Daily News & Updates Good morning! On April 15, 2023, Officer B. Jerry Sandoval was killed in a traffic collision. Please consider donating to the Blue-Ribbon account established for Jerry to support his wife, Christine and twin sons, Logan and Jacob. Click here for more details. Law Enforcement News Barricaded suspect killed in Salinas shootout following standoff after deputy hit by gunfire A suspect who shot and injured a Monterey County Sheriff's deputy was killed in a shootout Wednesday in Salinas following an hours-long standoff involving multiple law enforcement agencies. Just after 6 p.m. Wednesday, a visibly-shaken Sheriff Tina Nieto announced the end of the standoff in a brief statement to reporters. KION reported the Sheriff's Office was serving an eviction notice when shots were fired, striking a deputy in the shoulder and side. CBS Bay Area Boy, 14, And Man Shot In Mid City A 14-year-old boy was struck during a double shooting in Los Angeles’ Mid City neighborhood Thursday night. The teen and a 30-year-old man were shot near the intersection of Guthrie Avenue and Corning Street around 6:42 p.m., the Los Angeles Police Department said. The victims’ condition was not immediately known. The two gunmen were in a gray, older model four-door sedan, the LAPD said. The vehicle was last seen headed eastbound on Guthrie Avenue toward La Cienega Boulevard. Detailed descriptions of the attackers were not available. Anyone with information about the shooting was asked to contact police. Tipsters who choose to remain anonymous can contact Crime Stoppers at 800-222-8477. NBC 4 Former Teacher At Sherman Oaks Middle School Accused Of Molesting Students A man who taught at a middle school in Sherman Oaks pleaded not guilty Thursday to charges involving alleged sexual misconduct with two students. Kareem Spann, 46, of Burbank, was arrested Tuesday by Los Angeles Police Department detectives after they received "multiple reports from students of alleged ongoing inappropriate sexual contact by Spann while he was employed at Louis Armstrong Middle School,'' the LAPD said in a statement Thursday. Spann, who remains in custody, is charged with one felony count of lewd act on a child and one misdemeanor count of child molesting, according to the Los Angeles County District Attorney's Office. Spann -- an eighth-grade teacher -- allegedly began having inappropriate communication in April with a student that led to grooming, according to investigators. The grooming led to inappropriate and unlawful touching, according to the District Attorney's Office. The other charge involves a separate child, with the alleged crime occurring during lunch time on school property in April, according to the District Attorney's Office. ABC 7 2 More Taco Stands Held Up In South L.A. Armed Robberies Police are searching for two armed robbers who held up a pair of taco stands early Friday morning. The first robbery took place around midnight near the intersection of East 103rd Street and Compton Avenue in the Watts neighborhood. The workers said that two men approached the stand and demanded money. One of the suspects pulled out a handgun and pointed it at workers. Although a cash box was given to the robbers, workers said that wasn’t enough. The employees also had to empty their pockets while being held at gunpoint, worker Esteban Jimenez said. The suspects fled westbound on 103rd Street with about $600. About an hour earlier, two robbers armed with a handgun held up a taco stand near the intersection of 92nd Street and South Central Avenue in the Green Meadows neighborhood. The robbers demanded cash from workers and customers before fleeing with about $1,200. The workers said all of their money was taken in during the robberies and they were shaken by the experience. A third, similar robber occurred on Monday when at least one robber held up workers at a taco truck in the Green Meadows neighborhood. KTLA 5 Inglewood Police Seeking Help Identifying Suspect Connected To 2020 Murder Inglewood police are seeking assistance in identifying the gunman connected to the murder of a 26-year-old man nearly three years ago. The incident happened back on November 6, 2020 at around 11:35 p.m., when Inglewood Police Department officers were dispatched to the 200 block of East Nutwood Street, according to a statement from police. Officers arrived to find the victim, Jodeci Tyrone Daniels, dead at the scene suffering from a gunshot wound. On Thursday, police released a photo and a descriptive sketch of the suspect, as well as a picture of a vehicle, a white or silver four-door Mercedes-Benz 500-series, that they believe was driven by the gunman. They believe that the suspect is a man in his 30s. Anyone with additional information was asked to contact investigators at (310) 412-8834. CBS 2 Santa Monica Cracks Down On Catalytic Converter Thefts With New Law The surge in catalytic converter thefts has the city of Santa Monica taking action with a new law. The law fines people $500 for possessing unattached catalytic converters without proof of ownership — and allows police to seize them. “It’s shocking when you think about it just how many are being stolen,” Santa Monica Police Department Lt. Erika Alfufi said. The city says catalytic converter thefts have risen steadily since 2020, reaching 312 last year and already 215 so far this year – on pace to reach 400. “These catalytic converters contain precious metals that are worth more per once than the price of gold,” Auto Club of Southern California spokesman Dough Shupe said. Until now, police said, there were no laws that enabled them to get stolen catalytic converters back to their owners. They urged the city of Santa Monica to pass the new law, which is modeled after the one passed by the Los Angeles City Council last April. Oscar de la Torre is one of the thousands of Southern Californians who have had their catalytic converters stolen. He’s also a member of the Santa Monica city council and voted for the new law. De la Torre said he had to sell his disabled car because it cost too much to repair. NBC 4 ATF Seizes 165 Firearms, Including 82 Ghost Guns, During San Diego Operation A three-month operation led by federal law enforcement agents and the San Diego Police Department resulted in the seizure of 165 firearms, including 82 “ghost guns” that have no serial number and are suspected of being privately made, authorities announced this week. The campaign — which lasted from Feb. 1 to May 1 and was led by the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives — has resulted in the prosecution of at least 29 people, some suspected of unlawfully manufacturing, selling or possessing firearms, and others suspected of committing related drug offenses, officials said Wednesday at a morning news conference. About two-thirds of those defendants are being prosecuted in U.S. District Court, mostly on firearms charges, while the others were charged with drug offenses in San Diego Superior Court, authorities said. “Guns, drugs and violence go hand in hand,” U.S. Attorney Randy Grossman told reporters. About half of the seized weapons and related items were displayed on tables nearby, including short-barreled rifles, silencers and handguns modified with “Glock switches” to make them fully automatic. Grossman said the firearms seized during the operation “were illegally possessed, used in an alleged crime or found at a crime scene.” Los Angeles Times Cartel-Backed Pot Grows Linked To Human Trafficking, Inhumane Working Conditions If you buy weed illegally, you unwittingly could be supporting Mexican cartels and other criminal syndicates that lure workers to farms in Northern California and Southern Oregon, where they often suffer inhumane conditions and sometimes sexual abuse. Or worse. Some disappear, presumed murdered, their bodies discarded within the area's vast wilderness. Others are held against their will. Sometimes, workers' passports, visas or driver's licenses and cell phones are locked away until they finish the harvest season. And cultivators often threaten to harm the workers or the workers' families if they run off or talk to police, said Trinity County Sheriff Tim Saxon. "They're basically being held prisoner," he said. "They're being threatened; they're cut off from their families. They're being placed in remote locations, and they don't even know where they're at." Trinity, Mendocino and Humboldt are the three large, mountainous counties in Northern California that comprise the Emerald Triangle, known throughout the world for its extensive production of high-quality legal cannabis, as well as black market marijuana. The state legalized marijuana for adult recreational use in 2016, but that hasn't slowed the "green rush" from Mexican cartels and other criminal syndicates angling for their portion of America's multibillion-dollar industry. Those who harvest illegally can offer cheaper prices than licensed growers by avoiding environmental impact studies, taxes, fees and fair wages for their workers. They also rake in cash by doing something that lawful dispensaries can't do — shipping to states where marijuana remains illegal. Courier Journal 2 Mississippi Officers Shot, One Fatally, By Hostage-Taker An intruder who went into a Mississippi home armed with three guns and wearing a bulletproof vest took a woman hostage and later shot two police officers, killing one and wounding the other during an eight-hour standoff Thursday that ended in his death, police said. The violence took place in the Jackson suburb of Brandon, where officers had called in backup from several law enforcement agencies. Among those responding was Madison Police Department Officer Randy Tyler, who died after he was shot twice in the chest with a rifle, Brandon Police Chief Wayne Dearman said. Tyler had worked for seven years as an officer in Madison, another Jackson suburb. The Madison department said he was a member of its special response team and directed the training of newly hired officers. Tyler previously retired as police chief in nearby Ridgeland. “Today, Mississippi grieves for Officer Tyler, his loved ones, and the rest of the law enforcement community,” Republican Gov. Tate Reeves said in a statement. “His courageous sacrifice likely stopped others from being killed or injured.” Dearman said at a news conference that the shooter was identified as 22-year-old Gabriel Matthew Wilson, from the city of Pearl. Associated Press Watch: Illinois Sheriff's K-9 Honored For ‘Unwavering Bravery' After Being Killed In Shootout A Kane County Sheriff's Office K-9 killed last week during a shootout was honored by hundreds of law enforcement officers, many accompanied by their K-9s, Thursday during a funeral service in a gymnasium at Kaneland Harter Middle School in Sugar Grove. Hudson, a 4-year-old Dutch shepherd, died May 24 after he was deployed when police said they saw the man involved in the shootout with Kane County Sheriff's deputies had a handgun. Sheriff's officials said the man involved in the shootout with police allegedly carjacked a Honda Accord in Aurora. The vehicle was later spotted by deputies using license plate readers in South Elgin, according to officials. Police chased the vehicle from South Elgin to a busy intersection at Randall Road and Fabyan Parkway at the border of Batavia and Geneva. There the man exited his vehicle with a handgun and Hudson was deployed, Kane County Sheriff Ron Hain said. Hudson gripped onto the man's arm and bit him and was in an active struggle with the man, officials said. An exchange of gunfire then occurred, Hain said, during which the man and Hudson were shot and killed. Hain said Hudson acted without hesitation in the true definition of bravery and made the ultimate sacrifice. The Beacon News Public Safety News How Common Is Long COVID? A New Study Provides Fresh Clues One in 10 people infected with the coronavirus during the Omicron era suffered from long COVID, according to preliminary data from a new study — indicating the syndrome remains a notable threat even in the pandemic’s post-emergency phase. The initial finding, published May 25 in the Journal of the American Medical Assn., was based on 2,231 patients who had their first coronavirus infection on or after Dec. 1, 2021, when the Omicron strain started to dominate the nation. Of them, data indicate that 224 patients, or 10%, were classified as having long COVID six months after their acute infection. The categorization was made after scientists developed their own data-based definition of the syndrome, based on a number of symptoms that were more likely to be seen in patients with a prior coronavirus infection. The effort, scientists said, was an important step toward better defining long COVID, which can be hard to pinpoint because it can’t be easily diagnosed or tested for — unlike, say, a heart attack. Los Angeles Times Local Government News LA City Officials Celebrate Reopening Of Pan Pacific Park Playground Los Angeles Mayor Karen Bass and Councilwoman Katy Yaroslavksy were among those celebrating the reopening of a playground Thursday at Pan Pacific Park, which was destroyed in a fire last year. Children from some local Fifth District schools attended the ribbon-cutting ceremony. The reopening of the playground was made possible in part by a $236,000 donation to the Los Angeles Parks Foundation from Television City, a production facility owned and operated by Hackman Capital Partners. “What you see here today is an example of public and private sectors coming together to get something done for our city,” Bass said during the Thursday morning ceremony. The donation was used to repair the damage caused by the July 2022 fire at the park, at 7600 Beverly Blvd., near The Grove. The Los Angeles Fire Department could not confirm at the time how the fire started, but reports indicate it was set by a homeless individual. Television City’s funds were used to build an ADA-accessible playground, which includes a spiral slide, tilted rock wall and tic-tac-toe panel. MyNewsLA About the LAPPL: Formed in 1923, the Los Angeles Police Protective League (LAPPL) represents more than 9,200 dedicated and professional sworn members of the Los Angeles Police Department. The LAPPL serves to advance the interests of LAPD officers through legislative and legal advocacy, political action and education. 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