Law Enforcement News

El Sereno Triple Shooting Leaves 1 Dead, 2 Others Hospitalized, Authorities Say
A shooting in El Sereno early Tuesday morning left one man dead and two other people hospitalized, authorities said. Officers from the Los Angeles Police Department's Northeast Division responded at 12:28 a.m. Tuesday to the 4000 block of Maycrest Ave. west of Huntington Drive regarding a shots-fired call, police said. They found two men and a woman suffering from gunshots wounds, an LAPD spokeswoman said. One man was taken to a hospital where he was later pronounced dead. His identity was not immediately released. A woman in her 50s was hospitalized in critical condition and a 44 year-old man was hospitalized in stable condition, according to police. Investigators initially thought the shooting was gang-related, but later said it may have occurred during a family dispute.
ABC 7

2 Victims Of Beverly Crest Shooting Released From Hospital As Probe Continues
Police on Monday continued to investigate the shooting outside a Beverly Crest home over the weekend that left three people dead and four others injured. The Los Angeles Police Department said two of the injured victims were released from hospitals on Monday, but the other two remained in critical condition. LAPD said there were a total of five gunshot victims, including the three dead. Police have not said how the other two victims were injured. There were still few clues about what led up to the shooting: Police went to the home at 2799 Ellison Drive at around 2:30 a.m. on Saturday after reports of a barrage of gunfire in the normally quiet, pricey neighborhood. The shooting started just outside the home, which police and neighbors said was a short-term rental. All of the victims were found outside, but the suspected gunmen were gone. No arrests have been made.
LA Daily News

Man Killed During Possible Shootout At Downtown L.A. High-Rise Apartment: Police
A man was found shot to death at a luxury high-rise apartment in downtown Los Angeles Sunday night and police said he might have been killed during a possible shootout inside a unit. The incident was reported around 6:30 p.m. at 1000 W. 8th St., Los Angeles police officials told KTLA. Responding officers found a 30-year-old man suffering from multiple gunshot wounds. The victim was pronounced dead at the scene. Homicide detectives later recovered multiple shell casings inside an apartment unit, indicating a possible shootout, Lt. Ryan Rabbett told KTLA. A round went into a neighboring unit, but no one else was injured during the shooting, Rabbett added. Authorities were still processing the scene hours later. They are reviewing surveillance video and hoping to speak to anyone who may have witnessed the shooting or what led up to it. Video from the scene showed police and fire responding to the apartment, which is near the entrance of the 110 Freeway.
KTLA 5

DTLA Churro Vendor Angeles Rodriguez Killed In Suspected DUI Crash
The community is mourning a beloved street food vendor who was killed by a suspected drunk driver while she was on her way to work. Angeles Rodriguez, who was known for selling churros in the downtown Los Angeles area, was killed in a suspected DUI crash that happened in South Los Angeles the morning of Sunday, Jan. 22, according to family members. Rodriguez's oldest child described his mother as "an angel walking this earth." The family gathered in South LA Monday, where they hugged each other and wept, still in disbelief over the sudden loss of the matriarch. The 55-year-old mother of three and grandmother of four was driving to her second job at a convalescent home at 5 a.m., when her car was suddenly hit by a vehicle traveling at high speed. LAPD detectives told FOX 11 the driver of the other vehicle flew through the intersection and a red light, colliding with Rodriguez’s car with such intensity it pushed her vehicle into a building. She died at the scene from the violent impact. Dramatic video supports law enforcement’s account of the event.
FOX 11

Man Arrested In Connection To Theft Of French Bulldogs At Gun Point
A man who allegedly stole two French bulldogs from their pregnant owner at gunpoint in Studio City in December has been arrested, authorities said Monday. Sammeiso Lewis, 27, of Las Vegas was taken into custody in Glendale on Thursday, and he was booked on suspicion of robbery, according to the Los Angeles Police Department. Lewis has been charged by the Los Angeles County District Attorney's office with one count of robbery, the LAPD reported. The crime occurred about 10 a.m. on Dec. 9, 2022, in the 4100 block of Kraft Avenue, police said. "A nine-month pregnant woman was walking her two French Bulldogs when she was approached by an armed male suspect,'' police said in a statement. "The suspect pointed a pistol at the victim and took both French bulldogs. The suspect fled the area with the dogs in a gray SUV.” The owner, Cindy Nelson, told reporters what happened. "A man jumped out of the car with a gun in his hand and held it in front of my face and grabbed my dogs. I was screaming 'please, no,’” Nelson said. “It happened all so fast. And he just got in the car carrying them in the air and left."
NBC 4

Authorities Investigating Anti-Armenian Flyers Found In Beverly Hills
Police are investigating the source of anti-Armenian flyers found in Beverly Hills over the weekend. The flyers were found taped to street poles near La Cienega and Wilshire boulevards and surrounding areas. One of the flyers read in part, “wipe Armenia off the map.” “I was so angry,” Sepi Shyne, the mayor of West Hollywood, told KTLA’s Kimberly Cheng. “We have seen so much hate against the Jewish community and Black folks, and it’s horrifying. The discovery comes after the Los Angeles Board of Supervisors voted to call on President Biden and Congressman Adam Schiff to support efforts to end the Azerbaijan blockade. The blockade has severely limited the amount of food, water, and other necessities that enter Nagorno-Karabakh, a region home to 120,000 Armenians, PBS reported. Armenian Americans held marches over the weekend to show their support for Armenians affected by the blockade.
KTLA 5

‘He Intentionally Tried To Kill Us’: Wife’s Statement To Paramedics Key To Charges Against Tesla Driver Who Drove Family Off Cliff
Neha Patel was still conscious when paramedics rescued her from a white Tesla that had gone off Highway 1 over the cliff at Devil’s Slide and tumbled hundreds of feet down to the beach. As they rescued her, Patel made statements to paramedics that helped lead to the three attempted murder charges filed Monday against her husband, Dharmesh Patel, 41, who was driving the Tesla when the crash took place. “‘He intentionally tried to kill us,’” Neha Patel told paramedics, San Mateo County Dist. Atty. Stephen Wagstaffe told The Times on Monday. “She said very simply this was not an accident,” Wagstaffe added. Patel was charged with attempted murder with enhancements after an investigation by the district attorney’s office, according to court records. Patel was arrested by the California Highway Patrol on suspicion of attempted murder and child endangerment after the Jan. 2 crash, but prosecutors waited until after he was transferred out of the hospital last week to charge him. His wife and two children have also since been released from the hospital.
LA Times

Suspects Still At Large After ‘Assassination-Style' Killings Of California Teen Mom, Baby, 4 Others
Two weeks after shooters brazenly killed a teen mother, her 10-month-old baby and four other members of her household, the suspects remain at large. Authorities on Monday provided no motive for the attack in a central California farming community. Tulare County Sheriff Mike Boudreaux has yet to describe the shooters publicly or provide any information about what he previously called the “assassination-style” killings, other than to say investigators believe they are gang-related. Boudreaux did not take questions from reporters during a news conference Monday, his first public remarks since the day after the Jan. 16 shooting in rural Goshen. He also did not address whether anyone at the house was targeted specifically. The violence in the community of about 3,000 residents in the agricultural San Joaquin Valley was the first of three mass killings in California this month. It was followed by a Jan. 21 massacre at a dance hall in a Los Angeles suburb that left 11 dead and nine wounded. Police say that gunman later was found dead in a van with a self-inflicted gunshot wound to the head. Less than 48 hours after that massacre, shootings at two Half Moon Bay farms on Jan. 23 near San Francisco left seven dead and one wounded. That gunman has been taken into custody and charged with murder and attempted murder.
AP

First Hate Crimes, Now Mass Shootings. For Some Asian Americans, Feeling Safe Means Owning A Gun
Guns have always made Lynn Kim nervous. She had never considered firing — let alone buying — one herself. But that changed last week after two mass shootings in California, two days apart, carried out by older Asian American men who targeted fellow Asian Americans. After hearing the news, Kim, who is Korean American, told her husband: “It’s time. Honey, let’s research getting a gun.” Kim, who is in her 40s, lives in West Los Angeles with her husband, their middle school-aged daughter and her mother. Her greatest fear is a “terrible stranger” breaking into their home while her mom is alone. “I’m a little afraid of weapons. I’m much more afraid if we’re attacked. I can’t let anything hurt my family,” said Kim, a human resources employee who is studying up on guns and plans to watch YouTube videos on the basics of handling a firearm. The mass shootings at a Monterey Park ballroom dance studio and in rural Half Moon Bay follow a rise in anti-Asian hate crimes during the pandemic, along with violent crime increases in major California cities.
LA Times

15-Year-Old Girl Accused Of Shooting At Florida Deputies Sentenced To 20 Years
A 15-year-old involved in a shootout with Florida deputies in June 2021 accepted a plea deal last week, which stipulates she will face 20 years in prison followed by 40 years of probation. News 6 Orlando previously reported that Nicole Jackson, who was 14 at the time, and a 12-year-old boy broke into a home and used the guns inside to fire at Volusia County deputies who responded to the scene in 2021. Both were foster children who had run away from the Florida United Methodist Children’s Home and had histories of mental health issues, with both being held for psychological evaluations several times under the Baker Act. “[The children] positioned themselves by a bedroom door and from my tactical experience, I was amazed the young lady took the position at the door with a shotgun and it was to the point it looked like she was waiting for our deputies to come in,” said Sgt. Donnie Maxwell, who hid behind a tree to avoid the gunfire during the incident. The two continued shooting at officers for nearly 30 minutes before Jackson exited the home with a shotgun leveled at deputies, forcing them to return fire.
PoliceOne

Public Safety News

LAFD Firefighters Help Deliver Baby
Welcome to the world little one! Soren Armour Longo made quite the entrance into the world with some assistance from the Los Angeles Fire Department. Studio City couple Lawrence and Astrid Longo welcomed the little bundle of joy three-and-a-half weeks early. Soren is their third child. Crews with Fire Station 86 arrived within four minutes of the call and just like that - Soren was born. Astrid said it took "barely one [push], one-and-a-half." "They talked us through what to do," she said. "What a wild, eventful arrival!" Firefighter-EMT Joshua Krylo has delivered babies before, he said when reuniting with the family a week later, but it's actually very rare. "It's a part of our job… we show up and go to work… but she did all the work... we just showed up," he said.
FOX 11

Who Are The L.A. County Residents Still Most Likely To Die Of COVID-19?
Unvaccinated people were more than seven times as likely to die from COVID-19 in Los Angeles County as those who received an updated booster during the latest coronavirus spike, underscoring the potential benefit of an additional shot even as pandemic metrics improve. Over the 30-day period ending Jan. 3, which covers the bulk of the post-Thanksgiving coronavirus surge, the death rate among unvaccinated Angelenos was 16.6 per 100,000 residents, according to an analysis by the county Department of Public Health. Among those who had received an updated bivalent booster, the comparable rate was significantly lower: 2.3 deaths per 100,000 residents. For every 100,000 vaccinated people who haven’t yet gotten the updated booster, just under five died. The data illustrate “the very real protection offered by the bivalent booster and by vaccines, even against the newer variants that are circulating now,” L.A. County Public Health Director Barbara Ferrer said. “People often mistakenly think that they don’t need an updated protection because they’ve been previously infected with COVID. Or they don’t realize that they’re even eligible for the updated booster,” she said Thursday. “If you haven’t had a booster for COVID since August of 2022, or if it’s been more than three months since you had a COVID-19 infection, it is time for the updated booster.”
LA Times

Cervical Cancer Rates In US Dropping, But Women Still Missing Important Checkups Due To Pandemic
Cervical cancer was once a leading cause of cancer death, but fortunately, those rates are dropping due to vaccines and improved screenings. However, due to the COVID-19 pandemic, doctors said many women have been skipping their checkups. Cervical cancer is mostly due to the human papilloma virus, also known as HPV, and there are three types of screenings. Most women are familiar with the PAP smear, but now, doctors can test for different strains of HPV. "If a patient has been screened with a Pap smear, then the interval is generally every three years, and with primary HPV screening, it's every five years," said Dr. Kimberly Callegari with Kaiser Permanente. She said said of patients who are diagnosed with cervical cancer, approximately 50% have never been screened, and 10% have not been screened within the five years before diagnosis.
ABC 7

Local Government News

LA Council Committee Moves Forward Ordinance Aimed At Hotel Tax Loophole
A City Council committee recommended approval Monday of an ordinance that aims to close a loophole allowing hotels in Los Angeles to avoid paying taxes. Currently, hotels could bypass paying the city’s transient occupancy tax via a “secondary operator” that would collect the tax on the hotel’s behalf, but the city would have no method of collecting the tax if the secondary operator does not “have any assets and fails to collect the tax,” according to a September motion. The proposed ordinance would amend language in the city code to address the loophole. Daniel Whitley, deputy city attorney, told the council’s Budget, Finance and Innovation committee that one hotel using the loophole has already cost the city around $1 million in taxes that it failed to collect. The city is projected to collect $263 million from transient occupancy taxes in the current fiscal year, according to the motion.
MyNewsLA