LAPD Seeking More Victims As Suspects Arrested For Kidnapping, Robbing The Elderly

Authorities are seeking additional victims after two people were arrested for kidnapping and robbing elderly people in South Los Angeles, Boyle Heights and the MacArthur Park areas between June and November, the Los Angeles Police Department said Tuesday. The two suspects would drive up to their victims and have a conversation with them to gain their trust, the LAPD said. Eventually, the suspects would threaten the victims with physical force or with a weapon to force them to get in their vehicle, a grey Ford Focus. “The suspects would then drive the victims to another location, where they would demand money or jewelry, threatening harm if the victims did not comply," said the LAPD. Police said the robberies occurred between June and November of this year. Investigators, who have arrested the suspects, believe there are more victims. Anyone with information is urged to call the Newton Robbery Section at 323-846-6572. Call 1-877-527-3247 during non-business hours or weekends, or go directly to www.lacrimestoppers.org.

NBC 4

Thief In $166K Valentine’s Day Armored Truck Heist Facing Life In Prison

A 38-year-old man from South Los Angeles, a member of a notorious robbery crew dubbed the “Chesapeake Bandits” by federal law enforcement, is facing life in prison after his conviction for a Valentine’s Day armored truck robbery nearly three years ago in Hawthorne, officials announced Tuesday. Deneyvous Hobson, who has been in federal custody since Feb. 2023, was convicted by a jury in L.A. of conspiracy to interfere with commerce by robbery, using a firearm in furtherance of a crime of violence and being a felon in possession of a firearm, according to a U.S. Department of Justice news release. According to evidence presented at trial, Hobson and co-defendant James Russell Davis, 36, both residents of West Adams, cased a Wescom Credit Union three weeks prior to the robbery Feb. 14, 2022, heist. At that time, the duo observed a Sectran Security Services armored truck driver servicing an ATM. Returning on Valentine’s Day at the same time and in separate vehicles, Davis acted as a lookout and performed countersurveillance nearby while Hobson and two other co-conspirators ambushed the Sectran driver, taking his service weapon and ordering him to the ground at gunpoint.  

KTLA 5

California’s Drug Task Force Halts Entry Of An Estimated $11.9 Million In Fentanyl, Governor Says

Amid an ongoing opioid crisis, a special task force of the California National Guard helped seize 1,542 pounds of fentanyl last month, with a street value of about $11.9 million, Gov. Gavin Newsom announced Tuesday. The nationwide opioid crisis continues to plague California — even as individual counties record a plateau in deaths related to drug overdoses. State officials are responding by doubling staffing and investing millions towards a special task force to remove fentanyl pills, and other illicit opioids, from street sales. In October, the California National Guard’s Counterdrug Task Force helped seize more than 1.7 million fentanyl pills. The effort comes after Newsom increased the number of service members earlier this year from 155 to 392 to halt the entry of fentanyl across state ports. “California continues the intensive work of keeping fentanyl out of our communities, helping law enforcement seize over 204% more fentanyl last month than the month prior,” Newsom said in a news release Tuesday. The task force was launched in 2022, when about 30 service members were deployed to the San Ysidro, Otay Mesa, Tecate and Calexico ports of entry. Following its “initial success,” the task force doubled in size after receiving a $30-million federal investment to halt drug trafficking by transnational criminal organizations and address humanitarian and security efforts, state officials say.

Los Angeles Times

Burglar Climbs Through Window, Opens Fire At Indiana Officer With Handgun

A 20-year-old man was sentenced to 30 years in prison after pleading guilty to attempted murder in the shooting of a Fort Wayne police officer during a burglary, WANE reported. Following the sentencing, Fort Wayne Police released body camera footage showing the man exiting a house by a window and opening fire at the officer, according to WANE. The man, identified as Zar Ni Myint, admitted to opening fire on Officer Andrew Minardo with a fully automatic handgun during a chaotic confrontation earlier this year, according to the report. The incident occurred on June 13, when Fort Wayne police responded to a burglary at a home. According to court documents, Myint was still inside the home when officers arrived. Body camera footage shows officers searching the outside of the home. As Minardo went around to the back of the house through a narrow passageway, Myint crawled out of a window. Minardo spotted Myint and instructed him to stop. Myint then raised a handgun and fired. Minardo returned fire before stumbling away and telling his team that he had been hit. Myint was struck by gunfire but fled the scene. He was found later in the day, according to the report. Both the shooter and Minardo were treated for non-life-threatening injuries.

PoliceOne

Video: Man Hurls Ax At Massachusetts State Police Cruiser During Recruit’s Field Training

A training exercise with a new Massachusetts State Police trooper took a dangerous turn when a man threw a small ax at a police cruiser in Springfield, according to police. In an Instagram post that showed video of what happened, police said a new recruit and a training coach encountered a man on Monday night at 9 p.m. carrying a hatchet in his right hand, several knives and a machete. The man, whom the post did not name but identified as being in his late 30s, asked why the officers wouldn’t come out of their car and arrest him for having the weapons, according to the post. “Troopers attempted to de-escalate the situation and told the man he was free to leave,” the post read. “The man remained at the cruiser shaking his head.” Under advice from the trooper coach, the new recruit put the vehicle in reverse to put distance between them and the man. The man struck the car several times on the hood and headlight, then “wound up and threw the hatchet at the passenger side of the windshield.” Police video shows a trooper drawing his weapon and aiming it at the man. “Hey he’s got a knife and he’s got an ax and he threw it at us,” one officer shouts in the video. Police continued to shout at the person to put the weapons down and to get on the ground. The man complied, dropped his weapons and surrendered, the post read.

MassLive

51-Year-Old Man Is Charged With Murder After 3 Are Fatally Stabbed In New York City

A man has been charged with three counts of first-degree murder in the fatal stabbings of three people in random attacks across Manhattan, police said Tuesday. Ramon Rivera, 51, was taken into custody after he was found with blood on his clothes and two kitchen knives, authorities said. He awaited arraignment Tuesday. A message seeking comment was left with an attorney who represented him in a prior case. “Three New Yorkers. Unprovoked attacks that left us searching for answers on how something like this could happen,” Mayor Eric Adams said at a news conference Monday afternoon. Investigators were working to understand what propelled the rampage, which happened within 2 1/2 hours Monday. “No words exchanged. No property taken. Just attacked, viciously,” said Joseph Kenny, the New York Police Department’s chief of detectives. “He just walked up to them and began to attack them with the knives.” The first stabbing, on West 19th Street, killed a 36-year-old construction worker, Angel Lata Landi, who was standing by his worksite near the Hudson River a little before 8:30 a.m., police said. About two hours later and across the island of Manhattan, a 68-year-old man was attacked while fishing in the East River near East 30th Street.

Los Angeles Times

Firefighters Extract Woman Who Refused To Exit Underground Tunnel At Westlake Construction Site

A woman entered an underground tunnel at a Westlake construction site Tuesday morning and refused to leave, prompting a response from firefighters and police officers who later extracted her, officials said. The incident was reported at 7:45 a.m. at a mostly empty lot near the intersection of Bixel and Sixth streets, just west of the 110 Freeway, according to the Los Angeles Police Department. Firefighter-paramedics were summoned to the scene, and "upon further investigation and assessing the patient she does not mention any injuries and is not in distress," the Los Angeles Fire Department said in a statement. Video from AIR7 showed more than a dozen firefighters and police officers standing over the entrance to the subterranean tunnel, and a ladder was lowered into it. The extraction operation was ongoing two hours after the woman was initially reported to be inside. She was provided with a yellow safety helmet and placed in a harness that was tied to a fire engine's aerial ladder. Shortly before 10 a.m., the woman was slowly hoisted out of the hole as emergency responders guided her to safety.

ABC 7

Three-Story Home Catches Fire In Pico-Union Area Of Los Angeles

Firefighters battled a fire that broke out inside a three-story home in the Pico-Union neighborhood of Los Angeles Tuesday. Strong flames and thick smoke were visible from the vacant building by 3 p.m. as firefighters were sent to the 1200 block of S. Menlo Avenue. More than 44 firefighters were dispatch to extinguished the fire as they assessed heavy fire was primarily coming from the second and third floor. While another building may be exposed, fire officials did not think it was damaged in the fire. It’s unclear how the fire started. No injuries were reported. The fire was declared a knockdown in about 40 minutes after the it was first reported.

NBC 4

Fire At Laundromat Near Hollywood Extinguished

A fire at a laundromat near Hollywood was quickly extinguished Wednesday by Los Angeles Fire Department firefighters. Fire crews were called at 1:34 a.m. to 1086 N. St. Andrews Place and Santa Monica Boulevard regarding reports of a fire inside one unit of a row of commercial buildings, where they knocked down the flames, said LAFD spokeswoman Margaret Stewart. It took 74 firefighters 27 minutes to extinguish the flames. No injuries were reported, Stewart said.

MyNewsLA

LA City Council Unanimously Agrees To Explore Pilot Program For Fentanyl Detection Devices

Los Angeles City Council members on Tuesday unanimously voted to explore a pilot program into the potential distribution of handheld fentanyl detection devices to residents free of charge. "The device prevents overdoses before they happen, having these kits accessible to all Los Angeles residents, in conjunction with overdose reversal efforts and solutions, will save countless lives," the motion said. The devices would require no training and would allow people to rest substances for traces of fentanyl prior to use to make sure they're safe. Now, the Office of Procurement and other departments will report on such a program that would be funded by the city's opioid settlement account. The motion was introduced by councilmembers Monica Rodriguez and Hugo Soto-Martinez. The motion cites information from the U.S. Centers for Disease and Control, which said that there were more than 110,000 deaths related to drug overdoses throughout the nation in 2023 — nearly 3,100 of which occurred in Los Angeles County. 

CBS 2

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.