From Los Angeles Police Protective League <[email protected]>
Subject LAPPL NewsWatch for Wednesday, April 20, 2022
Date April 20, 2022 5:31 PM
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Good Morning. Please join us on Saturday, April 23rd for the DRPO Wellness Conference for First Responders, Police, and Military. The event will take place from 8:30am-12pm at the Los Angeles Police Academy. Click here for more information. Law Enforcement News BLM Silent When Confronted With Data Showing Massive 2020 Spike In Black Murder Victims The Black Lives Matter organization was silent when approached for comment on 2020’s skyrocketing number of Black murders and experts citing BLM and the defund the police movements for contributing to the deaths. Fox News Digital reached out to the Black Lives Matter press team on April 14 inquiring if they had comment on FBI data showing there was a 32% increase in Black murders in 2020 compared to 2019, as well as a comment regarding experts such as the Manhattan Institute’s Heather Mac Donald arguing the BLM and defund the police movements contributed to the murder spike, not the coronavirus. Fox News Digital also detailed the yearly numbers of Black murders from 2010 to 2020 within the inquiry but did not receive a response from the organization as of Tuesday morning. The summer of 2020 was marked by protests and riots from coast to coast in support of the BLM and defund the police movements following the death of George Floyd. FBI data show murders across the board spiked by nearly 30% in 2020 compared to the year prior, marking the largest single-year increase in killings since the agency began tracking the crimes. For Black Americans, the murders spiked disproportionally. At least 7,484 Black Americans were murdered in 2019, according to FBI data Fox News Digital reported on Tuesday. That number shot up to at least 9,941 murders in 2020, meaning there was an increase of 2,457 Black Americans murdered over the previous year. FOX News 34 People Shot In LA In What Police Chief Calls One ‘Troubling Week' Thirty-four people were shot in Los Angeles in the last week, and 23 of the shootings were concentrated within a "remarkably small area'' of the Los Angeles Police Department's 77th Street and Southeast divisions, Chief Michel Moore said Tuesday. Moore told the Los Angeles Police Commission that last week was a "troubling week,'' noting that many of the shootings were concentrated in "a remarkably small area of town when you look at that frequency or that concentration.'' The shootings were primarily related to typical street violence, including disputes within gangs and between rival gangs, Moore said. The 77th Division includes Athens Park, Chesterfield Square, Gramercy Park, Hyde Park, South Park-51st and Menlo, Vermont Knolls, Vermont Park, View Heights, Morningside Park and West Park Terrace. The Southeast Division includes Athens Park, Avalon Gardens, Hacienda Village, Harbor Gateway, Imperial Courts, Gardena Boulevard, Jordan Downs, Nickerson Gardens, Parkside Manor and Watts. Additional LAPD patrols and engagement teams with the Mayor's Office of Gang Reduction and Youth Development Program were deployed to the area, according to Moore, who added that violence levels decreased on Saturday and Sunday and no further shootings were reported in the Southeast area. ABC 7 They called for defunding the LAPD. Now they’re looking to defeat City Council members Not long after the death of George Floyd in 2020, labor organizer Hugo Soto-Martinez protested at Echo Park Lake, where he and hundreds of others demanded cuts to the Los Angeles Police Department. “We’re not going to stop until we defund the police, get rid of [Dist. Atty.] Jackie Lacey and transform this society,” he wrote on Twitter. Weeks later, college administrator Dulce Vasquez posted her response to the City Council’s decision to cut hundreds of LAPD officers. “Protesting works,” she wrote, with the hashtag #DefundPolice. Community activist Eunisses Hernandez was issuing her own calls for change, saying funding should be moved out of law enforcement and into housing, child care and other social services. “When we say abolish the police,” she wrote last year, “we mean replace it with this.” Los Angeles Times Beverly Crest follow-home robbery: 3 suspects steal $75K of items from victims Detectives with the Los Angeles Police Department are investigating yet another follow-home robbery. This time, four men visiting from the area from Northern California were targeted in the Beverly Crest neighborhood. One detective at the scene described it as a "very brazen and disturbing crime trend." FOX 11 Killer Of LA Philanthropist Jacqueline Avant Is Sentenced To 150 Years In Prison A Los Angeles County Superior Court judge on Tuesday sentenced the man convicted in the murder of Jacqueline Avant to 150 years to life in prison, saying he shot a “highly vulnerable” 81-year-old woman in the back and then giggled about it afterward. Judge Kathryn Solorzano said that after fatally shooting Avant, a well-known philanthropist, Aariel Maynor fired multiple times at an unarmed security guard as he fled the Beverly Hills home. The judge said the 29-year-old career criminal planned the burglary, looking up the home ownership records of Avant’s husband, music industry legend Clarence Avant. “He shot her in the back, indicating she was not a threat to him,” Judge Solorzano said. She sentenced Maynor to 150 years to life for murder, with three-strikes enhancements, plus a consecutive 40 years for his other crimes. Before the sentence was handed down, Deputy District Attorney Victor Avila played a recording of Maynor in the Los Angeles County jail in which he called a female friend and laughed about the Dec. 1 killing and the publicity surrounding it. “That’s not funny. That somebody’s life,” the unidentified woman replied. Pittsburgh Post-Gazette Sylmar Man Pleads Guilty To Strangling Mother, Staging Her Suicide; Shooting Uncle To Death And Burying Him In The Backyard A man police say strangled his mother and staged her suicide, after shooting and killing his uncle during a dispute, has pleaded guilty to their murders. Marcel Gradvohl, 38, pleaded guilty Monday to two counts of first-degree murder in the deaths of his mother, 67-year-old Maureen Gradvohl, and his uncle, 58-year-old Edward Steckel. He was immediately sentenced to 25 years to life, plus one year, for the use of a rope in the commission of a murder; and 25 years to life, plus four years, for the use of a handgun in the commission of a murder. Gradvohl was ordered to serve his sentences consecutively. Officers from LAPD's Mission Area were called on the morning of Nov. 28, 2021 to the family's home in the 12600 block of Amboy Avenue for a suicide investigation. Gradvohl told the officers as they arrived that he had gone to the garage and discovered his mother hanging from a rope. But the officers had doubts because Maureen Gradvohl's injuries were not consistent with her son's description of suicide, according to the LAPD. Homicide investigators were brought in and learned that Marcel Gradvohl was seen digging in backyard a few days earlier, and found what appeared to be a body. CBS 2 Uncle Of Woman Killed In Venice Home Says 'Enough Is Enough' It’s a troubling story –two people shot in the head while sleeping in their Venice home last Thursday night. And, although specifics are not yet being released by the Los Angeles Police Department, the uncle of one of the victims, Courtney Johnson, is speaking out and saying “enough is enough.” Police were called to investigate the death of 31-year-old Brandon Neal and 30-year-old Johnson who were killed in the home on Berkley Drive sometime between last Thursday night to Friday morning. Both deaths have been ruled a homicide by the Los Angeles Medical Examiner’s office. Steve Brown, the uncle of Johnson said her death has shaken a family who has already experienced tragedy. "The family fell on hard times in 2003 when Courtney's older sister passed away from diabetes. After that, everything fell apart for the family," described Brown. “The family was what you would call a white picket fence family—but her death really impacted them,” he went on to say. Brown said that's when Courtney began struggling with addiction. WestSide Current Man In Vehicle Shot To Death In Hyde Park Area A man was shot to death Saturday morning while sitting in a vehicle in the Hyde Park area of Los Angeles. The shooting was reported at about 11:30 a.m. in the 6300 block of Crenshaw Boulevard, according to Officer Norma Eisenman of the Los Angeles Police Department. The 42-year-old victim was sitting in a parked vehicle when a male suspect approached on foot and fired into the vehicle, Eisenman said. The suspect then fled. The victim was pronounced dead at the scene. The shooting was believed to be gang-related, Eisenman said. MyNewsLA.com A$AP Rocky detained at LAX in connection to November 2021 shooting Rakim Mayers, better known as A$AP Rocky, was detained on Wednesday at Los Angeles International Airport in connection to a November 2021 shooting, according to multiple law enforcement sources familiar with the matter. Mayers was arriving on a private plane from Barbados, where he had been on vacation with his girlfriend, the singer Rihanna. NBC News LAPD Hosts Catalytic Converter Etching Event To Combat Skyrocketing Thefts Across City The Los Angeles Police Department hosted an event Saturday to combat the skyrocketing number of catalytic converter thefts. The Newton Community Police Station offered free catalytic converter etching. The goal of this practice is to deter thieves from stealing the converters in the first place. Having the car's vehicle identification number etched onto the converter makes it easier to prosecute anyone caught. Christopher Gomez decided to get the etching done after someone stole his neighbor's catalytic converter. "On the first car they had, they actually stole their catalytic converter," Gomez said. "Then the second catalytic, they got it etched, so it kind of helped preventing. Once they're under, they can see that it's marked, and it'll make them think about it twice." Thieves are after the precious metals inside catalytic converters worth a high price on the black market. The etching process only takes a few minutes. Some also get their car windows marked. The LAPD is planning more of these events at stations across the city. ABC 7 Sylmar Man Pleads Guilty To Drug Charges Linked To Marine’s Death A Sylmar man pleaded guilty Friday to two federal drug trafficking offenses, one of which stemmed from a 2020 transaction in which he sold bogus oxycodone pills laced with fentanyl that caused a U.S. Marine stationed at Camp Pendleton to suffer a fatal overdose. Gustavo Solis, 25, entered his pleas in Los Angeles federal court to participating in a drug trafficking conspiracy and distributing fentanyl resulting in death, according to the U.S. Attorney’s Office. U.S. District Judge Dolly M. Gee set sentencing for Aug. 17, at which time Solis will face between 20 years and life in federal prison. Solis was charged in 2020, along with an active-duty U.S. Marine stationed at Camp Pendleton and two other alleged co-conspirators, with being part of a ring that distributed narcotics to civilians and members of the U.S. Marine Corps. In his plea agreement, Solis admitted that he would advertise controlled substances for sale through his Snapchat account and provide various drugs, including LSD, MDMA, cocaine and purported oxycodone pills containing fentanyl, to customers directly, through couriers or the mail. In May 2020, Solis sold about 10 counterfeit oxycodone pills, and a 20-year-old U.S. Marine identified in court papers as L.M. died after consuming some of the fentanyl-laced pills, prosecutors said. Los Angeles Daily News 6 Months Later, Search Continues For Missing Mom Heidi Planck Six months after her disappearance, Mid-City mom Heidi Planck has not been found, and her friends are continuing the search and encouraging people to perform acts of kindness as a tribute. Planck, who vanished in October after attending her son’s football game in Downey, was seen on surveillance video at a building in downtown Los Angeles, but soon after, her dog was found unattended. While many questions remain, some theories have centered on her work as a financial controller for Jason Sugarman. Sugarman, managing partner of Camden Capital Partners, allegedly defrauded a Native American tribe out of about $43 million in pension funds, and he faces charges from the Securities and Exchange Commission. After her disappearance, police served a search warrant at her home, reportedly in connection with the fraud investigation. Planck’s ex-husband has also said he believes there could be a connection between her disappearance and the fraud investigation. Regardless of the reasons behind the disappearance, Planck is still missing, and her friends are encouraging Angelenos to be kind on Sunday, April 17, in honor of Planck. KTLA 5 Reward Increases To $120K In Search For Killer Of Tioni Theus, Teen Found Dead On Side Of 110 Fwy. The county Board of Supervisors on Tuesday increased its reward offer for information leading to the arrest and conviction of the person responsible for the shooting death of a 16-year-old girl whose body was dumped alongside the 110 Freeway in South Los Angeles. The county previously offered $10,000 for information in the January killing of Tioni Theus, while the state and city of Los Angeles each put up $50,000. The Board of Supervisors voted unanimously Tuesday to bump up its portion of the reward to $20,000, bringing the total to $120,000. Tioni's body was discovered Jan. 8 on the side of the freeway on the Manchester Avenue on-ramp near South Figueroa Street. She was last seen Jan. 7 after telling a family member she was going to meet a friend to go to a party, officials said. According to Los Angeles County Supervisor Holly Mitchell's motion to extend and increase the county's reward offer, Tioni "lived in Compton and was a student at Centennial High School. She was reportedly living with her father as her mother recovered from a serious hit-and-run accident. Family members say she was a straight-A student and enjoyed dance and golf. ABC 7 VIDEO: Suspect In Custody After Hours-Long Standoff, Bizarre Pursuit Through Boyle Heights Rail Yard A suspect is in custody after leading officers on a wild pursuit and hours-long standoff at a rail yard in Boyle Heights. Los Angeles County Sheriff's Department units began pursuing the vehicle around 2:10 p.m. on the northbound 5 freeway near the 605 freeway in the Downey area. The suspect, believed to be in a stolen vehicle, led officers through parts of Santa Fe Springs, Montebello, East LA and South Gate. He eventually exited the freeway and drove on surface streets. The driver of that black SUV eventually crashed through a fence in the area of Noakes Street and South Hicks Avenue and drove on train tracks until the vehicle became disabled. The front passenger side tire became dislodged in the area of Noakes and Calzona streets in Boyle Heights. The suspect lost control of the vehicle and attempted to flee on foot. SkyFOX spotted the suspect running across multiple tracks attempting to evade officers. It appears he briefly considered jumping on a moving a train. He then went back inside the vehicle triggering a standoff. LASD deputies were staged near the truck with guns drawn. LASD called on its Special Enforcement Bureau to help the deputies already at the scene in the lengthy standoff between authorities and the pursuit suspect. FOX 11 Man Shot During Attempted Robbery In West Hollywood An attempted robbery in West Hollywood ended Saturday morning with a shooting. It happened around 3 a.m. Saturday on the 8200 block of Sunset Boulevard in the Hollywood Hills West neighborhood. Authorities say a man was walking in the area when he was approached by another man who attempted to rob him. During some sort altercation, the attacker brandished a gun and shot a man at the scene. Multiple shots were fired, authorities said. The suspect then fled the scene and is currently wanted by law enforcement. The victim, identified only as an adult male, was seriously injured in the shooting. He was transported to the hospital where he was most recently listed in critical condition. Anyone with information about the shooting suspect is urged to contact the Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Department at 310-855-8850. KTLA 5 Coroner Identifies Man Found Shot To Death In Inglewood The Los Angeles County coroner’s office Sunday released the name of a 39-year-old man who was found shot to death in Inglewood. The victim was identified as Dejuan Freeman of Inglewood. The shooting was reported at 7:23 a.m. Saturday at 452 N. Edgewood Street, said Lt. Neal Cochran of the Inglewood Police Department. Paramedics pronounced Freeman dead at the scene, Cochran said. Anyone with information about the death was asked to call homicide detectives at 310-412-5246 or the 24-hour anonymous tip line at 888-41-CRIME (888-412-7463). MyNewsLA.com Man Held In Fatal Stabbing Of Girl At California High School Police identified a 52-year-old man as the suspect in the stabbing death of a 15-year-old girl on a California high school campus. Anthony Gray was booked into the San Joaquin County Jail for investigation of murder, the Stockton Police Department said in a statement late Monday. “Detectives believe this appears to be a random act and they are trying to determine why this student was targeted,” the statement said. The girl was stabbed several times at about 11 a.m. Monday at Stagg High School and died at a hospital, Stockton Unified School District Superintendent John Ramirez Jr. said at a news conference. The girl’s name wasn’t immediately released. The assailant attacked before security and staff could stop him, Ramirez said. “We definitely will be re-evaluating” campus security, he said. Online inmate information from the San Joaquin County Sheriff’s Office showed that Gray was being held without bail and was scheduled for a court appearance Wednesday afternoon. It was not known whether he had an attorney who could speak on his behalf. Los Angeles Daily News California 'Happy Face Killer' Victim Identified Nearly 30 Years Later As 45-Year-Old Mother From Oregon California investigators have identified a victim of the West Coast’s notorious "Happy Face Killer" nearly 30 years after her body was discovered near a highway in 1993, officials recently announced. Investigators from the Santa Clara County Sheriff’s Office used genealogy to identify Patricia "Patsy" Skiple as the victim dubbed "Blue Pacheco" for the color of her clothing at the time her remains were discovered. Skiple, from Colton, Oregon, was a mother and was around 45 years old when she was killed. Authorities identified her with help from the DNA Doe Project, a non-profit group that uses volunteers to help identify people listed as "Jane Does" or "John Does" through DNA profiles of possible relatives. Skiple's body was found on June 3, 1993, on the side of California State Route 152 in the Gilroy area near the San Francisco Bay Area. The cause of her death was listed as undetermined at the time. In 2006, Keith Hunter Jesperson wrote to the county district attorney's office and said he had sexually assaulted and killed a woman near the highway. Jesperson, who was arrested in 1995 on suspicion of killing a woman in Washington state, was dubbed the Happy Face Killer because he drew smiley faces on letters he sent to the media and police, prosecutors said. FOX 11 California Lawmakers Target Gun Makers And Ghost Guns In Bills California state lawmakers advanced a measure Tuesday that would make it easier to skirt a federal law in order to sue gun makers, legislation that opponents say is ultimately aimed at driving manufacturers out of business. A different committee was poised to advance a bill targeting so-called ghost guns, while a third committee approved a bill requiring firearm dealers to install digital video surveillance systems. They are among several bills that gained momentum from recent mass shootings, including what police now say was a gang battle that earlier this month killed six people and wounded 12 others just blocks from the state Capitol. Democratic Assemblyman Phil Ting of San Francisco said his legislation would make it easier to sue gun makers or dealers for liability in shootings that cause deaths or injuries. That could include those who sell ghost gun kits whose parts lack serial numbers. Federal law blocks most of those types of lawsuits against the gun industry. But the U.S law does permit some types of liability lawsuits, including when gun makers break state or local laws regarding the sale and marketing of their products. Last year, New York approved a first-in-the-nation law declaring such violations a “public nuisance,” opening up gun makers to lawsuits, though the law has been challenged in court by manufacturers. Los Angeles Times Public Safety News COVID Hospitalizations Increase in Los Angeles County The number of COVID-positive hospital patients in Los Angeles County rose by 13 people to 241, according to the latest state figures out Saturday. Of those patients, 34 were in intensive care, up three from Friday's total. Hospital numbers have remained relatively low in the county, despite steadily rising COVID infection rates caused by the infectious BA.2 subvariant of COVID-19. County Public Health Director Barbara Ferrer said Thursday that the county is averaging more than 1,000 new COVID cases per day, up from an average of 878 the previous week. Some patients likely entered the hospital for other reasons and discovered they were COVID-positive after a mandated test. The county reported 1,355 new cases on Friday, along with 13 virus-related deaths, lifting its totals to 2,850,480 cases and 31,852 deaths since the pandemic began. The county health department does not report COVID data on weekends. NBC 4 ‌ ‌ ‌ 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!
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