Law Enforcement News
Suspect Used ‘Ghost Gun’ In Killing A Fresno County Police Officer, Officials Say
The suspect accused of killing a police officer this week in a small Fresno County community fired the deadly shots from a “ghost gun,” untraceable firearms that have become increasingly available and concerning, officials said Friday. Law enforcement officials found the gun — which they say was used to fatally shoot on-duty Selma Police Officer Gonzalo Carrasco Jr. — discarded not far from where the suspect, Nathaniel Dixon, was arrested Tuesday, Fresno County Sheriff John Zanoni said Friday. The sheriff said ghost guns are often illegally created by 3D printers or ordered online, and “cannot be traced or tracked.” The weapon was a .223-caliber assault rifle and had no serial number, Zanoni said. “This individual was a convicted felon, he didn’t have any right to have that gun,” Zanoni said. Dixon appeared in court Friday for the first time since the killing, charged with first-degree murder, with added enhancements for the killing of a police officer, and felon in possession of a firearm, according to Fresno County Dist. Atty. Lisa A. Smittcamp. The 23-year-old is being held in the Fresno County Jail without bail.
LA Times
LAPD Officers Catch Shooting Suspect Following High-Speed Pursuit
Los Angeles police officers were in pursuit of a shooting suspect that began in the Rampart area of Los Angeles. The pursuit moved into Hyde Park near Centinela, then into Inglewood. The suspect was driving a silver late-model sedan. Speeds reached 90 mph in residential areas as the suspect ran several red lights and took multiple turns to try to evade pursuing officers. The suspect drove through several parking lots. Officers were managing to keep close to the vehicle. The driver bailed out on foot near Century Blvd. and the 405 Freeway after driving onto a grassy embankment. Six officers chased the suspect onto a frontage road off the 405 Freeway and tackled the person. The suspect was taken into custody. The pursuit began at about noon.
CBS 2
Man Arrested For Allegedly Stealing 2 French Bulldogs From Pregnant Woman At Gunpoint, LAPD Says
A 27-year-old Las Vegas man was arrested for allegedly holding a pregnant woman at gunpoint and stealing her two French bulldogs in Studio City, police announced. The Los Angeles Police Department said Monday they were able to track down the suspect, Sammeiso Lewis, after he tried to extort the victim using a phone of a man he met on a dating website. "A witness from the website recalled overhearing Lewis discussing the dogs during a conversation and was able to provide Lewis' physical description and dating application," LAPD said in a statement. Using the information provided, detectives conducted several search warrant and identified Lewis, police said. He was arrested Jan. 26 and pleaded not guilty to robbery. The dognapping happened the morning of Dec. 9 when Cindy Nelson, who was nine months pregnant at the time, was out walking her dogs in the 4100 block of Kraft Avenue.
ABC 7
Two Suspects Rob Lincoln Heights 7-Eleven At Gunpoint
Two suspects were at large after robbing a 7-Eleven in Lincoln Heights at gunpoint and injuring a clerk early Tuesday morning. Two masked suspects entered the 7-Eleven store on the 3700 block of Mission Road armed with guns and stole property, including a cash register, at about 4:15 a.m., according to Los Angeles police. Los Angeles Fire Dept. paramedics treated the clerk for minor injuries at the scene. The investigation was ongoing.
CBS 2
Brazen Baby Buggy Theft Caught On Video At Toluca Lake Boutique
A baby boutique in Toluca Lake is seeking the public's help finding a pregnant woman and male accomplice who walked away with a pricey infant stroller during a brazen daytime theft. Security video shows a noticeably pregnant woman appearing to scope out the front of a baby boutique with no employees present. A man soon joins her and together they pick out - and then walk out - with an expensive stroller. The store says the Mima Xari stroller retails for $1,599. Diane Lapadjyan owns the Little Sprout baby store in Toluca Lake. "I guess at the end of the day you have to laugh about it," she says. "What can you do?" Diane says she greeted the pregnant woman, who seemed to be browsing the store while on her phone. But then Diane stepped out of that area to help another customer.
ABC 7
UCLA Student Describes Chilling Encounter With Man Sought In Campus Attacks
At least two female UCLA students were assaulted by the same man Sunday near two campus parking structures, campus police said Monday. The man approached the first woman around 4:30 p.m. Sunday near Parking Structure 1. He demanded money, attempted to kidnap the victim, held her hands together and refused to let go, authorities said. The attacker claimed he had a gun, however, it wasn't immediately clear whether he was actually armed, police said. The man approached the second victim around 6:45 p.m. Sunday near Parking Structure 7 and made similar threats, police said. In both cases, the victims were able to escape. One woman recounted the harrowing encounter. “The entire time I was thinking about how I could escape the situation,” one of the women told NBCLA. The woman was walking with a friend on campus Sunday evening when a man approached and blocked their path, she said.
NBC 4
Suspect In Goshen Mass Killing Had ‘Extensive’ Feud With Slain Family, Records Show
One of the men accused of gunning down six members of a Central California family had been embroiled in an “extensive history and feud” with the family and had once shot at one of them, according to police records obtained by The Times. Shortly before 10 p.m. on Aug. 6, 2014, Tulare County sheriff’s deputies responded to a shooting at the Wooden Shoe RV Park in Goshen. They found Eladio Parraz with his arm around his girlfriend, Crystal Hammonds, who was crying hysterically, a deputy wrote in a report. Someone had fired shots at Hammonds before fleeing in a white sedan with tinted windows, Parraz told the deputies. Based on her description of the female driver, Parraz said he believed the woman was associated with someone he knew as “Nano,” according to another deputy’s report. Parraz told the deputy “his family and ‘Nano’s’ family had an extensive history and feud.” Police identified “Nano” as Angel Uriarte and determined he had shot at Hammonds that night in 2014. Uriarte eventually was sentenced to prison for the shooting.
LA Times
‘Real Housewives’ Husband And Disgraced Attorney Tom Girardi Enters Embezzlement Plea
Disgraced former attorney Tom Girardi, co-founder of the defunct Los Angeles law firm Girardi Keese, appeared in federal court today and had a not-guilty plea entered on his behalf to charges of embezzling more than $15 million from several of his legal clients. The 83-year-old Girardi — estranged husband of “Real Housewives of Beverly Hills” star Erika Jayne — has Alzheimer’s disease and in June 2021 was deemed incompetent to manage his own affairs. He was disbarred a year later and is currently living in an Orange County assisted living facility. During his appearance Monday in a downtown Los Angeles courtroom, Girardi was allowed to remain free on $250,000 bond. Girardi was indicted last week by a grand jury on five counts of wire fraud, a crime that carries a prison sentence of up to 20 years. He is also charged in a second criminal case filed in Chicago, where he faces eight additional wire fraud counts. When asked last week about Girardi’s ability to stand trial in light of reports of his dementia, U.S. Attorney Martin Estrada said the defendant’s competency “has not been evaluated by a federal criminal court.”
LA Daily News
2 St. Louis Police Officers Shot, Wounded During Shootout At Traffic Stop
Two St. Louis police officers and a suspect were shot during a confrontation following an attempted traffic stop, the city's police chief said. The shooting happened about 10:30 p.m. Thursday, newly appointed St. Louis Police Commissioner Robert Tracy said in a news conference outside a hospital where one officer was taken for treatment. Tracy said the shootout took place after the officers tried to pull over a pickup truck they suspected had been used in a robbery on Tuesday. The truck crashed and a man fled from the wreckage on foot, firing at pursuing officers, Tracy said. The two officers were each shot in the torso, but returned fire, hitting the man in one of his ankles, the chief said. All three were taken to hospitals. Tracy indicated Thursday night that at least one of the officers was in critical condition. The names of the suspect and the officers have not been released, but Tracy said the suspect was in his 30s. One of the wounded officers is 38 years old with 14 years of service, Tracy said, while the other is 24 years old with two years of service. Tracy said he had spoken with one of the wounded officers. “He is actually going to get through this,” he said.
Associated Press
Off-Duty NYPD Officer Shot In Head In Robbery Attempt
An off-duty NYPD officer suffered life-threatening injuries in a shooting in Brooklyn on Saturday evening, police said. “We are at a hospital once again awaiting news — this time for an off-duty NYPD officer who was shot and is in critical condition,” Police Commissioner Keechant Sewell said at a news conference at Brookdale Hospital. “Please keep this officer in your prayers. He is currently fighting for his life,” Sewell said. The suspected shooter remained at large late Saturday night. “We will catch the person responsible for this act,” Mayor Adams said. The shooting was reported on Ruby St., between Linden Blvd. and Dumont Ave. in an area of East New York known as The Hole. The incident occurred around 7 p.m., said police. The 26-year-old officer, accompanied by a relative, was trying to buy a car he’d seen advertised on Facebook Marketplace, said law enforcement sources.
New York Daily News
Public Safety News
Worker Rescued After Falling 20 Feet In Woodland Hills
A construction worker was injured after falling approximately 20 feet into a concrete hole in Woodland Hills Monday morning, authorities said. The accident happened just before 8 a.m. at the Kaiser Permanente campus at 5601 N. De Soto Ave. Sky5 video showed firefighters using an aerial ladder truck to hoist the victim out of the hole and then transfer him into an ambulance. His injuries are not life-threatening, according to the Los Angeles Fire Department.
KTLA 5
2 Hikers Rescued Clinging To Bush On Cliff Face In Angeles National Forest
Two men were rescued after being trapped on a cliff off a road in the Angeles National Forest over the weekend. Around 6:30 p.m. Sunday, Los Angeles County Sheriff's deputies received reports that a passerby saw a light shining on a cliff off the Angeles Forest Highway near Big Tujunga Narrows Bridge. When rescue crews arrived, they found two hikers stick about 125 feet up the cliff face, hanging onto a small bush. Rescuers climbed up the cliff face, secured the two hikers, then had a recuse chopper hoist them all off the cliff to safety. Video provided by the LASD showed the rescue workers assisting the hikers before they were hoisted off the cliff. Neither of the hikers were injured. Officials did not say what led to them getting stuck clinging to the bush.
FOX 11
LA County Firefighters Head To Turkey For Relief Aid After 7.8M Earthquake That Killed More Than 2,600
The Los Angeles County Fire Department is sending a task force to Turkey after a massive 7.8-magnitude earthquake struck on Monday morning, crumbling homes, killing more than 2,600 people and leaving devastation across a wide portion of the country and into northern Syria. The agency said they are mobilizing California Task Force 2 after a request was made for United States aid by Turkish leaders. The task force will provide immediate relief efforts, firefighters said. The team will include 81 people, six canine teams and three structural engineers, according to the agency. Turkish Americans living in Los Angeles told KCAL News Monday that the destruction is vast in Turkey. "I have almost 50 relatives there," said Yousuf San. "My son showed me five or six miles there and both sides were destroyed. All the buildings." The U.S. Geological Survey confirmed the magnitude of the pre-dawn quake and said a second temblor, registering 7.5 on the Richter scale, struck just hours after the first one and not far away.
CBS 2
Local Government News
LA Relaxes Employee Covid Vaccination Rules, Approving All Requested Exemptions
The City of LA will stop efforts to enforce part of its COVID-19 vaccine mandate for employees, now that the City formally ended its years-long "state of emergency" as a result of the pandemic. Exemptions requested by thousands of unvaccinated City workers will be automatically granted, according to City documents obtained by the I-Team and other sources, and ongoing termination proceedings for some employees who'd refused to comply with the mandate because of exemption requests, were dropped. The City has also retroactively granted exemptions for employees who previously had their applications denied. City Council president Paul Krikorian declined to discuss the decision, which was made in a closed-door meeting and became public as a memo outlining the rule-change was distributed to City department heads this week.
NBC 4
