Law Enforcement News

Suspect Sought In Fatal Hit-and-Run Crash In Sylmar
Authorities are seeking the female driver of an SUV who allegedly caused two other vehicles to collide head-on Sunday in Sylmar, killing an 18-year-old man and seriously injuring another driver. The crash happened around 11:45 a.m. on the southbound Foothill Boulevard south of Sayre Street, according to Los Angeles police. Investigators said a 2003 silver Ford Mustang swerved into oncoming traffic to avoid the SUV that was exiting a store parking lot and negotiating a right turn onto Foothill. The Mustang then collided head-on with a 2000 silver Toyota Tundra. The female driver had a male passenger in the SUV and had been shopping in a grocery store before the crash, according to the LAPD. Their vehicle was described as an early 2000s small silver SUV. The Los Angeles Fire Department responded to the scene and pronounced the teen dead and transported the 58-year-old Tundra driver to a hospital with minor injuries, the LAPD reported.
LA Daily News

15-Year-Old Passenger Found Dead After SUV Slams Into South LA Liquor Store, Erupts In Flames
A 15-year-old boy was found dead early Sunday morning after an SUV plowed into a South Los Angeles liquor store and erupted in flames, officials said. The crash occurred about 4 a.m. in the 1300 block of West 54th Street in Vermont Square, according to the Los Angeles Fire Department. A spokesperson for the Los Angeles Police Department said the driver of the vehicle and two passengers managed to escape from the wreckage. The flames spread from the vehicle into the single-story building, making their way into the attic. Thirty-four firefighters extinguished the blaze in just under 30 minutes, after which the teen passenger's body was discovered inside SUV, the Fire Department said. The survivors were treated for unspecified injuries.
ABC 7

Pedestrian Killed In South Los Angeles Hit-and-Run
A man was killed when he was struck by a vehicle while crossing a street in the Green Meadows area of south Los Angeles, authorities said Monday. The crash occurred art 10:22 p.m. Sunday at 89th Street and Central Avenue, according to a dispatcher at the Los Angeles Police Department’s Operations Center. The 40- to 50-year-old man was walking westbound across Central Avenue when a northbound vehicle struck him and kept going, she said. The pedestrian died at the scene, she said.
MyNewsLA

Man Shot At Hayward Hotel In Downtown LA
An investigation was underway Friday in downtown Los Angeles after a man was reportedly shot at the Hayward Hotel. Officials with the Los Angeles Police Department said they received an assault with a deadly weapon call at 9:45 a.m. When first responders arrived at the scene, the victim was conscious and breathing. The LAPD said the suspect used a handgun and was likely in the high-rise building as they continue looking for him. The investigation remains active. No further information was immediately released.
FOX 11

Los Angeles Police Identify Suspect Who Allegedly Shot British Tourists In Venice
A man caught on surveillance video shooting two British tourists over the summer in Los Angeles' Venice Beach neighborhood is being sought, police said Wednesday. The Los Angeles Police Department identified the suspect as Brandon Manyo Dixon. The LAPD said Dixon and his friend got into an argument with two tourists from the United Kingdom outside a bar on July 30. The argument then turned into a physical fight, police said. Dixon allegedly chased the victims with a gun and shot them. The victims survived. Video footage released by the LAPD shows a man chasing two people in a crowded area and appearing to fire a weapon. "Both victims sustained significant wounds from the gunshots and were hospitalized for their injuries," police said. Authorities are still searching for Dixon, who is considered armed and dangerous. In February, tourists from Florida were robbed and shot by a group of masked men in Venice, Fox Los Angeles reported.
Yahoo! News

2 Brothers Arrested In Connection With Car-to-Car Shooting On 405 Freeway In Van Nuys
Officials with the California Highway Patrol announced the arrest of two brothers in connection with the car-to-car shooting on the 405 Freeway in Van Nuys Monday that left one man injured and backed up traffic for miles. The suspects, 24-year-old Elijah Allen Green and his brother, 18-year-old Jaiden Allen Green, both from Lancaster, were booked Tuesday on suspicion of robbery and attempted murder. In a news release, investigators said they learned the suspects robbed a man on city streets who then chased the brothers’ vehicle onto the 405 Freeway where the vehicles collided. “Immediately after the crash, a passenger in the suspect vehicle discharged a firearm at the victim vehicle, striking the victim with one round,” the release stated. The victim then drove himself to a hospital in Tarzana where he was treated for a non-life-threatening gunshot wound.
KTLA 5

Owner Offering $5,000 Reward For Bulldog Stolen Outside Of East LA Bank
A dog owner is pleading for help after his beloved bulldog was stolen outside a bank in East LA last week. According to the owner Moises Alvarado, his 3-year-old bulldog Charlie was stolen as he went into a Chase Bank on the 5300 block of Whittier Boulevard last week. He claims there is surveillance footage of the suspect grabbing Charlie. “When that happens I'm printing your face all over L.A. County," he wrote in an Instagram post. Alvarado asked the people responsible to drop off his pet at the "bowling alley on Beverly Boulevard" in Montebello. He is offering $5,000 for Charlie's safe return. "Someone is going to give you up," he wrote on Instagram. "For $5,000 your mother will turn you in."
CBS 2

4 People Shot At Party In Hawthorne
Gunfire erupted at a party in Hawthorne early Saturday morning, sending four people to the hospital. Authorities told KTLA that a large party was taking place in the 3500 block of Rosecrans Avenue at Cerise Avenue. When an argument broke out between several individuals, shots were fired and multiple people were hit. Three male victims were hospitalized with gunshot wounds and a fourth was intentionally hit by a vehicle after the altercation spilled out into the street and toward a nearby 7-Eleven. The crime scene encompassed several city blocks that were closed throughout the morning. Police have not said if the shooting was gang-related. The conditions of those hospitalized were unclear, but their injuries were not believed to be life-threatening. No arrests have been made at this time and authorities say the suspects remain outstanding.
KTLA 5

Police Seek Public's Help In Solving 2021 Pasadena Homicide Case
The Pasadena Police Department is asking for the public's help in finding the individuals responsible for a homicide committed in 2021. On Nov. 20, 2021 a gray Ford Fusion stopped in a parking lot across the street from a home located in the 900 block of North Raymond Ave. where 13-year-old Iran Moreno was inside. The front passenger of the vehicle exited and fired two gunshots in an easternly direction. One of the shots fired struck Moreno as he was playing video games in his bedroom. The injury to Moreno was fatal. The Pasadena Police Department’s Robbery and Homicide Unit has been tenaciously conducting follow-up investigation since this murder occurred. Their investigations have not resulted in finding the individuals responsible. They are asking for the public's help to bring justice on behalf of Moreno. There is currently a $85,000 reward.
NBC 4

Man Met California Girl Online, Killed Her Mom, Grandparents Before Abducting Her, Police Say
The deaths of three people found Friday in a burning home in Riverside are thought to be connected to the attempted abduction of a teenage girl. As police were en route to the 11200 block of Price Court for a welfare check on a man and a young woman who were having “some type of disturbance” outside a residence, dispatchers received calls from motorists of smoke pouring from a home in the same block, said Officer Ryan Railsback, a spokesman for the Riverside Police Department. Firefighters responded and were extinguishing the fire when they discovered the bodies of a man and two women inside the house, Railsback said. The victims were identified as Mark Winek, 69; his wife, Sharie Winek, 65; and their daughter Brooke Winek, 38. Investigators have determined that the woman involved in the outdoor disturbance was a teenager who lived in the house, Railsback said. The man she was with — Austin Lee Edwards, 28, of North Chesterfield, Va. — was identified as the main suspect in the three deaths, he said.
LA Times

New York Traffic Stop Unravels Cross-Country Meth Ring, California Desert Murder
In February 2019, Cortland County deputies pulled over a pickup truck in a routine traffic stop. What they found was anything but routine: a .380 caliber handgun, four pounds of crystal meth and more than 100 rounds of ammunition. That stop marked the end of a cross-country drug dealing scheme that eventually led police and prosecutors to an execution-style murder in a California desert. A federal judge in Syracuse this month sentenced the driver of the pickup, Kyle M. Leeper, to 40 years in prison for distributing meth and fatally shooting a middle man in the drug ring. Leeper, a 38-year-old Pennsylvania man, had been trafficking high-purity crystal meth across the United States with stops in Cortland County, Indiana and Los Angeles, according to a news release from the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Northern District of New York.
PoliceOne

Florida Deputy Dies After Being Hit By Suspected Drunk Driver
A Florida sheriff’s deputy working a traffic stop died in a chain reaction crash caused by “a suspected drunk driver,” according to the Charlotte County Sheriff’s Office. The deputy was identified as Christopher Taylor, and he celebrated his 23rd birthday on Saturday, Nov. 19, according to a news release. It happened around 8:45 p.m. Tuesday, Nov. 22, during a traffic stop on Interstate 75 in Punta Gorda, Charlotte County Sheriff Bill Prummell said in a video posted on Facebook. “Deputy Taylor was out of his vehicle, speaking with the driver of the stopped car. Another vehicle traveling at a high rate of speed struck the patrol car, which subsequently hit Deputy Taylor,” Prummell said. “Life-saving measures were given on the scene by good Samaritans and later by Taylor’s brothers and sisters in green. Deputy Taylor was trauma transported to Punta Gorda ShorePoint Health and regrettably succumbed to his injuries,” the sheriff’s office said.
Charlotte Observer

Emboldened Biden, Dems Push Ban On So-Called Assault Weapons
When President Joe Biden speaks about the “scourge” of gun violence, his go-to answer is to zero in on so-called assault weapons. America has heard it hundreds of times, including this week after shootings in Colorado and Virginia: The president wants to sign into law a ban on high-powered guns that have the capacity to kill many people very quickly. “The idea we still allow semi-automatic weapons to be purchased is sick. Just sick," Biden said on Thanksgiving Day. “I’m going to try to get rid of assault weapons.” After the mass killing last Saturday at a gay nightclub in Colorado Springs, he said in a statement: "When will we decide we’ve had enough? ... We need to enact an assault weapons ban to get weapons of war off America’s streets.” When Biden and other lawmakers talk about “assault weapons,” they are using an inexact term to describe a group of high-powered guns or semi-automatic long rifles, like an AR-15, that can fire 30 rounds fast without reloading. By comparison, New York Police Department officers carry a handgun that shoots about half that much.
ABC News

Public Safety News

Fire Burns Tarzana Apartment Building, 4 People Rescued
Four units in an apartment building in Tarzana caught fire Friday, but firefighters extinguished the blazes in less than 30 minutes. The fires at the building at 18540 W. Collins St. were reported at 6:26 p.m., according to Los Angeles Fire Department spokeswoman Margaret Stewart. Firefighters rescued two children and two adults down a ladder raised by the firefighting unit, Stewart continued. The department dispatched 55 firefighters to the scene who extinguished the flames in about 23 minutes, Stewart said. No injuries have been reported so far. The cause of the fires remained under investigation.
CBS 2

County Reports 5,244 New COVID Cases, 21 More Virus Deaths Over 2-Day Period
Coronavirus infections continue to mount in Los Angeles County, with the health department reporting 5,244 new cases and 21 additional virus-related deaths covering Thursday and Friday. Numbers were not updated by the county on Thursday because of the Thanksgiving holiday. Hospitalization numbers were not available as the county health department was awaiting word from the state Department of Public Health. According to the latest state figures, there were 822 COVID-positive patients in L.A. County hospitals as of Thursday — an increase of 28 from the previous day. Of those patients, 96 were in intensive care, down from 101 the previous day. The county said it recorded 2,337 new cases on Friday and 2,907 on Thursday, for the two-day total of 5,244. Ten additional virus-related deaths were recorded Friday, and 11 on Thursday.
MyNewsLA

LA County Health Officials Warn Of Below-Freezing Temperatures This Week
Public health officials issued a cold weather alert for parts of Los Angeles County, where overnight temperatures are expected to drop below freezing this week. The alert is in effect Monday through Thursday in Lancaster, Tuesday and Wednesday in the Santa Clarita Valley, and Monday through Friday at Mount Wilson. “Children, the elderly and people with disabilities or special medical needs are especially vulnerable during cold weather,'' Los Angeles County Health Officer Dr. Muntu Davis said. ``Extra precaution should be taken to ensure they don't get too cold when they are outside. There are places where people can go to stay warm, such as shelters or other public facilities. We also want to remind people not to use stoves, barbeques or ovens to heat their homes due to the risk of carbon monoxide poisoning.''
WestSide Current

Local Government News

LA Council Votes To Move Forward With Banning Oil Drilling
The Los Angeles City Council voted to move forward Tuesday with the process of phasing out oil and gas extraction in Los Angeles, moving the city a step closer to banning oil drilling. Two committees had approved the item before it came before the council, which voted 10-0 to request that the city attorney prepare an ordinance to prohibit new oil and gas extraction and phase out all oil drilling activities in the city. "We're sending a clear message to big oil: The city of Los Angeles will no longer tolerate oil and gas extraction," Councilman Mitch O'Farrell said. "Families, no matter where they live, deserve to breathe clean air, have safe neighborhoods and lead a healthy life free from the harmful impacts of dirty energy." The Los Angeles County Board of Supervisors approved a similar ordinance earlier in October. The city council in January unanimously approved a series of recommendations aimed at banning new oil and gas wells. The draft ordinance would phase out all such oil and gas extraction activities by immediately banning new oil and gas extraction and ceasing existing operations within 20 years.
NBC 4

LA City Council Approves Fair Work Week Ordinance Aimed At Helping Retail Employees
The Los Angeles City Council on Tuesday voted for an ordinance that requires retail employers to provide work schedules to employees at least 14 days in advance, and provide at least 10 hours rest between shifts. The Los Angeles Fair Work Week Ordinance, proposed by Councilman Curren Price in 2019, has been through various discussions and edits for the past three years. It seeks to soften the unpredictability of retail employee schedules. Price said the ordinance -- which will come back to the council next week for a second vote -- will impact an estimated 70,000 workers at large retailers in Los Angeles. "We must recognize the gaps and wide range of concerns faced by our workers, and we must put their needs over corporate profits," Price said. "This is the least we can do to give them our sincere appreciation and thanks for the work that they do."
ABC 7