Law Enforcement

Crime alerts for Hollywood Hills and 10 other L.A. neighborhoods
Crime reports are up significantly for the latest week in 11 L.A. neighborhoods, according to an analysis of LAPD data by the Los Angeles Times' Crime L.A. database. Five neighborhoods reported a significant increase in violent crime. Hollywood Hills was the most unusual, recording three reports compared with a weekly average of 0.7 over the last three months. Elysian Valley topped the list of six neighborhoods with property crime alerts.
Los Angeles Times

Security will be tightened at upcoming Los Angeles public events
With thousands of people expected to fill the streets of Los Angeles for CicLAvia and other events this weekend, law enforcement officials say they are stepping up security because of the Boston bombings, even in the absence of a credible threat in Los Angeles. Officials with the Los Angeles Police and Sheriff's departments say they are taking precautionary measures and urging the public to be alert for anything suspicious.
Los Angeles Daily News

LAPD hopes public can help them solve 31-year-old man's murder
Detectives with the West Bureau Homicide Division are hoping the public can help them solve the shooting death of a 31-year-old man. Kallen Mahone was shot to death about 1:15 a.m. Wednesday. He was walking along the 800 block of S. Gramercy Drive when he was shot multiple times in the torso by an unknown assailant. Los Angeles Fire Department paramedics transported Mahone to a hospital where he was declared dead. Officials said they did not have a motive for the shooting.
CBS LA

Hit-run suspect leads LAPD on dangerous pursuit
A hit-and-run suspect led the LAPD on a dangerous high-speed chase from Burbank to Hollywood Wednesday night. The chase began shortly after 7 p.m. in Burbank. The driver of the silver truck weaved on and off surface streets and freeways, at times blowing through red lights and driving on the wrong side of the road. The chase came to an end around 7:45 p.m. at a strip mall at Sunset Boulevard and Martel Avenue in Hollywood. The suspect was taken into custody without incident.
ABC7

Man, 72, indicted in deaths of L.A. women in the 1980s
A grand jury returned an indictment Wednesday against a 72-year-old man who authorities allege is a serial killer who operated in Florida, the Gulf Coast region and Los Angeles, where he is charged in the slayings of three local women. The indictment of Samuel Little supersedes charges by the Los Angeles County district attorney's office and includes three murder counts and special circumstances for multiple murder.
Los Angeles Times

San Diego woman bound for Sherman Oaks job interview remains missing
Police asked for the public's help Wednesday in the search for a 23-year-old San Diego woman who has been missing since she was supposed travel to a job interview in Sherman Oaks around one month ago. Grace Anne Hall, who may be suffering from a medical condition, was last seen driving a silver gray Toyota Camry around 8 p.m. on March 20 in the area of 9100 Rebecca Avenue in Serra Mesa, according to a San Diego police statement.
City News Service

Oakland chief notes 'disturbing trend' in killing of paramedic
Authorities allege that five teenagers killed an off-duty San Jose paramedic inside his vehicle in an incident that Oakland's police chief called disturbing. "I'm deeply concerned about an unacceptable and disturbing trend where robberies and other crimes are being committed by young people 13 to 17," Oakland Police Chief Howard Jordan told reporters at a news conference. "Young people are finding it very simple to point a gun and shoot someone."
Los Angeles Times

L.A. County sheriff demotes 3 over charity race cheating
Los Angeles County Sheriff Lee Baca demoted three top supervisors this week in connection with an alleged cheating scam during a regional law enforcement relay race last year, officials said. The allegations arose from the "Baker to Vegas" event - a foot race for charity that draws police agencies from several states. After that race, the event's organizers received word that one of the contest's faster participants was not a law enforcement employee.
Los Angeles Times

Gun Control

Gun-control overhaul is defeated in Senate
President Obama's ambitious effort to overhaul the nation's gun laws in response to December's school massacre in Connecticut suffered a resounding defeat Wednesday, when every major proposal he championed fell apart on the Senate floor. It was a stunning collapse for gun-control advocates just four months after the deaths of 20 children and six adults in Newtown led the president and many others to believe that the political climate on guns had been altered in their favor.
Washington Post

City Election

Sparks fly between Greuel, Garcetti at Sherman Oaks debate
Mayoral candidate Wendy Greuel stepped up her attacks against rival Eric Garcetti Wednesday night at a Sherman Oaks debate, tossing new criticisms at the councilman, who likened the assault to being hit with a kitchen sink. Speaking to the 200 or so attendees gathered at Notre Dame High School, Greuel charged her integrity had been attacked by Garcetti.
Los Angeles Daily News