Good Morning. The LAPD family lost veteran Detective II, Victor Ross recently. Detective Ross served 33 years for LAPD and was assigned to SIS for almost 14 years. If you are interested in assisting Detective Ross’ family during their time of need, you can donate to his Blue Ribbon Trust Fund. Click here for more information.
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Elderly Murderer Paroled After Decades In Prison Accused Of Killing Another Woman After His Release
An elderly murderer who was paroled after spending decades in prison is accused of killing another person in Los Angeles after his release from custody. He is now charged with the stabbing murder of a woman just weeks after his parole conditions were terminated by the state. Court documents obtained by FOX 11 reveal that 67-year-old Eddie Allen Harris has been charged with the Mar. 23 stabbing murder of a woman in south Los Angeles. The murder case was filed by the Los Angeles County District Attorney’s office on April 12. According to LAPD, officers responded to E. 59th Place & South Main Street in south Los Angeles at around 5:30 a.m., where they found a deceased Black woman in an alley with lacerations across her body. Jail records show that Harris was arrested for the murder on April 8, and is currently in jail with a $2 million bond. Law enforcement sources tell FOX 11’s Bill Melugin that Harris is accused of committing this murder just weeks after his parole conditions were lifted by the state for a previous murder he had been convicted of decades earlier. According to court documents obtained by FOX 11, in 1982, Harris was convicted of murdering another woman in Los Angeles County. Law enforcement sources tell FOX 11 that in that case, Harris raped and stabbed a woman to death before leaving her body in an alley.
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A Media Savvy Deputy DA Is Leading A Noisy Crusade Against George Gascón
On March 9, the Fox News morning show Fox & Friends aired a blistering segment attacking newly elected Los Angeles District Attorney George Gascón and his decision to bar prosecutors from pursuing the death penalty against a pair of accused child murderers. The guest for the segment was Jon Hatami, head of the DA’s child abuse unit and the lead prosecutor on the case. If it is unusual for a prosecutor to batter his boss on national TV, it is extraordinary for one to say, as Hatami did that morning, “We now have a district attorney who is pro-criminal, anti-victim, and who refuses to follow the law.” But these are extraordinary times in the Los Angeles DA’s office. Gascón unseated incumbent Jackie Lacey in November and vowed to shake things up inside the nation’s largest local prosecutor’s office. And on his first day on the job, he delivered with a dizzying set of reforms, from suspending the death penalty to getting rid of cash bail to ending the practice of charging juveniles as adults. The backlash has been as big and dramatic as the implications of the changes; it has been furious and, increasingly, politically opportunistic. Less than three months into his term, the 67-year-old Gascón faces a recall effort launched by law-enforcement officials and the families of crime victims, including the aunt of ten-year-old Anthony Avalos, the boy whose murder Hatami lamented in the sensational death-penalty segment on Fox & Friends. Gay rights advocates took Gascón to task for scrapping sentencing enhancements for hate crimes. (He later reversed his decision.) He’s been rapped by a judge and his own deputy DAs for dismissing gang enhancements and firearm allegations from pending cases, and for his pronounced preference for social-justice-minded outsiders over veteran prosecutors on his leadership team. Recently, there have been votes of no confidence from the city councils of Beverly Hills and Santa Clarita.
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Person Shot And Wounded In South L.A. Area
A person was wounded Thursday in the south Los Angeles area, and the gunman was being sought. The shooting was reported about 1 p.m. near Main Street and Manchester Avenue, according to the LAPD. The wounded person, a male whose age was unknown, was taken to a hospital. His condition was not immediately available. Police described the suspect as a Black man about 5 feet 10 inches tall and weighing 170 pounds. He was wearing a black shirt and red pants, and he was armed with a handgun.
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‘I Drowned Them,’ Mother Admits After Three Young Children Killed In Reseda Apartment
The mother of three children found dead in a Reseda apartment admitted Thursday in a television interview to killing the kids. From inside a Kern County jail, Liliana Carrillo told KGET-TV, an NBC affiliate in Bakersfield, that she killed her children in order to protect them from their father. “I drowned them,” Carrillo said. “I wish my kids were alive, yes. Do I wish that I didn’t have to do that? Yes.” The children’s father, Erik Denton, had been expressing alarm about Carrillo’s mental health and the safety of the kids for months. Carrillo was “extremely paranoid” and erratic, according to the father’s account in court papers, which described her increasingly bizarre claims: that she was “solely responsible” for the COVID-19 pandemic and that his hometown of Porterville was beset by a pedophile ring. “I am afraid for my children’s physical and mental well-being,” Denton told a Tulare County judge last month. The judge agreed to grant physical custody to Benton.
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Man Charged In 2014 Valley Shootings That Left 5 Dead Pleads Not Guilty By Reason Of Insanity
An ex-con from Sylmar charged with killing five people in 2014 – most in less than a week – during a shooting spree in the San Fernando Valley pleaded not guilty by reason of insanity on Thursday, April 15. Alexander Hernandez, now 40, is also facing 11 counts of attempted murder, eight counts of shooting at an occupied vehicle and other charges. He could face life in prison without the possibility of parole if convicted as charged. The Los Angeles County District Attorney’s Office dropped its bid for the death penalty for Hernandez last month, four years after it announced prosecutors would seek capital punishment. Hernandez has remained jailed without bail since he was arrested after barricading himself for about an hour inside a Sylmar residence on Aug. 24, 2014. Most of the victims were driving when they noticed a vehicle following them or pulling up alongside. In most of the cases, the vehicle was Hernandez’s tan Chevrolet Suburban, Deputy District Attorney Michele Hanisee said at a hearing in 2016.
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Police Seek Help Finding Hit-and-Run Driver Who Fatally Struck 74-Year-Old Pedestrian In Hyde Park
Detectives are asking the public for help Thursday in their search for a hit-and-run driver who struck and killed a 74-year-old pedestrian in the Hyde Park neighborhood of South Los Angeles last month. The pedestrian was walking west on Hyde Park Boulevard with the assistance of a cane about 9:40 p.m. March 19 when he was struck by a vehicle as it travelled north on Crenshaw Boulevard, the Los Angeles Police Department stated in a news release. The impact caused the victim, identified by police as John Draper, to fall and hit the roadway. Draper sustained fatal injuries and was pronounced dead at the scene, the Police Department stated. “He’s an elderly man. He was walking with a cane. It was a pretty horrific scene,” detective Ryan Moreno said. The driver fled north on Crenshaw Boulevard without stopping. Investigators described the hit-and-run driver’s vehicle as a gray Ford F-150 pickup truck with Arizona license plates. A reward of up to $50,000 is available for information leading to the driver’s identification, apprehension and conviction.
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LAPD Seeks Information In Fatal Hit-and-Run In Venice
Authorities Thursday put out a call for information that leads to the apprehension of a hit-and-run driver who struck a 60-year-old Venice man, who died of his injuries nine days later. Robert Crawford was crossing a roadway outside of a crosswalk in the area of Lincoln Boulevard south of Flower Court about 5:50 p.m. on Jan. 17 when a dark-colored minivan traveling northbound on Lincoln struck him and took off without stopping, according to a Los Angeles Police Department statement. Los Angeles Fire Department paramedics took Crawford to a hospital, where he died of his injuries on Jan. 26, police said. The city offers a reward of up to $50,000 to anyone who can provide information leading to a hit-and-run driver’s identification, apprehension and conviction.
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Suspects Fire Shots Near Set Of Police Drama Series`The Rookie’ In LA
Police were searching for two suspects who fired shots near the set of the television show “The Rookie” in Los Angeles this afternoon. The shooting was reported about 2:55 p.m. in the area of Hartford Avenue and West Fifth Street near Los Angeles Center Studios, where crews were filming the ABC series, said Officer William Cooper of the Los Angeles Police Department’s Media Relations division. The suspects aimed toward an area where security officers were stationed and fired three shots that hit a building near the set location, TMZ reported. Officers responded to the area and searched for the shooters, but they had fled the scene. No injuries were reported and there is no known motive for the shooting, Cooper said. Police did not release descriptions of the suspects.
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LAFD Seeks Public’s Help To Identify Person Suspected In Koreatown Arson That Damaged Restaurant Canopies
Investigators released surveillance video Thursday in hopes of identifying a person suspected of arson in the Koreatown neighborhood of Los Angeles. A fire in the 900 block of South Vermont Avenue damaged a restaurant’s outdoor canopy and tent just after midnight on April 2, the Los Angeles Fire Department said in a news release. Security footage captured a person who investigators believe may have set the fire. Fire authorities are seeking the public’s help to identify the woman, who is seen in surveillance video wearing jeans and a blue T-shirt, walking past a row of the restaurant’s outdoor canopies. Anyone with information about the person seen in the video is asked to call the LAFD Arson/Counter-Terrorism Section directly at 213-893-9850.
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Man Charged With Bringing Multiple Guns, More Than 1,200 Rounds Of Ammunition To Malibu Beach
A Riverside County man is in custody after authorities said he harassed women at Zuma Beach in Malibu while armed with several weapons. Kyle Kiddy, 34, was arrested Sunday on suspicion of violations, including carrying a concealed firearm, according to the Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Department. Deputies were called to the beach after receiving reports of a “suspicious male harassing female patrons,” officials said. Lt. Jim Braden of the Lost Hills Sheriff’s Station said Kiddy made lewd comments toward a woman and told her to get in his van. While speaking to Kiddy, deputies noticed he was concealing a rifle. “Basically, he had a trench coat on, and he had a rifle with a strap over his shoulder underneath the trench coat,” Braden said. When deputies searched Kiddy, they found he also had three pistols attached to his waist, along with a large supply of ammo, Braden said. All of the weapons were loaded. A search of Kiddy’s car revealed additional items, including shotguns, authorities said. Braden estimated that Kiddy had between 1,200 and 1,500 rounds of ammunition in the car and on his body.
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Column: Lost for decades, a World War II hero finally comes home
The word came in the morning, as Grace Cruz and her children gathered at the family home in Boyle Heights on Christmas Eve, 1943. Her oldest son, Jacob, was dead. A telegram from the United States Marines said the 18-year-old private was killed in action but divulged little else. The ongoing Pacific campaign meant Jacob would be buried in a temporary grave in the Tarawa atoll, where he and more than 1,000 other Marines and sailors died fighting the Imperial Japanese Army. Weeks turned into months and into years. The military finally admitted it couldn’t find Jacob’s burial place. On March 24 at the Los Angeles International Airport, a contingent of Marines, Los Angeles police officers and airport workers stood silently alongside the Cruz family as the flag-draped casket descended from an airplane.
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8 Dead In Shooting At FedEx Facility In Indianapolis
Indianapolis police say eight people were killed and five others wounded at a FedEx facility on the city's southwest side late Thursday. They say it appears the suspected gunman killed himself. He wasn't included in the death toll of eight. The Indianapolis Metropolitan Police Department says officers came upon an active shooter incident when they arrived, then found bodies. Indianapolis Deputy Chief of criminal investigations Craig McCartt said on "CBS This Morning" Friday that five people were taken to hospitals — four with gunshot wounds and another with wounds that were "possibly from shrapnel." He said all were in stable condition. IMPD spokesperson Genae Cook told reporters in an overnight briefing it appears the shooter took his own life, adding, "We don't feel that there is an active threat to the community at this time." She said it wasn't clear whether he was an employee or what his motive might have been. She called the shooting "very heartbreaking" and "a tragedy."
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LA County Remains In COVID Orange Tier As City Expands Vaccines To 16+
Los Angeles County's rate of new COVID-19 infections has increased slightly compared to last week, according to figures released by the state, keeping the county firmly entrenched in the orange tier of California's economic-reopening blueprint. According to weekly state figures released on Tuesdays, Los Angeles County's seven-day average daily rate of new COVID-19 cases was 3.2 per 100,000 residents, a slight increase from 3.1 over the past two weeks. In order to advance to the less-restrictive yellow tier of the state's Blueprint for a Safer Economy, the county must reach an average daily case rate below 2 per 100,000 residents and then maintain that rate for at least two weeks. That means Los Angeles County is now guaranteed to remain in the orange tier until at least late April. The county's rate of people testing positive for the virus also held steady from last week, at a low 1.5%. Reaching the yellow tier would allow a further loosening of health restrictions, including additional capacity at most businesses.
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Los Angeles County Inoculation Efforts Continue Amid Pause On Johnson & Johnson Vaccine
The fallout from the nationwide pause of the Johnson & Johnson vaccine distribution is creating a domino effect in the effort to get herd immunity, including in Los Angeles County. In L.A. County, around 5,600 people this week were bumped from their timeslots now that the one-shot vaccine is no longer available. "For the few thousands of people that we do need to reschedule, we will be prioritizing them for next week for the Moderna and for the Pfizer doses, so that in fact they're able to get vaccinated as quickly as possible given that their appointments were canceled," L.A. County Public Health Director Dr. Barbara Ferrer said. The cancellations come as L.A. County is scheduled to open up vaccination appointments to residents age 16 and older starting Thursday. Already, the county health website shows no available timeslots in the immediate future.
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California Works To Track Cases Of COVID Among The Vaccinated
As more and more Californians get their coronavirus shots, the state is trying to track cases of people who contract COVID-19 after they have been vaccinated, Gov. Gavin Newsom said Thursday. “I’m waiting for that data,” Newsom said during a vaccination event in Alameda County. “As soon as I have it, I want to make it public.” Nationwide, the federal Centers for Disease Control and Prevention have identified 5,800 cases of breakthrough infections among vaccinated people, agency spokeswoman Jasmine Reed said in an email. They represent a tiny fraction of the 75 million people in the United States who are fully vaccinated, Reed said. The agency is not currently providing a state-by-state breakdown of the cases. “All of the available vaccines have been proven effective at preventing severe illness, hospitalizations, and deaths,” Reed wrote in an email. “However, like is seen with other vaccines, we expect thousands of vaccine breakthrough cases will occur even though the vaccine is working as expected.” The breakthrough cases were found among people of all ages eligible for vaccination, Reed said.
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Proposed L.A. Law Banning Landlords From Harassing Renters Clears A Key Hurdle
Los Angeles could soon usher in a new law that would ban landlords from harassing renters, more than four years after such a measure was first proposed at City Hall. The proposed ordinance, which advanced through a key committee on Wednesday, would prohibit landlords from targeting renters in a range of ways, including threatening tenants with physical harm, telling others about their immigration status, falsely telling renters they have to clear out of a unit, and failing to follow standards to protect them from dust and asbestos. It would also ban landlords from retaliating against tenants for organizing an association or union. Renters and their advocates have championed the proposal for years, arguing that it would give tenants a desperately needed tool to fight threats and mistreatment meant to prod them out of their homes.
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