Law Enforcement News Gang Member Convicted Of Murdering Whittier Police Officer Gets Life In Prison A gang member convicted of opening fire on two Whittier police officers, killing one and wounding the other, along with killing a man in East Los Angeles earlier the same morning, was sentenced Wednesday to life in prison without the possibility of parole. Michael Christopher Mejia, 30, was found guilty Sept. 1 of two counts of first-degree murder for the Feb. 20, 2017, killings of Keith Boyer, a 53- year-old Whittier police officer who was the first officer in the city killed in the line of duty in 37 years, and 47-year-old Roy Torres a few hours earlier. He was also convicted of an attempted murder charge involving Officer Patrick Hazell, who was shot in the abdomen, along with one count each of carjacking and possession of a firearm by a felon. Jurors also found true the special circumstance allegations of murder of a peace officer in the performance of his duties, murder for the purpose of avoiding arrest and multiple murders, along with gang and gun allegations. Just before imposing the sentence, Superior Court Judge Roger Ito said, "He executed Officer Boyer and attempted to execute Officer Hazell." The judge noted that the two officers had pulled up to render aid following a traffic collision in which Mejia was involved shortly after killing Torres in front of two other people, and that Mejia has not "shown remorse" for his crimes. FOX 11 Man Who Fatally Shot Estranged Girlfriend In South L.A. Is Being Sought: LAPD A man accused of fatally shooting his estranged girlfriend in South Los Angeles is being sought by police, officials announced Wednesday. Just before 11 a.m. Oct. 20, officers responded to a radio call about an assault with a deadly weapon at the scene of a traffic collision near San Pedro Street and Jefferson Boulevard, the Los Angeles Police Department said in a news release. The responding officers discovered that a man, later identified as Keith Pullam, had shot and killed his estranged girlfriend, identified as Cynthia Hairston. Following an investigation, homicide detectives learned that Pullam had confronted Hairston in the 1500 block of East 21st Street, where he fired multiple rounds at her. Pullam then chased Hairston southbound on San Pedro Street, and that’s when she became involved in a traffic collision. Pullam then fired additional rounds at Hairston, killing her, police said. He then fled the scene. Detectives were able to positively identify Pullam but have been unable to find him. He is described as a 58-year-old Black man standing at 6 feet tall and weighing about 250 pounds. He may have a full beard and was last seen wearing a gray t-shirt and gray shorts. Anyone with information concerning Pullam’s whereabouts is asked to call detectives Riojas or Manriquez at 213-486-8700. KTLA 5 Jacqueline Avant, Wife Of Music Executive Clarence Avant, Fatally Shot In Beverly Hills Home Jacqueline Avant, a Los Angeles philanthropist and wife of legendary music producer Clarence Avant, was shot and killed in her Beverly Hills home early Wednesday, police said. Officers responded to a call of a shooting in the 1100 block of Maytor Place shortly before 2:30 a.m., according to Lt. Giovanni Trejo of the Beverly Hills Police Department. They found Avant, 81, with a gunshot wound. She was taken to Cedars-Sinai Hospital, where she later died, Beverly Hills Police Chief Mark Stainbrook said during a news conference Wednesday. It is too soon to classify the incident as a home invasion or a follow-home robbery, Stainbrook said, but he did not think it was a “random attack.” “The motives in this case are still unknown, and we’re investigating all possible motives,” he said. “We will not speculate on anything that’s out there, including if this was a robbery attempt or not.” Stainbrook, who was sworn in as police chief Tuesday, shared few other details. He did confirm that Clarence Avant and a security guard were home at the time of the shooting. No one else was injured, he said. Stainbrook said it was too soon to tell whether anything had been taken from the home. The area has many security cameras, both public and private, that may contain relevant evidence. Law enforcement sources told The Times that at least one robber made it into the home before the shooting. Aerial video of the scene Wednesday showed a sliding glass door that appeared to have been shattered. Los Angeles Times LAPD Officers Chase Stolen Pickup Through San Fernando Valley Los Angeles police chased a stolen pickup truck over freeways and surface streets through the San Fernando Valley on Wednesday. The suspect at times drove at slow speeds but declined to stop even with multiple police cruisers immediately behind. The chase began just before 5 p.m. in the San Fernando/Pacoima area. Police spotted the stolen truck and began following the driver, eventually continuing onto the northbound 5 at the Osbourne ramp and then heading west on the 118. The driver eventually exited and ended up driving at slow speeds on Topanga Canyon Boulevard in the Chatsworth area. The suspect pulled onto Chase Street and eventually pulled over. He then exited the vehicle and surrendered to police just before 5:30 p.m. ABC 7 Real Estate Fraud Scheme That Targeted LA County Seniors May Have More Victims Police say two men arrested on suspicion of targeting senior citizens in a real estate fraud scheme may have more victims. Joshua Findley, 30, of Alhambra, and Shahen Hovsepian Banki, 54, of Burbank, were arrested on Nov. 3 after the LAPD says they tried to take out a fraudulent loan of $400,000. According to police, investigators determined the two men were part of a larger identity theft and loan fraud enterprise. LAPD investigators say they found that the titles of six vacant properties that were owned by seniors in LA County were “fraudulently conveyed into a fraudulent business name ‘Cruz Holding Ent.’” The properties, which were transferred on Sept. 2, have a combined value of approximately $3,556,300. Police did not reveal any further details about Findley and Banki’s alleged scheme. But investigators say they believe there may be more victims of the scheme who have not yet come forward. Anyone with information about the two men, Cruz Holding Ent., or believes they may also be a victim, can contact Detective Brian Calicchia at (213) 486-6620. CBS 2 Nearly 1,500 Homeless Californians Died In Los Angeles From 'Preventable' Causes, Says Report Nearly 1,500 homeless Californians died on the streets of Los Angeles during the COVID-19 pandemic, a new report revealed on Wednesday. The report, produced by a research team at the University of California Los Angeles (UCLA), estimates that 1,493 Californians without housing died between March 2020 and July 2021 through the COVID-19 pandemic. Using data from the Los Angeles County coroner’s office, they say this number may not represent a complete figure. Many of these deaths were not attributed to COVID-19 itself and a majority were younger people or from communities of color. In the examined period, they determined that 35% were found dead at locations like sidewalks or other public locations and their average age was 47. Black Americans made up 25% of these deaths despite only being 8% of the county's population. Former Mayor Eric Garcetti and state officials enacted policies designed to take homeless people off the street by placing them in hotels or transitional housing. However, The Guardian reports that only a fraction of the homeless population received the help they needed. International Business Times LA County Sheriff: Department Will Shrink By 200-300 Deputies Due To Budget Cuts Sheriff Alex Villanueva said his department may shrink by 200 to 300 deputies by March and blamed the shortfall on hiring restrictions imposed by the Los Angeles County Board of Supervisors that were set in place to address recurring budget deficits. The sheriff made his prediction while responding to questions from followers during a live session on Facebook and Instagram Wednesday, Dec. 1. He said a partial hiring freeze drastically reduced the number of classes graduating from the Sheriff’s Academy each year. “They’ve choked us from 12 all the way down to four, which means we’re going to actually be smaller by end of March next year than we are right now,” Villanueva said. “We’re going to be two to three hundred deputies short.” Each class hosts 85 cadets, Villanueva said. There were more than 10,200 sworn deputies in the department as of November, according to figures shared by the LASD. The sheriff has repeatedly stated that his department is severely understaffed, and that a shortage of deputies is contributing to a rise in crime. He has pointed fingers at the Board of Supervisors and others he accuses of attempting to “defund” law enforcement. Los Angeles Daily News Driver Tries To Run Over Beverly Hills Officer, Sparking Pursuit; One Arrested One suspect was arrested Tuesday night after an incident in which a driver allegedly attempted to run over a Beverly Hills police officer during a traffic stop, and then lead authorities on a pursuit. The incident began at 7:38 p.m. when a Beverly Hills police officer attempted to pull over a Kia with no license plates for a code violation near Rodeo Drive and Santa Monica Boulevard. The officer pulled over the Kia, and was standing behind it, when the driver went into reverse, struck the officer’s cruiser, and then sped away westbound on Santa Monica Boulevard, police said. The officer was not hurt. A pursuit ensued before the suspect abandoned the Kia in an alley near Linden Drive and Charleville Boulevard. Police set up a perimeter and eventually found and captured one person. Two handguns were also found. Early Wednesday morning, police said it was unclear how many people were riding in the Kia, and if any suspects are outstanding. It’s also unclear whether the person taken into custody was the driver. CBS 2 Man Charged With Murder In Fatal Shooting Of His 4 Kids, Their Grandma In Lancaster; Victims ID’d A man has been charged with killing his four children and their grandmother, who were found shot to death in a home in Lancaster over the weekend, authorities said Tuesday. Germarcus David, 29, faces five counts of murder and three counts of assault on a child causing death, according to the Los Angeles County District Attorney’s Office. An arraignment was postponed to Wednesday. David is suspected of fatally shooting his four children and mother-in-law. They were identified by the L.A. County coroner’s office: Namyiah David, 11; Germarcus David Jr., 7; Kaden David, 2; Noah David, 1; Ericka England, 51. According to investigators, England had been babysitting her grandkids at a home in the 3500 block of Garnet Lane on Sunday night. The children’s mother was the one who discovered the bodies when she returned home, and she dialed 911. A neighbor saw the distraught woman a short time later. KTLA 5 ‘Devil On The Loose’: What’s Behind Kern County’s Soaring Homicide Rate? With its back to the desert, Kern County is the southernmost band of California’s conservative Central Valley. Its western border forms a jagged staircase that mimics the shape of California’s coastline without ever approaching the water. And along its rural northern border is a long-running war between rival prison gangs that helped make this county so violent. The homicide rate in Kern County in 2020 was 12.7 per 100,000 residents, the highest of any California county, according to the Department of Justice. That’s about one for every 8,000 people in a county of about 900,000. Beginning in the middle of the last decade, the county’s homicide rate began to grow, and Kern County has had the highest homicide rate in the state since 2016. Crime is up across the country and especially in California. What this means, and who’s at fault, remains a useful political cudgel. The state’s rising homicide rate – up 31% from 2019 to 2020 — was a central aspect of the unsuccessful recall of Gov. Gavin Newsom. Republican Larry Elder, the leading vote-getter among Newsom’s challengers, decried the “soft-on-crime ethos that we see emanating from Sacramento and from many of our major cities.” Kevin Falconer, another Newsom challenger, said the rising crime rate forced major employers to pull out of San Francisco. CalMatters Florida Woman Who Vanished On Road Trip Found In California Hospital A young South Florida woman who vanished while on a road trip last week has been found in a California hospital, her mother said. Isabella Marin, 21, who had been last seen by family members on Nov. 23, was located at a hospital in the Los Angeles area, her mother said Wednesday. Mother Olga Jarrin said she was in the process of flying to California to be reunited with her daughter. Marin's mother said her daughter had left Fort Lauderdale last week on a road trip with her boyfriend but didn't tell her where she was going. Marin's boyfriend, Israel Del Rosario, said they visited his father in the Suwanee, Georgia, area for Thanksgiving and were on their way to California. Del Rosario said after Thanksgiving dinner, Marin told them she needed to leave and left by herself in her car, a black Kia Forte. On Monday, the father filed a missing person report in Georgia at the request of Marin's family. NBC 4 4 Killed, Including Officer And Suspect, In Georgia Shooting Four people are dead, including a police officer, after officers responded to a domestic disturbance call Tuesday in Clayton County, south of metro Atlanta. According to WSB-TV, Field Training Officer Henry Laxson was fatally shot, along with two women and the suspected shooter, Clayton County police said. A child and another officer were also shot, Clayton County Police Chief Kevin Roberts said. The child is in critical but stable condition. The officer, identified as Alex Chandler, is expected to survive. Police said on Tuesday night they were called to a domestic disturbance. It was not immediately clear exactly where the shooting had taken place. Police received another call about a child shot at a second location. By the time officers arrived, they found the child and one of the women in the yard. They said that while they were trying to render aid, someone started firing on the officers from an unknown location. The suspect was killed during the exchange of gunfire with officers. Associated Press North Carolina Trooper Shot In Face Receives Congressional Badge Of Bravery A North Carolina trooper injured in the line of duty in 2019 will receive a congressional honor Monday. Trooper Daniel Harrell of the N.C. State Highway Patrol was shot multiple times during a Jan 14, 2019, traffic stop in Wilson County that led to the pursuit and arrest of an armed suspect. The initial stop was for illegal towing, according to a 2020 U.S. Department of Justice news release. The suspect fired into Harrell's patrol car windshield, striking him in the cheek and forehead, federal prosecutors said in the release. Despite his injuries, Harrell pursued the suspect, who made a U-turn and rammed Harrell's patrol car, prosecutors said. Investigators found multiple bullet casings at the scene of the shooting, including one with the suspect's DNA. Harrell fed information to Raleigh emergency operators who helped officers catch the suspect, officials said. The suspect, John Jones of Wilson, was sentenced to 10 years in prison for unlawfully possessing ammunition. "Trooper Harrell's experience with the defendant in January of 2019 is our worst nightmare," then U.S. Attorney Robert Higdon Jr. said in the release after Jones' sentencing. "He stops a vehicle for a relatively minor suspected violation, he finds himself fighting for his own life as he takes gunfire to the face." The News & Observer (Raleigh, N.C.) Fourth Student Dies From Michigan High School Shooting; Gunman Charged A 15-year-old boy was charged with murder and terrorism for a shooting that killed four fellow students and injured others at a Michigan high school, authorities said Wednesday, revealing that his parents were summoned just a few hours before the bloodshed. No motive was offered by Oakland County authorities, a day after violence at Oxford High School, roughly 30 miles (50 kilometers) north of Detroit. But prosecutor Karen McDonald said the shooting was premeditated, based in part on a “mountain of digital evidence” collected by police. “This was not just an impulsive act,” McDonald said. Oakland County Sheriff’s Lt. Tim Willis said during a court hearing for Ethan Crumbley that the boy recorded video the night before violence in which he discussed shooting and killing students. The revelation was made by Oakland County Sheriff's Lt. Tim Willis during a court hearing for Ethan Crumbley. Willis made the comments shortly before Crumbley was to be arraigned on charges of murder, attempted murder, terrorism causing death and gun crimes. He is charged as an adult. It wasn’t immediately known if he had an attorney who could comment. Associated Press Public Safety News First US Case Of Omicron Variant Detected In California The first U.S. case of the Omicron variant of COVID-19 has been detected in California. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, along with the California Department of Public Health, confirmed Wednesday that the case was detected in a traveler who returned from South Africa on Nov. 22. The variant was detected using genomic sequencing by researchers at the University of California, San Francisco. According to the CDC, the person was fully vaccinated and has had mild symptoms so far. All the patient’s close contacts have tested negative so far. “This is not a surprise. For those of you that have been following this, we knew that Omicron was going to be here, we thought it was already here, we just hadn’t detected it yet,” San Francisco Health Director Dr. Grant Colfax said in a news briefing Wednesday. “So this is cause for concern, but its also certainly not a cause for us to panic.” California Gov. Gavin Newsom reacted to the news on Twitter. “CA’s large-scale testing and early detection systems have found the Omicron COVID-19 variant in California,” he wrote. “We should assume that it’s in other states as well. There’s no reason to panic–but we should remain vigilant. That means get vaccinated. Get boosted. Wear a mask indoors.” CBS 2 Local Government News LA City Council Approves Affordable Housing Project On Venice Canals The Los Angeles City Council Wednesday approved a 100% affordable housing project along the Venice canals that will provide 68 permanent supportive housing units for the homeless, 34 units for low-income artists and 34 units for other low-income households. The project -- planned on two city-owned parking lots on Venice Boulevard between Dell and Pacific avenues -- has been met with opposition from some Venice residents. Councilman Mike Bonin -- a proponent of the project -- said it will certainly face litigation. It also needs approval from the state Coastal Commission. The Reese Davidson Community is expected to cost $75 million, or about $535,000 per unit, with funding from the city's housing trust fund, the state tax credit program, the state's Multi-family Housing Program and the state's Infill Infrastructure Grant Program, according to Becky Dennison, executive director of Venice Community Housing, which is developing the project. The project will have a total of 140 units, with four of them for on- site staff. FOX 11 Final Vote On City Council Redistricting Map Delayed Until Next Week The Los Angeles City Council today delayed until next week a scheduled vote on approval of the city's new borders for its 15 council districts, due to a technical error. The borders must be approved to go into effect on Jan. 1. ``It was brought to our attention that a technical correction is necessary that needs to be addressed,'' Chief Legislative Analyst Sharon Tso said. The City Council voted to correct the issue by moving the area bordered by Olympic Boulevard, Normandie Avenue, 11th Street and Vermont Avenue from Council District 1 to Council District 10. The new map needs to be posted to the city's website for at least three days. The City Council will be able to vote on the draft map next week. The council took over the redistricting process from the civilian City Council Redistricting Commission, which submitted recommendations to council members on Oct. 21. The 21 commissioners used data from the U.S. Census to update the city's districts, with each council member getting about 260,000 people to represent. The draft map made drastic changes to the current 15 council districts, including creating an entirely new district that would have been represented by either Councilman Paul Krekorian or Councilwoman Nithya Raman without any of their previous constituents. WestSide Current ‌ ‌ ‌ Visit our website LA Police Protective League | 1308 West Eighth Street, Los Angeles, CA 90017 Unsubscribe [email protected] Update Profile | Constant Contact Data Notice Sent by [email protected] powered by Try email marketing for free today!