Good Morning. The COVID-19 pandemic has created a shortage of a safe and adequate blood supply. Please join us for the LAPPL Community Blood Drive on February 14, 2021, from 9:00 AM to 3:00 PM. Click here to schedule a COVID safe appointment to donate blood with the American Red Cross and help us save lives. 

A Lancaster family was left heartbroken after the ashes of a former LAPD detective were stolen from his widow's home. Burglars broke into the widow's west Lancaster home on Thursday, stealing a safe and her most precious possession: a wooden box containing her husband's ashes. "She's totally devastated and I can't imagine what she's going through. She just needs him back. That's her husband, (the) love of her life," said Steve LaFlower, the victim's nephew. Dan Moran died in 2008 after retiring from the LAPD, working out of the Van Nuys station for most of his career. Relatives say he devoted much of his adult life to public service. "Right out of high school, he joined the Army as a military police officer... When he was discharged, he joined the LAPD. He served for 43 years and retired in 2007," LaFlower added. The family says the burglars got away with coins and other valuables but Moran's widow doesn't care about getting any of those stolen items back. She just wants her husband's ashes. "She just wants them to have a heart and realize how important this is to her and the whole family and just return it. No questions asked." Relatives say the loss is heartbreaking. "It's as if we've lost him again, the grieving process has started all over again," LaFlower said.

LAPD asked for the public’s help Sunday in their search for a shooter who killed a man in Valley Glen the previous night. The incident happened after an argument broke out between two people attending a gathering at an apartment around 10 p.m., according to the Los Angeles Police Department. Police responded to the 13700 block of Vanowen Street after receiving a radio call about shots fired in the area. Witnesses directed them to the third floor of an apartment complex, where they found a man about 40 years old down with multiple gunshot wounds in an exterior hallway. The victim was not breathing and unconscious. The L.A. Fire Department arrived at the location and pronounced the man dead. Detectives are working to identify the people at the gathering along with the shooter, according to police. LAPD did not release the victim’s name. Anyone with information can call Detective Steve Castro at 818-374-1925.

As Los Angeles County DA George Gascón paid a visit to his Deputy DA's office in the Antelope Valley, a small group of protesters awaited him. Gascón waved at FOX 11's crews but didn't wave as we were outside the Antelope Valley Courthouse Friday. The DA kept driving into the courthouse's back parking lot. Inside, he apparently met with his Deputy DA for about two hours. The protesters hoped to catch him as he left but he walked out of a different gate and never looked toward the protesters. "He doesn't want to look at us," one of the protesters said outside the courthouse. Protesters like David and Maria Barron wanted to share their feelings. While supporters tout what are being called some of the nation's most progressive reforms, opponents argue they go too far and that the policies revictimize families. "I just want him to know that it hurts," said Maria Barron. Maria's nephew Anthony was tortured and murdered at the age of 10. Anthony's mother and her boyfriend are awaiting trial for the boy's death.

Although the movement to replace traditional district attorneys has gained momentum since the 2017 win of criminal defense attorney Larry Krasner as Philadelphia’s top prosecutor, the anger and protests unleashed by the death of George Floyd while in police custody hardened the battle lines in Los Angeles and helped propel Gascón to power. But his immediate orders weren’t well received by a staff that had questions for a boss it barely knows.

Police have released video footage of a brutal robbery in downtown Los Angeles that injured a man who was out shopping with his wife and their 2-year-old son. The attack took place shortly after 3 p.m. Thursday near 7th and Hill streets, the Los Angeles Police Department said in a news release. The unidentified man, 26, and woman, 28, were out with their son when two men hopped out of a sedan, pointed handguns at the family and took their property, police said. The mother was able to take her son and run to safety, according to investigators. The video shows one of the suspects grappling with the father and slamming him on the hood of the car as screams can be heard in the background. The victim was pistol-whipped and shot in the arm, police said. Paramedics took him to a local hospital to be treated for the gunshot wound and a laceration on his head. The suspects sped away in a gray Chrysler 300 with paper plates from a Keyes dealership, police said. Investigators said there were four people in the car: three male passengers who appeared to be in their 20s, plus a woman who was driving. No arrests had been reported as of Saturday morning. Anyone with information was asked to call Central Division detectives at (213) 952-6985.

The search continues for suspects in a deadly hit-and-run in Sun Valley that claimed the life of a man. The incident unfolded at the intersection of Coldwater Canyon and Roscoe Boulevard on Saturday. The victim, a man in his 50s or 60s, was struck by a driver who ran a red light in a stolen pickup truck, authorities said. After the crash, the suspect got into what appeared to be a getaway vehicle, police said. “The individual that was driving the pickup truck exited the car and entered into another silver sedan,” said Det. Lisset Fuentes of the LAPD Valley Traffic Division. “Some witnesses chased them as far as they could to different streets in the area.” The suspect and the alleged getaway driver abandoned the silver sedan at about a mile away from the crash scene at Arleta Avenue and Branford Street. Anyone with more information on this crash was asked to call the LAPD.

One person died and another suffered minor injuries in a downtown Los Angeles crash between a big rig and a reported stolen car that got wedged underneath it. The collision between happened about 5:10 p.m. at 875 S. Alameda St., Los Angeles Fire Department spokeswoman Margaret Stewart said. The Los Angeles police pursuit of the car, which was reported stolen, began just a few minutes before the fatal crash, said LAPD Sgt. Juan Acosta of Central Traffic Division and Officer Art Rodriguez of the department's Operations Center. The ages of the victims were not immediately available. The deceased man's name was withheld pending family notification. The other victim, whose gender was not yet known, had not decided about being treated at a hospital, Stewart said. It was unclear if that person was detained and/or arrested by police.

A 23-year-old suspected drunk driver was arrested for allegedly running away from a hit-and-crash in Hollywood that left another motorist with severe injuries, authorities said Sunday. Jonathan Watts of Texas was driving a white BMW sedan that went through an intersection at Hollywood Boulevard and Wilcox Avenue at about 9:45 p.m. Saturday and struck a black Nissan, according to Lt. Raul Jovel of the Los Angeles Police Department. “The driver of the Nissan was transported to a local hospital where he is still being treated for severe injuries,” Jovel said. “The driver fled the scene on foot, but was subsequently arrested.” Watts was being held in lieu of $100,000 bail, he said.

Glendale police continued their search Sunday for an 80-year-old woman who went missing. Azniv Ohanian was last seen at 8 a.m. Saturday in the 500 block of Chester Street, according to Glendale police. Ohanian is a white Armenian. She stands 5 feet, 2 inches tall, and weighs 150 pounds. She has gray hair, brown eyes and uses a walker with an Armenian flag around the handle. Anyone with information was asked to call Glendale police at 818-548-4840. Tipsters can also call Crime Stoppers at 800-222-8477.

The child pornography suspect who gunned down two South Florida FBI agents this week somehow knew exactly when they were approaching his apartment. Authorities are investigating whether he may have used his doorbell’s security camera to time his ambush, firing a high-powered rifle through the door as their team neared to search his home and computer. That's a danger police nationwide are facing: As outdoor surveillance cameras now protect about half of U.S. homes from criminals, the criminals are using them to get a jump on officers about to raid theirs. Some doorbell cameras even have motion sensors that alert owners when anyone comes within 100 feet (30 meters). The cameras, combined with the military-style weaponry many criminals possess, leave law enforcement offers particularly vulnerable. In such situations, the house's doors and walls offer no protection, noted Ed Davis, Boston’s police commissioner from 2006 to 2013. “You take a military assault rifle and you add to that a surveillance system that allows (the suspect) to identify where officers are as they approach the house — you are a sitting duck,” Davis said.

A 73-year-old man was critically burned Friday after an explosion at a Van Nuys home. At 12:50 p.m., firefighters responded to the 6900 block of North Murietta Avenue, the Los Angeles Fire Department reported. “Firefighters secured the utilities and confirmed (there were) no remaining patients in the house,” said Margaret Stewart of the LAFD. “The main house does not appear to be affected, only the garage. The occupant reports using the kitchen oven prior to the explosion.” Stewart initially described the man’s injuries as non-life-threatening, but later said he suffered “critical, life-threatening burns.” The man’s name was not immediately released. LAFD arson investigators were called to the scene “due to the severity of the burn injury,” along with an Urban Search and Rescue team, Stewart said. The source of the explosion was under investigation, however, a person who was inside the home said they were using the kitchen oven.

Crews extinguished a large fire that gutted a commercial building in the Florence-Firestone neighborhood of South Los Angeles Saturday evening. The flames were reported around 6:20 p.m. at a two-story brick building at 1236 Slauson Ave., the L.A. County Fire Department said in an alert. Shortly after 6:30 p.m., about 50 firefighters were in defense mode, fighting the blaze from outside the building as flames engulfed the structure and a heavy column of smoke poured through the roof, the department said. By 8:10 p.m., the number of firefighters at the scene increased to 100, as crews continued to assume a defensive position as they worked to protect adjacent buildings and keep the flames confined to the structure. The strategy worked, as the blaze was declared a knockdown by 8:16 p.m., though significant overhaul operations were still in progress.

Los Angeles County reported 3,123 new cases of COVID-19 and 89 additional deaths, bringing the county's totals to 1,146,450 cases and 18,044 deaths since the pandemic began. The lower number of deaths and cases may reflect reporting delays over the weekend, according to the Los Angeles County Department of Public Health. The number of coronavirus patients in county hospitals continued to decline, dropping from 4,607 Saturday to 4,421, with 29% of those people in intensive care units. The county's hospitalization numbers have been steadily falling since peaking at more than 8,000 in early January. Sunday's update comes one day after county health officials confirmed nine new cases of multisystem inflammatory syndrome in children, bringing the total number of children infected in the county to 75, including one death.

As the pandemic sends thousands of recovering alcoholics into relapse, hospitals across the country have reported dramatic increases in alcohol-related admissions for critical diseases such as alcoholic hepatitis and liver failure. Alcoholism-related liver disease was a growing problem even before the pandemic, with 15 million people diagnosed with the condition around the country, and with hospitalizations doubling over the last decade. But the pandemic has dramatically added to the toll. Although national figures are not available, admissions for alcoholic liver disease at Keck Hospital of USC were up 30% in 2020 compared with 2019, said Dr. Brian Lee, a transplant hepatologist who treats the condition in alcoholics. Specialists at hospitals affiliated with the University of Michigan, Northwestern University, Harvard University and Mount Sinai Health System in New York City said rates of admissions for alcoholic liver disease have leapt by up to 50% since March. High levels of alcohol ingestion lead to a constellation of liver diseases due to toxic byproducts associated with the metabolism of ethanol.

The financial crisis at Los Angeles City Hall has become so serious that city officials have begun looking at the possibility of pushing the payment of certain bills into the next fiscal year, according to a report issued Friday. City Administrative Officer Rich Llewellyn, the city's top budget official, said his office has asked each city department to prepare a list of contracts with payments due in the last three months of the fiscal year, which ends June 30, to determine which ones could be deferred until after July 1. "Further, if a department believes that they cannot defer all or part of the payment, we asked them to justify the need to make the payment at this time," he wrote in his 47-page financial report. Llewellyn's report comes as officials are working to close a massive budget gap, which grew to $750.7 million in recent weeks after Mayor Eric Garcetti and City Council members failed to secure sufficient short-term financial concessions from their public employee unions. Budget officials said Friday they do not yet know how much could be saved by postponing payment of certain bills. They also said deferrals would not be considered for contracts with the city employee unions.