Good Morning. On March 13th, LAPD Officer Elizabeth Velasco was involved in a horrific, off-duty car accident. Officer Velasco sustained severe injuries to her neck and spine. The road to recovery will be a long one. Her rehabilitation will require long hours of extensive physical therapy which can become financially exhausting. Click here to help support Officer Velasco's recovery. Law Enforcement News LAPD Chief Reports Increase In Gun Violence, With 28 People Shot Last Week Los Angeles Police Chief Michel Moore told police commissioners Tuesday that gun violence increased last week after, beginning the previous week to slow and return to pre-pandemic levels. Twenty-eight people were shot last week, compared to 17 the week before that, Moore said. Eleven of the 28 were shot this past weekend. "Weekend violence in public places, involving small groups and gatherings, continues to be our challenge,'' Moore said. On March 16, Moore told the Police Commission that shooting violence and homicides were beginning to slow down after increasing throughout the pandemic. "I am remarking that we are beginning to see the violence slow and that the homicide and shooting levels are returning to an earlier level that we saw in February of 2020,'' he said last week. During that week, there were 17 shooting victims in Los Angeles, compared 19 the previous week. Previous to the last few weeks, the city was averaging more than 30 shooting victims per week, according to Moore. NBC 4 Homicide Detectives Investigating After Woman Found Dead In South L.A.’s Florence Neighborhood Homicide detectives were investigating Tuesday after a woman was found dead in the Florence neighborhood of South Los Angeles, authorities said. Officers were called to the area of East 59th Place and South Main Street at 5:27 a.m. and found the victim in an alley with lacerations to her body, Los Angeles Police Department Officer Madison said. The woman is believed to be between 40 and 50 years old, Madison said. She has not yet been identified. Police have not released a suspect description or any other details. The investigation is ongoing. KTLA 5 Woman Wounded In Baldwin Hills Attack, Shooter Still At Large Police Tuesday continued their search for whoever wounded a young woman sitting in a car during a drive-by shooting. The 18-year-old victim was hospitalized for treatment of a gunshot wound suffered when a suspect in a vehicle fired at her in the Baldwin Hills area of Los Angeles. The shooting was reported just before 2 a.m. Monday around Buckingham Road and Martin Luther King Jr. Boulevard, according to Officer A. Delatorre of the Los Angeles Police Department’s Operations Center. The suspect fired several shots at the woman, Delatorre said. The suspect then fled the scene. The woman was taken to a hospital, where her vital signs were stable, he said. A news videographer at the scene said a bullet grazed the woman’s face. A suspect description was not available. Anyone with information on this shooting was asked to call the LAPD’s Southwest station at 213-485-2582. Tipsters can also call Crime Stoppers at 800-222-8477. MyNewsLA.com City And LAPD Union Agree To Defer Raises, Avoid Layoffs Due To COVID-Battered Economy The Los Angeles City Council approved an agreement Tuesday that was reached by the city and the union representing Los Angeles Police Department officers to avoid sworn employee layoffs amid the city’s economic downturn resulting from the COVID-19 pandemic. The deal defers two scheduled salary increases for officers from the 2021-22 fiscal year to the following year: a 3% base wage increase, which was scheduled to take effect on Jan. 16, 2022, would be delayed until Jan. 1, 2023; and a 1.5% base wage increase, which was scheduled to take effect on June 19, 2022, would also be delayed until Jan. 1, 2023. The deal was announced by Mayor Eric Garcetti on Feb. 2. The city in return committed to the union, the Los Angeles Police Protective League, that no sworn employees will be laid off this fiscal year. It also agreed to provide officers with at least $70 million in cash overtime over the next three fiscal years. Under the agreement, the Los Angeles Police Protective League is granted the right to meet with city officials to confer over the distribution of significant state and federal relief money. LAPPL President Craig Lally said in February after the deal was struck that the agreement provides clarity to officers during a time when little is certain due to the global pandemic and economic struggles. “Officers have continued to protect our residents during these very trying and dangerous times and deserve to be treated fairly and have their sacrifices recognized,” Lally said. “We believe this agreement does that, and our Board of Directors is unanimous in recommending our members ratify it.” Los Angeles Daily News Investigation Underway After Human Bones Discovered In LA River In Los Feliz An investigation is underway after human bones were discovered in the Los Angeles River in the Los Feliz area. Around 5:30 p.m. Monday, a passerby noticed something strange in the riverbed near Los Feliz Boulevard and Riverside Drive, according to the Los Angeles Police Department. AIR7 HD was over the scene as technicians examined what appeared to be a human leg bone. Additional details about the remains and why they were there have not been released, but LAPD homicide detectives are now on the case. ABC 7 Police Release Photo Of Woman Suspected Of Stealing Puppy From DTLA Residence The Los Angeles Police Department Tuesday released a photo of a woman suspected of stealing a Shetland sheepdog puppy from a downtown Los Angeles residence. According to LAPD, the woman entered the apartment building in the 800 block of South Grand Avenue at about 2 p.m. March 14 and left with the 4-month-old puppy, named Kali. The Sheltie was described as gray and white and a white and pink mark on her nose and black patches around each eye — one blue and one brown. The woman accused of stealing the puppy was described as Black, 30 to 35 years old, 5 feet 3 inches tall and weighing 130 to 140 pounds. She was last seen wearing a dark colored jacket, purple Lakers shirt and red pants. Anyone with information was asked to call LAPD Central Area Burglary detectives at 213-996-1862. CBS 2 Instagram Model Offering $12K Reward For Return Of French Bulldog Stolen In North Hollywood A family is devastated after they say their five-month-old French bulldog was stolen by two men who were possibly armed in broad daylight in North Hollywood over the weekend. The puppy, named Seven, quickly became part of the Valencia family. The Instagram model bought the puppy for her little girl and said the Frenchie was her daughter’s dream dog. On the afternoon of March 20, Valencia said her little girl and other family members were shopping at the Target on Vineland Avenue and Victory Boulevard in North Hollywood. Seven was being carried by Jasmin’s brother and the family was unaware they were being followed. That was the last time the family saw their beloved puppy. Investigators said what happened to the Valencia family is part of a disturbing crime trending happening worldwide. With the help of friends, the Valencia family is now offering a $12,000 reward for Seven’s safe return. If you have any information, you are asked to contact LAPD’s North Hollywood Station at 818-754-8300. FOX 11 Gang Member Gets 16 Years For Firebombing Black Families’ Homes In Boyle Heights A leader of a Latino street gang was sentenced Tuesday to 16 years in prison for a 2014 firebombing that sought to drive Black families out of a Los Angeles housing project. Carlos Hernandez, 36, admitted that he orchestrated the midnight assault on Black families living in Ramona Gardens, a mainly Latino public-housing complex in Boyle Heights. Hernandez and seven other members of the Big Hazard gang smashed windows and tossed Molotov cocktails into four apartments where most of the residents — including 10 children — were sleeping. Hernandez pleaded guilty to five federal crimes in 2019. U.S. District Court Judge Christina A. Snyder said she wanted to send a message that racial violence would not be accepted. “This is not a time for any court to tolerate hate crimes,” she said at a sentencing conducted remotely by Zoom. The sentencing of Hernandez brings to a close one of the most significant hate-crime prosecutions in recent years by the U.S. attorney’s office in Los Angeles. The seven other participants in the firebombing also have pleaded guilty to federal hate crimes and related offenses. Los Angeles Times California Bill Aims To Jump-Start ‘Microstamps’ On Handguns Gun control advocates are making a new attempt to force the gun industry to comply with California’s unique law requiring individual identifiers on all bullet casings, a mandate that has been toothless since it was approved in 2007. The law requires gun manufacturers to adopt microstamping technology on new types of handguns introduced in California. The intent was to imprint a unique set of microscopic characters on all cartridge casings when weapons are fired, linking bullet casings to the guns that discharged them. Gun makers have said the technology is unreliable and to get around the law have not introduced new gun models in the state since the law was passed. New legislation would expand the law to include weapons used by law enforcement, which are currently exempt. The thinking is that forcing police officers into the marketplace would prompt manufacturers to improve technology so they can sell the weapons to members of law enforcement. The bill by Assemblymember Jesse Gabriel of (D-Encino), co-founder of the Legislature’s Gun Violence Prevention Working Group, would add law enforcement starting in 2023. Los Angeles Times Man Sentenced To 24 Years In Deadly Shooting Of Oklahoma Officer A man accused of being the getaway driver after the shootings of two Tulsa police officers, one of whom died, was sentenced to 24 years in prison. A judge sentenced Matthew Hall on Monday, weeks after a jury convicted him on two counts of accessory to a felony in the June shootings of Tulsa Police Sgt. Craig Johnson and Officer Aurash Zarkeshan. Johnson died a day after the shooting, and Zarkeshan survived. Hall was accused of driving David Anthony Ware from the scene after Ware allegedly shot the officers during a traffic stop on June 29. District Judge William Musseman followed the jury's recommendation in sentencing Hall to 12 years on each count, and he ordered the sentences to run consecutively. “Two police officers serving the community found themselves on the street riddled with bullets,” Musseman said. Associated Press Public Safety News Vaccines Are Likely Beginning To Reduce Coronavirus Spread In L.A. County: Health Director While Los Angeles County still has a long way to go to establish herd immunity, the region is starting to see evidence that the increasing COVID-19 vaccinations are beginning to help curb transmission, the county’s health director said Monday. Since the beginning of 2021, the number of new infections has fallen each week following the unprecedented winter surge. At the same time, more and more people were being vaccinated across the county. At nursing homes and hospitals — the first settings where people became eligible for doses— there have been major declines in the number of people becoming infected, L.A. County public health Director Barbara Ferrer said. “At our skilled nursing facilities, we will not see a surge like we saw in April, May and June. The vaccinations are holding there,” Ferrer said. “We have a lot of evidence about how effective they are in that setting already.” Ferrer also noted “huge decreases” in the number of health care workers who are getting infected. “I think this is good news — lots of people vaccinated, much lower rates of transmission,” she added. KTLA 5 LA County COVID Numbers Drop To Orange Tier Level; Move Possible In Early April Los Angeles County’s COVID-19 case rate continued to fall Tuesday, putting the county on track to move into the less-restrictive orange tier of the state’s reopening plan by early April. According to the state’s weekly update of county-by-county COVID figures, Los Angeles County’s average daily rate of new virus infections fell to 3.7 per 100,000 residents, down from 4.1 last week. To qualify for the orange tier, a county’s case rate must be 3.9 or less. To enter the orange tier, which would allow for more reopenings, the county needs to meet the orange tier criteria for two consecutive weeks. The county also needs to remain in the red tier for at least three weeks before it can advance to another tier. On March 12, Los Angeles County moved into the red tier. Because of that, so the earliest it could move to orange is the first weekend in April, assuming current trends continue. Under the orange tier, the county would be able to lift all capacity restrictions at retail and personal care businesses. The capacity limit at movie theaters, churches, museums, zoos, aquariums and restaurants could also increase from 25% to 50% and fitness center capacity could increase from 10% to 25%. CBS 2 Local Government News LA's Second COVID-19 Renters Relief Program Set To Open To Public On March 30 Mayor Eric Garcetti and members of the City Council announced Tuesday that Los Angeles' $259 million COVID-19 Emergency Renters Relief Program will open to the public starting March 30. The City Council voted unanimously on March 2 to approve using federal and state government funding for the second round of the city's rent relief program, which will help about 64,000 families with rental assistance, with $235 million earmarked for direct rent assistance and $3 million for eviction defense. Garcetti, along with Council President Nury Martinez and council members Nithya Raman, Mike Bonin and Mitch O'Farrell, are scheduled to hold a news conference at 9 a.m. at City Hall to publicize the program's launch date. 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