pleaded guilty to five criminal charges Tuesday morning before United States District Judge S. James Otero. Malkhasyan specifically pleaded guilty to conspiracy, wire fraud, food stamp fraud, money laundering and making false statements to the United States Department of Agriculture.

  
  U.S. Attorney's Office
  
• USA Today does a profile of Los Angeles Police Chief William Bratton as he faces an uphill battle to reform his department and seeks a second term.
  

  Crime and violence are down under Bratton's watch. But gangs still grip neighborhoods with fear in this sprawling city, racial tensions are taut and drug problems fester. And by his own acknowledgement, Bratton still wrestles with one of his biggest tasks: reforming the character and culture of a police department that continues to make headlines for use of force with the public it is there to protect.

  
  usatoday.com
  
• My colleague Rick Coca gets the story on a trench rescue yesterday afternoon. He writes that Los Angeles Police first responded to what proved to be an erroneous call about an assault with a deadly weapon involving men with shovels, were the first emergency workers on scene, but found that two men were buried up to their shoulders in dirt. They got out OK.
  dailynews.com
  lafdblog