Good Morning. Officer Al Martinez needs our help. Following a bout with COVID, Al’s wife has been receiving very expensive cancer treatment. Officer Martinez was recently in an on-duty traffic accident which has left Officer Martinez in need of our help. A taco plate fundraiser is being conducted at VTD on 6/16 and 77th on 6/17 to raise money for his family. Click here for more information.
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Man Shot To Death In Mid-City Area, Suspect On The Loose
A man was shot to death in the Mid-City area of Los Angeles and police continued their search Saturday for the shooter. Los Angeles Police officers responded to the area of Mascot Street and Longwood Avenue at about 4 p.m. Friday on reports of a shooting and found a civilian administering first aid to the shooting victim, according to a police statement. Paramedics took the man to a hospital, where he was pronounced dead. His name was withheld pending notification of next of kin. A dark sedan was seen fleeing the area traveling eastbound on Mascot Street, police said. Anyone with information about the shooting or the suspect vehicle was asked to contact LAPD West Bureau Homicide detectives at 213-382-9470. Calls made during non-business hours or on weekends should be made to 877-527-3247.
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Three Wounded In Chatsworth Shooting, Gunman At Large
Three men were shot and wounded, one critically, Sunday in Chatsworth and police are searching for the gunman. The shooting occurred about 12:30 a.m. near Sunny's Saloon near Lassen Street and De Soto Avenue. The three victims were transported to a hospital, police said. No suspect description was immediately available.
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Teen Injured In Drive-By Shooting In Sun Valley
A 17-year-old boy was wounded Saturday in a drive-by shooting in a Sun Valley neighborhood. The shooting was reported at 5:27 p.m. at Arminta Street and Fair Avenue, according to Officer A. Delatorre of the Los Angeles Police Department’s Operations Center. The boy was taken by paramedics to a hospital, and listed with stable vital signs, Delatorre said. No suspect information was available, he said.
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Suspect In Custody After At Least 1 Person Shot In Downtown L.A.
One person was taken into custody after a shooting that wounded at least one person in downtown Los Angeles early Saturday morning, officials said. Officers responded to The Reserve bar in the area of Spring and 7th streets around 2 a.m. after getting reports of a shooting with two victims, Los Angeles Police Department officials said. They arrived to find a 25-year-old man suffering from a gunshot wound that wasn’t life-threatening, according to LAPD. Officials didn’t have information on the second victim initially reported in the shooting. Officers later spotted the suspected gunman and started chasing him. The pursuit ended in the area of 6th and Spring streets, where the suspect was taken into custody. Officials did not identify the suspect, who was only described as being male. Officials said he had a handgun. It’s unclear what prompted the violence and no further details were immediately available.
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Seeking Justice: Family Of Young Man Gunned Down In Backyard Pleads For Help To Find Killers
His smile, his voice and his stature. Nabor Galvez, 24, was the living example of drive and commitment. That's how his big sister, Corina Galvez, says she will remember him. "He was my best friend, caring, compassionate," she says. "He had so many dreams and aspirations and I was so excited to see him accomplish everything. But that was stolen from us." On Dec. 13 in the Jefferson Park neighborhood of South Los Angeles, near 30th Street and 9th Avenue, Galvez was left to die on the pavement in his family's backyard. "I ask him every day to forgive us because we didn't know how to save him ... in his own home and we didn't know how to protect him," his sister says. LAPD South Bureau Homicide Detective Christopher Moreno responded that night. Between comforting the family and investigating what happened, he says the tragedy is unmistakable. "Nabor was leaving his girlfriend's house on his way home, like he often did," Moreno says. "But at some point nearby he's being followed by a suspect vehicle." That vehicle that police say is a 2014-2019 model Mercedez-Benz CLA is caught on video following Galvez to his home, stopping at the intersection of 30th and 9th and then waiting. Galvez pulls into the family's driveway, drives to the back of the home and parks his car. Just as he's about to enter the family's home, two men sprint to the back of the house and fire multiple gunshots. Corina says the family was already asleep when the sound broke the night silence. A $50,000 reward is being offered for information leading to the killers – two shooters and a driver, all of whom could face murder charges.
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Man Wounded In Car-To-Car Shooting On 110 Freeway In South LA
Authorities are investigating a car-to-car shooting on the 110 Freeway in South Los Angeles Thursday afternoon that left a driver wounded. California Highway Patrol reports that the shooting occurred at about 2:12 p.m. on the southbound 110 Freeway, just north of El Segundo Boulevard. The victim said he was driving when another car pulled up alongside and someone inside opened fire on him several times. He was struck, but was able to pull off the freeway and drive himself to Harbor-UCLA Medical Center, CHP reports. His condition was not confirmed. There was no word yet on a possible motive for the shooting, or whether it was targeted or random in nature. This comes after a series of shootings over the past several weeks in which cars driving along freeways across the Southland have had their windows shattered by either BB or pellet guns. There have been at least 18 such shootings since May 4, including nine in Riverside County, five in Orange County and four in Los Angeles County.
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Police Seek Additional Victims Of Man Sentenced For Lewd Acts With Minors
Authorities Friday sought the public’s help to find possible additional victims of a man police said is serving a five-year prison sentence for committing lewd acts with several minors. Princeton Bloome was arrested June 25, 2020, on suspicion of sexual assault, the Los Angeles Police Department reported. “Bloome would seek out minor children online and pose as a 17-year-old,” an LAPD statement said. “He used false identities and fabricated stories about his lifestyle. After forming an online relationship with victims, he would meet them in person and sexually assault them.” Police say Bloome sexually assaulted a 13-year-old in 2018 in the Topanga area. “After meeting the victim online, he lured the victim to a location where the sexual assault occurred,” police said. “Bloome met with the victim several times during a one-month period. During that month, Bloome used threats of harm to the victim and the victim’s family to continue seeing the victim.”
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Arson Suspects Detained In 1,325-Acre Palisades Fire; Evacuations In Place For Topanga Canyon Area
A smoky wildfire churning through a Los Angeles canyon community had burned about 1,325 acres Sunday as about a thousand residents in the Topanga Canyon area remained under evacuation orders while others were warned they should get ready to leave, authorities said. The cause of the fire near Topanga State Park has been deemed “suspicious” and is under investigation, the Los Angeles Fire Department said. Arson investigators with the fire department and the Los Angeles Police Department identified one individual who was detained and released. Investigators then detained a second suspect and were questioning them Sunday evening, according to a statement from fire department spokesperson Margaret Stewart. Cool, moist weather early in the day gave firefighters a break, but by afternoon flames starting moving again in steep terrain where tinder-dry vegetation hasn’t burned in a half-century, the fire department said. “We’re definitely seeing increased fire activity,” said Stewart. No structures were damaged and no injuries were reported in the wildfire that broke out late Friday in the Santa Monica Mountains. It smoldered for much of Saturday before erupting in the afternoon.
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Surveillance Video Shows Theft By Group Of Teens At Woodland Hills Liquor Store Turn Violent
A fed-up Woodland Hills liquor store owner says a group of teenagers have been repeatedly showing up to his business and helping themselves to merchandise without paying. The situation took a violent turn when the teens showed up on Friday and the store clerk tried to stop them. The latest incident was caught on surveillance video. Surveillance footage shows three girls entering De Ja Vu Liquor on Ventura Boulevard and heading straight to a case containing vape pens. The clerk's brother told Eyewitness News the group was told to leave, but they started to throw things and broke shelves. While standing behind the checkout counter, the clerk can be seen on video trying to stop a girl from grabbing an armful of merchandise. That's when another girl steps in and apparently tries to throw a punch at the clerk, knocking over a plastic shelf and merchandise. Footage from another angle shows the group walking back into the store, seemingly having a verbal argument with the clerk as he backs away from them. The teens then proceed to grab stuff off the shelves and one of them grabs what appears to be a liquor bottle and hurls it at the clerk. After knocking over more merchandise, leaving the store trashed, the group leaves the store.
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Drone Helps Capture Man Accused In Snatching Of French Bulldog Puppy In Culver City
A French bulldog puppy stolen at gunpoint in Culver City has been recovered. And, with use of a drone, the man suspected was taken into custody, authorities said Sunday. Police said the 10-month-old puppy was taken Wednesday night after the suspect appeared in the 6000 block of Canterbury Drive in response to an ad on social media listing the pup for sale. Upon viewing the dog, the suspect produced a handgun, grabbed the puppy and fled on foot, police said. On Saturday, detectives spotted the suspect leaving a home in the Fox Hills area, while holding a gray French Bulldog. He entered a car and police attempted to conduct a traffic stop. A short pursuit ensued. However, the pursuit ended when the suspect’s vehicle struck another car. The suspect then fled the scene on foot but was located around 2:45 p.m. after police utilized a drone. The man was arrested on suspicion of robbery, and the dog has since been returned to its owner. Police have seen an uptick in the theft of French bulldogs dating back to February when three French bulldogs belonging to Lady Gaga were stolen. The dogs were later returned.
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Attorney For Alleged Aryan Brotherhood Prison ‘Shot Caller’ Claims Feds Violated The Constitution When They Searched Contraband Cellphones
The attorney for an Aryan Brotherhood-associate California prisoner who was allegedly caught by a guard exiting his cell while holding a smartphone now wants the data deemed inadmissible on the grounds that a search of the contraband phone violated the Fourth Amendment. Defense attorney W. Scott Quinlan filed a series of recent motions seeking to suppress not only cellphone data from his client, Kenneth Bash, but subsequent wiretaps of Bash’s friends and associates who now stand accused of conspiring to smuggle drugs into Salinas Valley State Prison and sell methamphetamine and heroin on the outside. Quinlan’s motions accuse Anthony Gonzalez, a special agent with the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms, and Explosives, of conducting a warrantless search of Bash’s contraband phone and describe subsequent wiretaps based on that search as “the fruit from the poisonous tree.” “(Gonzalez) used the search warrant to search the illegally obtained thumb drive containing the warrantless forensic download. He and his team then used information from that search to justify wiretaps of Stephanie Madsen, Derek Smith, and of Mr. Bash’s wife Kristen Bash, who communicated with Mr. Bash,” Quinlan wrote. “That in turn allowed eavesdropping officers to learn of Mr. Bash’s phone numbers, enabling them to apply for wiretaps of his phones.”
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L.A. County Officials Report Continued Decline In COVID-19 Cases As They Urge Vaccinations For Children
Los Angeles County officials on Sunday reported 240 new coronavirus cases and seven new related deaths, reflecting the continuing decline in the spread of infection as the local vaccination campaign builds. Just over half of L.A. County residents have received at least one dose of a COVID-19 vaccine thus far, amounting to a total of 8.7 million doses administered, according to The Times’ tracker. This is slightly more than the 47% of Americans nationwide who have received at least one dose. But as demand for vaccination begins to wane, health officials are pushing for parents to bring their children to get immunized, after the U.S. Food and Drug Administration last week authorized the Pfizer-BioNTech vaccine for children ages 12 to 15. There are 2.1 million Californians in that age range, and vaccinating this group could significantly slow the pandemic, experts say. In recent weeks, coronavirus cases have been increasing among younger people, both in California and nationally. The Pfizer vaccine requires two doses spaced three weeks apart and permission from a guardian. COVID-19 vaccines are free and available to anyone regardless of insurance or immigration status.
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L.A. Extends Hours, Expands Operations At COVID-19 Vaccination Sites
To get COVID-19 vaccines into more arms across Los Angeles, Mayor Eric Garcetti announced some steps that city-run sites are taking to expand operations. The efforts include extending hours to 8 p.m. at nine city-run sites, having all three approved vaccine options available at mass immunization centers and offering walk-ins to get the jab across Los Angeles, according to a press release from the mayor’s office. “We can end this pandemic, restore public health, and rebuild our economy, but only if we can put vaccines within reach of every Angeleno, regardless of income, zip code, or neighborhood,” Garcetti said in a statement Sunday. “With expanded hours and growing eligibility, we are doing everything we can to reach residents who have yet to get vaccinated — and make it as easy and safe as possible to deliver doses across our communities.” The city began offering walk-ins at its vaccination sites and night clinics at a few immunization sites earlier this month as part of efforts to get more residents protected against the coronavirus. Officials said the city saw a 200% increase in demand for evening hours over the last two weeks. So now, the city is extending hours to 8 p.m. at all of its vaccination sites, with the exception of Dodger Stadium, which will remain open until 4 p.m.
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