Daily News & Updates   Law Enforcement News Man Fatally Shot In Harvard Park A 30-year-old man was shot and killed Thursday in the Harvard Park neighborhood of South Los Angeles. The shooting was reported at 2:32 a.m. and officers from the Los Angeles Police Department’s 77th Street Division responded to a man down call at Gage Avenue and Hoover Street near where they found the victim lying in the street with gunshot wounds, an LAPD spokesman told City News Service. The victim was pronounced dead at the scene by Los Angeles Fire Department paramedics. There was no suspect description. MyNewsLA Man Turns Himself In After Fatal Hit-and-Run In Silver Lake A Los Angeles man has turned himself in after a fatal hit-and-run crash in Silver Lake earlier this month. Christopher Gibson, 31, was driving a 2011 Mazda 3 on Sunset Boulevard near Edgecliffe Avenue at about 1:10 a.m. on Nov. 7 when he hit a 32-year-old man riding a scooter, then fled west on Sunset, police said in a news release. The scooter rider was taken to a local hospital, where he succumbed to his injuries shortly thereafter, police said. His identity has not been released. Gibson turned himself in to authorities on Monday and was arrested before he was freed on $100,000 bail. His next court is appearance is scheduled for Dec. 18 in Los Angeles Superior Court. Anyone with information is asked to contact Investigator A. Munoz at 213-833-3713 or email [email protected]. During non-business hours or on weekends, calls should be directed to 1-877-LAPD-24-7 (1-877-527-3247). KTLA 5 Hate Crimes In Los Angeles County Reach Highest Level In 21 Years Reported hate crimes in Los Angeles County rose to their highest level in 21 years in 2022, jumping 18% from the previous year, according to a report released Wednesday by the county Commission on Human Relations. The report found 929 reported hate crimes in the county last year, up from 790 the prior year. The number is the highest it has been since the 1,031 recorded in 2001. Other findings include the largest number of anti-transgender crimes ever tallied, a record-breaking number of anti-immigrant slurs, and a growing rate of hate crime violence. For the past eight years, hate crimes have been trending upward with a 143% increase since 2013. "The release of the county's Commission on Human Relations (report) comes at a somber time -- a time in which we are seeing what is happening afar having a direct local impact here in LA County," Supervisor Hilda Solis said in a statement. "It is also a reminder that we are not immune and hate and violence continue to impact the lives of Angelenos." Once again, Black residents were targeted at a higher rate than other racial groups, representing an increase in hate crimes from 219 previously to 294 last year. It is the second-largest number of anti-Black crimes ever reported, the study found. Westside Current Suspect In Brutal Chinatown Robbery Linked To Other Crimes, LAPD Says Los Angeles police are seeking the public's help as they investigate a violent armed robbery in Chinatown. Suspect Courtland Thornton, 31, is in custody but LAPD investigators believe he may be responsible for additional robberies. Thornton is accused of brutally attacking a 60-year-old store clerk during a robbery at Angies Boutique in Chinatown on Sept. 14. The store clerk, Van Huyn, was left bloodied on the ground with a fractured nose and a torn eyelid. Huyn said she was hospitalized for three days and had to get 21 stitches. Thornton is accused of getting away with two art pieces worth $5,000, according to storeowner John Nguyen. LAPD detectives said Thornton is accused of committing six other robberies and believe there could be more. They're asking members of the public to contact them if they have more information or may have encountered Thornton. "Based on our investigation we believe he may be involved in similar robberies where he has not yet been identified," said Det. Huy Nguyen. ABC 7 Armed Rideshare Suspect In Custody After 3-Hour Standoff In Front Of Mt. Washington Metro Station A man who forced his way into a rideshare vehicle as it sat parked in the Mount Washington area Wednesday morning, was taken into custody following a roughly three-hour standoff with Los Angeles Police Department officers and SWAT. Around 7:45 a.m., a rideshare driver called 911 regarding an uncooperative passenger with a gun who refused to get out of the car in front of the Southwest Museum Metro Station. It was later uncovered that the man forced his way into the car, without using a rideshare app and the driver said he was not a taxi. The driver said he asked the suspect passenger to get out of his car, saw what looked like a gun, and fled to call the police. This brought on a lengthy, nearly three-hour standoff, which affected Metro train service in the area as police surrounded the parked silver rideshare sedan at Museum Drive and Marimon Way, with two SWAT vehicles also responding. Throughout the ordeal, Metro train service between Highland Park and Heritage Square was halted as the Southwest Museum Station was closed, with bus shuttles temporarily taking over passenger service. CBS 2 LA Man Gets 10 Years For 2-Week Crime Spree, Holding Up Gas Stations With BB Gun A Los Angeles man was sentenced to 10 years in federal prison Wednesday for robbing eight gas stations and carjacking a man using a BB gun earlier this year. Namir Malik Ali Greene, 23, was also ordered to pay more than $17,000 in restitution for the robberies. Greene was sentenced for a crime spree that stretched from April 4 through April 17, 2023. According to Greene's plea deal, he held up a Marina del Rey gas station on April 4. He waited for all the other customers to leave the gas station before threatening the cashier with what appeared to be a semi-automatic handgun, but was actually a BB gun. Greene then went on to rob seven more gas stations and convenience stores over the next four days, including locations in Long Beach, Whittier, South Los Angeles, Pomona, and Culver City. Days later, on April 15, Greene then carjacked a man, also with a BB gun. It all came to an end with a police chase two days later, when police found Greene driving the stolen car. During the chase, Greene crashed into another driver, drove on the wrong side of the road, and crashed into the curb before he was taken into custody. FOX 11 Man Sentenced To Over 25 Years For Kidnapping Woman With Dementia From VA Medical Center A 53-year-old man was sentenced Wednesday to more than 25 years in federal prison for kidnapping a woman with dementia from the West Los Angeles Veterans Affairs Medical Center, then obstructing an FBI investigation into the abduction. Johnny Ray Gasca was sentenced to 310 months -- or 25 years and 10 months -- by U.S. District Judge André Birotte Jr., who had previously found the New York City man guilty of one count of kidnapping, two counts of attempted obstruction of justice and one count of attempted witness tampering, according to the U.S. Attorney's Office. Gasca kidnapped the 68-year-old woman at about 8:30 a.m. on July 19, 2021, after she attempted to obtain a medical appointment at the VA facility. Gasca described the woman -- identified in court papers by the initials E.C. -- as his girlfriend in order to steal tens of thousands of dollars from her, prosecutors wrote in a sentencing memorandum. "After the victim managed to get away from (Gasca), he abducted her from the grounds of a hospital where she had sought care for her dementia, in order to steal even more of her money," the memorandum said. "Immediately after the abduction, he attempted to indoctrinate her to parrot back a version of events favorable to him." Westside Current Teen Found Dead 49 Years Ago In O.C. Identified As Alleged Victim Of ‘Scorecard Killer’ After nearly half a century, authorities have identified the remains of a man who is believed to have been killed by Randy Kraft, California’s notorious “Scorecard Killer” who targeted young men in the 1970s and ‘80s. Michael Ray Schlicht, who died when he was 17 in 1974, was identified Tuesday by investigators with the Orange County Sheriff’s Department using investigative genetic genealogy. The Iowa native was found dead on Sept. 14, 1974, on the side of a trail in what is now Aliso Viejo. He had been dead for three to five days, according to authorities, and died of alcohol and diazepam intoxication. His death was initially determined to be accidental. Homicide investigators with the Sheriff’s Department realized in 1980 that there were other young men who had died of the same intoxication, and those deaths were classified as homicides, the department said. “Over the years, multiple young men were found deceased throughout Orange County and Southern California, including several within a few miles of where [Schlicht’s] remains were discovered,” the department said in a news release. Los Angeles Times Austin Police Release BWC Footage Of Shooting That Killed Officer And 3 Others The Austin Police Department has released body camera footage of an incident that left an officer and three other people dead, KXAN reported. Officer Jorge Pastore, the suspect and two victims were killed during the incident on Nov. 11. Video released on Tuesday shows officers arriving at the scene to find a wounded victim outside of the home. The video does not show the victim, but during the 911 call released as a part of the critical incident report, a victim said that “someone is stabbing us.” Two of the released body camera videos show officers’ initial attempts to enter the home. Video shows officers banging on the door repeatedly, demanding that the suspect come out of the house. As officers break down the door, several gunshots can be heard. The third released body camera video shows the SWAT team entering the home. While the footage does not show any of the inside of the home in accordance with Texas law, the timeline report released by the police department indicates that Pastore and another officer were struck during this entry. Pastore was awarded a Medal of Valor and a Purple heart for his bravery in responding to the incident, Interim Austin Police Chief Robin Henderson said. PoliceOne Investigating Every Fentanyl Overdose Linked To Decrease In Violent Crime, Kansas PD Stats Show Karl Oakman remembers how crack cocaine was policed decades ago, and he refuses to allow the missteps that still echo to be repeated with the latest drug epidemic. “We understood early that we’re going to do fentanyl the right way, where we did crack the wrong way,” said Oakman, who was with the Kansas City Police Department in the 1990s during the height of the crack cocaine crisis and since June 2021 has been the Kansas City, Kansas, police chief. With crack, he told The Star, “It was ‘Put everyone in jail. You’re in possession, you’re using it, we don’t care, you’re going to jail.’” Today, it’s fentanyl that has flooded the streets, killing more than 850 people in the nine-county Kansas City area since 2018, The Star found. And fighting the drug “the right way” — sending a police and prosecution team to the scene of every overdose death, focusing on the dealers and suppliers and “using the users” to get to them — has prompted results KCK police weren’t necessarily expecting. The chief’s initiative officially launched in January 2022 and since then, police say, violent crime has significantly dropped with some rates being “historical lows.” “We relate a lot of that to the way that we’re attacking fentanyl,” said Oakman, who spoke to The Star at length along with narcotics unit Capt. John Diaz. Kansas City Star Public Safety News Newsom Announces Plan To Crack Down On Deadly Street Drug Known As ‘Tranq’ Amid a growing drug overdose crisis and debate over how the state should respond, Gov. Gavin Newsom on Tuesday announced he will sponsor legislation to increase penalties for the trafficking of xylazine, the deadly and flesh-rotting animal tranquilizer drug known as “tranq.” Newsom administration officials provided few details on what the bill might include other than it would classify xylazine as a controlled substance and increase criminal penalties for illegal trafficking of the drug. Veterinary use would still be allowed. “Tranq poses a unique and devastating challenge in our fight against the overdose epidemic,” Newsom said in a statement. “Although California is not yet seeing tranq at the same rates as other parts of the country, this legislation will help the state stay ahead and curb dealers and traffickers, while we work to provide treatment and resources for those struggling with addiction and substance abuse.” Xylazine is a nonopiate sedative and muscle relaxant that is only authorized for veterinary use, but the drug can be mixed with fentanyl and has increasingly been detected in a growing number of overdose deaths across California and the country. Similar to fentanyl, xylazine is addictive and potentially deadly, and can also cause painful ulcers to form on the skin. 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