More law enforcement officers are being shot around the country, police group says

A new report released by the Fraternal Order of Police shows a disturbing rise in the number of law enforcement officers shot while on duty nationwide. "Lawlessness and gun violence must be dealt with sternly," said Debbie Thomas with the LA Police Protective League police union. "Those that commit a crime with a gun should go to jail and not some diversion program and then be back out on the street again." According to the report, 378 officers were shot in the line of duty in 2023, a 60% increase from 2018 when 237 officers were shot. California was the state with the third-highest number shot, 22 officers. 

ABC 7 Video

‘Horrifying': More Than 350 Officers Shot On Duty In 2023, Most In History Of FOP’s Data Collection

The number of officers shot in the line of duty in 2023 is the highest recorded in the history of the Fraternal Order of Police’s data collection, a news release states. “Last year, over 330 police officers were shot in the line of duty,” Patrick Yoes, National President of the Fraternal Order of Police, stated. “With the COVID-19 pandemic behind us and after so many Americans have seen the tragic consequences of the defund the police movement, it was our hope that these numbers would be a high-water mark. We were wrong. In 2023, 378 officers were shot, 46 of whom were killed, according to the report. Ambush-style attacks on officers represented 138 of the shootings, including 20 that were fatal. “Many will often look at this data and just see numbers, but we MUST remember that they represent heroes—fathers, mothers, sons and daughters,” Yoes stated. “This scale of violence against our officers is horrifying and simply unsustainable. It is no wonder that our profession is facing a recruitment and retention crisis.” Yoes’ statement calls for voters to turn to elected officials and “speak out against the violence against law enforcement officers.” He specifically highlights the Protect and Serve Act, a bill introduced to Congress in February2023, to establish a new criminal offense for “knowingly assaulting a law enforcement officer and causing serious bodily injury (or attempting to do so) in circumstances that affect interstate commerce.” The bill was referred to the House Judiciary Committee but has not advanced beyond that point.

PoliceOne

‘He Died So Violently.' 72-Year-Old Grandfather Killed In Hit-and-Run Walking Home From Work In South LA

A South Los Angeles family is asking the public to help identify the driver responsible for hitting and killing a 72-year-old grandfather in a crosswalk Wednesday evening. Alberto Castañeda Aco was walking home from work as a sewing machine operator when he was hit in the crosswalk at the intersection of Adams Boulevard and Main Street in South LA. “My dad was dragged all the way over there because the car spun,” his daughter, Martha Correa, said as she showed NBC4 News the several yards the car dragged her father. The suspect vehicle ran a red light, plowing into another sedan and hitting Castañeda Aco in the crosswalk. “He died so violently because he was dragged and thrown and when we got to the hospital, we were not able to see him,” she said. The suspect was driving an Infiniti Sedan that was stolen out of Uphill, California on Dec. 26, according to the police report. The driver and at least three others abandoned the vehicle at the scene and ran. According to the report, a witness said two men and two women got out of the car and ran, taking a Nitrous Oxide tank with them. Nitrous Oxide is illegal when used recreationally, used by people to feel intoxicated or high, according to the Alcohol and Drug Foundation. If anyone has information, contact Central Traffic Detectives at (213) 833-3713 or the Central Traffic Division Watch Commander at (213) 833-3746.

NBC 4

Man Whose Arrest Near L.A. High School Led To Discovery Of Weapons Arsenal Gets 2-Year Sentence

When 27-year-old Isaac Loftus was arrested near a South L.A. high school, he was wearing tactical gear, carrying multiple knives and heavy-duty zip ties, and packing a loaded ghost gun, which he’d reportedly pointed at vehicles driving by. But it was what police found after they detained Loftus on Nov. 22, 2022, that ultimately landed him in prison. At a Pasadena home he rented and in a stolen car that he’d crashed near the high school, law enforcement officials recovered an arsenal with more illegal guns and ammunition, along with silencers and dozens of 3D-printed devices capable of turning common firearms into fully-automatic machine guns. Loftus was sentenced Friday to two years in federal prison after pleading guilty to unlawful possession of machine guns. Loftus has been jailed since his arrest, and he appeared in court in a white smock and shackles, which Judge Maame Ewusi-Mensah Frimpong ordered removed during the hearing. Prosecutors said that when Loftus was arrested near Thomas Jefferson High School, he was carrying a holster that bore markings associated with the “boogaloos,” an anti-government extremist movement that seeks a second civil war in the United States. At his home, detectives found more boogaloo iconography and items associated with extremism: Hawaiian-style shirts and various patches bearing symbols and mottos, including “Three Percenter” and “Liberty or Death.”

Los Angeles Times

Hate Crime Investigation Underway After Man Seen Vandalizing Woodland Hills Businesses

Police have launched a hate crime investigation in Woodland Hills after a man was caught on camera vandalizing several businesses over the weekend. Video from the scene of one incident shows the man walking up to a business before hurling a rock through the window. He can then be seen walking away as if nothing happened. Los Angeles Police Department Officer Tony Im says that they received two separate reports of hate crimes in the area just after 8 p.m. on Saturday, including at a store located in the 20900 block of Victory Boulevard. As of now, there are no suspects in the investigation, but they're hopeful that surveillance footage will help them in quickly locating someone before more harm is done. One of the impacted business owners says that at least four businesses were hit within the span of a block that night, at least three of which are Jewish-owned. All of those stores had their windows shattered by rocks that were thrown, each reading painted-on messages like "Pay Up" or "Glory." 

CBS 2

Man Shot To Death On San Pedro Street In Willowbrook

A man was shot to death Sunday in the unincorporated Willowbrook area of Los Angeles. The shooting occurred around 11:30 a.m. in the 12800 block of San Pedro Street, according to the Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Department. Arriving deputies found the man, believed between 30 and 35 years of age, suffering from an apparent gunshot wound to his upper body. Paramedics took the victim to a hospital, where he was pronounced dead. His name was withheld pending notification of next of kin. A crime scene investigation was conducted, but detectives have not released a description of the shooter. A motive for the killing was not available. Anyone with information was asked to call the LASD’s homicide unit at 323-890-5500. Tipsters can also call Crime Stoppers at 800-222- 8477.

MyNewsLA

Man Arrested In Sexual Assault Of Girl, 12, In Culver City

A man was in custody Friday for allegedly breaking into a family's home in the Blair Hills area of Culver City in December and sexually assaulting a young girl, police said. Marcos Maldonado, 35, was arrested on Thursday and booked on suspicion of sexual assault, according to the Culver City Police Department. Maldonado was being held on $1.2 million bail, the Los Angeles County Sheriff's Department reported. Culver City police said officers responded around 7:45 a.m. Dec. 2 to the home on a report of a sexual assault that occurred between 2 and 3 a.m. The suspect had remained in the home until about 7 a.m., police said. Responding officers canvassed the area for evidence but were unable to locate the suspect. Investigators did obtain surveillance video from the area showing the suspect leaving the area after the assault. The mother of the 12-year-old girl who was assaulted told NBC4 that she awoke that morning to her daughter urging her to call the police. "She's a soldier," the mother said of her daughter. "She's good on the outside. I think in time we will see what at the damage is."

Westside Current

Arraignment Set For Man Charged With Four Murders Within Four Days

A felon is set to be arraigned Monday on charges stemming from the shooting deaths of three homeless men in Los Angeles, along with the follow-home robbery and slaying of an L.A. County employee in San Dimas — all within a four-day period in late November. Jerrid Joseph Powell, 33, of Los Angeles, was ordered to remain jailed without bail after his first appearance Dec. 4 in a downtown Los Angeles courtroom on four counts of murder and one count each of residential robbery and a felon carrying a concealed firearm. The murder charges include the special circumstance allegations of multiple murders and murder during the commission of a robbery — the latter involving the Nov. 28 killing of county employee Nicholas Simbolon. The charges also include allegations that Powell personally used a handgun during the commission of the crimes, and that he has a 2015 conviction from San Bernardino County for assault. Powell could face life in prison without the possibility of parole if convicted as charged. Los Angeles Police Department Chief Michel Moore and Los Angeles County Sheriff Robert Luna announced Dec. 2 that authorities had linked Powell to the fatal shootings of three homeless men following his Nov. 30 arrest in connection with the killing of Simbolon, who worked as a project manager in the Los Angeles County executive office.

MyNewsLA

In 2011, A Headless Woman Was Found In A “Posed" Position In A California Vineyard. She's Finally Been Identified.

A woman found decapitated in a California vineyard in 2011 in a gruesome crime scene that "haunted investigators" for over a decade has finally been identified with DNA testing, authorities have confirmed. Ada Beth Kaplan, 64, of Canyon Country, California, has been identified as the woman who was discovered at a grape vineyard in Arvin on March 29, 2011, the Kern County Sheriff's Office said on Thursday. Kaplan's head and thumbs had been removed and her body had been drained of blood when she was found, according to the DNA Doe Project, which helped make the identification. Former sheriff's spokesman Ray Pruitt, who worked on the case in 2011, told KGET-TV that it was a "creepy" crime scene. "Why did they take the time to drain the blood from the body? The crime scene itself was very clean," Pruitt told the station. "Honestly it looked like somebody had taken a mannequin, removed the head of the mannequin and posed it on the dirt road." A postmortem examination was conducted and the manner of death was homicide, the sheriff's office said. The coroner's office said efforts to identify her from missing persons records and fingerprints were unsuccessful.

CBS 2

A California City’s Transformation From ‘Murder Capital’ Of The U.S. To Zero Homicides

This is what it took to make a small city safe. In 1992, East Palo Alto was dubbed the “murder capital” of the U.S., with 42 murders in its 2.5 square miles — a per capita rate higher than that of any other city of any size. In 2023, according to East Palo Alto Police Department statistics released last week, the turnaround seemed complete: zero homicides. Law enforcement leaders, residents and city officials point to a complicated mix of circumstances that turned a crime-ridden community into what the mayor now calls “one of the safest places to live in the peninsula.” The San Francisco Peninsula that Mayor Antonio López referred to is home to Stanford University, the opulent town of Atherton and well-heeled Palo Alto. Residents and city leaders scoff at the overly simple idea that gentrification solved the city’s problems, although the median household income has drastically increased, and the typical home price is a little more than $900,000. They argue that poverty and crime don’t necessarily go hand in hand. They point to increased development since they earned the grim title of murder capital, including an Ikea and a Four Seasons hotel. Also: more job opportunities, programs for youth and community policing. And time.

Los Angeles Times

Fire Erupts Through Roof Of Reseda Home; Cause Under Investigation

Firefighters were called to battle a blaze that burned through the roof of a Reseda home Monday morning. The fire was reported in a one-story home in the 6400 block of Donna Avenue shortly before 6:30 a.m., according to a Los Angeles Fire Department news alert. Sky5 was over the scene around 6:45 a.m. as firefighters on the roof worked to ventilate the structure. It took about 40 firefighters 22 minutes to extinguish the blaze. No injuries were reported in the incident, the Fire Department stated in an update. The cause of the fire was under investigation.

KTLA 5

Three Injured After Strong Winds Topple Tree In West Hollywood

Three people were injured when strong winds toppled a large tree at the Melrose Trading Post in West Hollywood on Sunday. The ordeal began just before 1 p.m. at the flea market located at 7850 Melrose Avenue, where Los Angeles Fire Department crews were dispatched, according to the department. They arrived to find that all the people trapped by the fall had been safely removed from under the sprawling branches, but that three were injured. Of those three, two were workers and one was a shopper. One of those patients was taken to a hospital via ambulance but their condition was not immediately known. This was just one of several wind-related incidents reported across the Southland on Sunday, as strong gusts continued to blow through the area, even prompting California Highway Patrol to issue a warning for driver heading through the Grapevine late Sunday evening. In North Hollywood, a large tree fell onto a house and gas line in the 10900 block of Archwood Street, and a different tree crushed the front driver and passenger side of a car in the 11000 block of La Maida Street. No injuries were reported in either event. 

CBS 2

COVID-19 Intensifies Across California, With The Worst Probably Still To Come

The winter COVID-and-flu season is ramping up in California and nationwide, with doctors and other experts saying the worst of the respiratory illness season is still to come. New data show pronounced recent jumps in the rate at which coronavirus and flu tests are coming back positive, as well as the number of hospital-admitted patients testing positive for the viruses. Workplaces are also seeing higher numbers of employees call in sick due to infections. National wastewater data suggest this winter could see the highest number of coronavirus infections occurring during any given week since the first Omicron wave began in fall 2021. “And we’re probably not quite to the zenith of it yet,” said Dr. Elizabeth Hudson, regional chief of infectious diseases at Kaiser Permanente Southern California. “Looking at some of the data that we can extrapolate out from the wastewater, by the time we get to about Jan. 10 or so, we’re probably going to be seeing, within the U.S., about 2 million cases a day.” The good news is the number of people becoming seriously ill remains lower than last year, when hospitals were deluged by a “tripledemic” of COVID, flu and respiratory syncytial virus, or RSV.

Los Angeles Times

About the LAPPL: Formed in 1923, the Los Angeles Police Protective League (LAPPL) represents more than 8,900 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.