San Jose motorcycle officer killed in collision A police department and community are in mourning after a veteran San Jose police motorcycle officer was killed in a collision Tuesday afternoon while riding in an industrial area in North San Jose, police Chief Eddie Garcia said. "It is with great sadness that I inform you all that this community has lost an officer in the line of duty," Garcia said. The officer who died has been identified as Michael J. Katherman, 34, a resident of San Benito County. He is the 13th officer in the history of the San Jose Police Department to lose his life in the line of duty, a year after the department laid to rest the 12th, Officer Michael Johnson, who was fatally shot in March 2015.
Mercury News
Man arrested on suspicion of murder in fatal Westlake District fire A homeless man was booked on suspicion of murder Tuesday after he allegedly set a fire that killed five people in a vacant office building in the Westlake District. The bodies of four more homeless victims -- two men and two women -- were found today in the ruins of the two-story structure that was gutted by a major emergency fire in the Westlake District. A male victim was pronounced dead at the scene not long after the fire broke out about 7 p.m. Monday in a 14,351-square-foot building at 2411 W. Eighth St. near MacArthur Park, according to the Los Angeles Fire Department. The suspect, identified as 21-year-old Johnny Sanchez, allegedly set the fire intentionally because he had a dispute with other transients living along with him in the building, police and fire officials said at a news conference this afternoon.
FOX 11
Indiana Man Arrested With Weapons in Santa Monica Called ‘Danger to Community,' Flight Risk A 20-year-old Indiana man arrested in Santa Monica with assault rifles -- one allegedly loaded with a 30-round magazine -- and chemicals to make explosives, among other weapons, was charged Tuesday with multiple criminal counts, authorities said. James Wesley Howell appeared for arraignment in the Airport Courthouse in Del Aire Tuesday afternoon, with his public defender entering a not guilty plea on his behalf. When he was taken into custody after knocking on a Santa Monica resident's door and windows early Sunday, he told investigators he was head to L.A. Pride in West Hollywood, police said.
KTLA 5
3 Suspects Arrested In Inglewood After Wild Police Chase Through LA
Three suspects in a black car who led Los Angeles police on a chase were arrested in Inglewood on Tuesday. The suspects led officers through Mid-City, Hyde Park, the Crenshaw District and Inglewood. During the pursuit, police said a suspect threw a gun from the car. The weapon was retrieved by officers. Authorities stated the suspects attempted to foot bail from the vehicle in Inglewood. Two of the suspects were caught almost immediately after they tried to run from the car, police said. Authorities stated the third suspect was taken into custody shortly after.
ABC 7
Diverse Communities Pledge Unity Against Hate, Violence
Some three dozen voices of the LGBTQ, Muslim and interfaith communities joined Los Angeles Police leaders Tuesday afternoon for a news conference that made its point even before anyone spoke: the City of Angels finds strength in diversity, presenting a united front against hate. LAPD Chief Charlie Beck called the gathering in response to the terror attack that left 49 dead Sunday at an Orlando nightclub popular with the LGBTQ community. A day later in Paris, an avowed supporter of the Islamic state jihadi movement killed two police officers.
NBC 4
Shop Owner Shows What Goes Into Buying Firearm in Laguna Niguel
After the Orlando nightclub shooting claimed the lives of 49 and injured dozens more, many were wondering just how easy or difficult it is to purchase a gun or rifle in California, a state with some of the strictest gun laws in the nation. Gregg Bouslong, the owner of On Target, a Laguna Niguel shooting range and gun store, says there is an expectation that when you come to his shop, you should know if you're legally able to buy a gun. Experts say California has some of the strictest laws in the country when it comes to buying firearms. Two forms of identification must be provided when purchasing a gun, and the buyer cannot be the subject of a restraining order or have spent time in a mental facility, Bouslong said.
NBC 4
Critics: LA County supervisors' delayed vote on drug take-back plan is win for big pharma
A vote on a proposal to require the pharmaceutical industry to fund what would be the nation's largest drug and needle disposal program across Los Angeles County stalled once again Tuesday after the Board of Supervisors delivered a mixed vote. The proposed ordinance was introduced last year and its intention is to give Los Angeles County residents a convenient way to dispose unwanted needles and medications from the pharmacies from where they bought them. Supporters say it would deter residents from flushing drugs down toilets or throw sharp objects into the garbage where those who sort through debris would hurt themselves. In addition, it could cut down on opioid drug abuse.
Los Angeles Daily News
2 San Diego men arrested in Internet sex trafficking case
Investigators have dismantled what they described as the first members-only Internet prostitution ring of its kind in San Diego, run by two men who allowed male customers to post online reviews of the women involved. The two are accused of merging their separate, long-standing sex trade businesses some 10 years ago, attracting an estimated 50,000 members. About 900 men and women were active members when authorities shut down the website, police said. San Diego police Capt. Brian Ahearn, at a news briefing Tuesday, called the sex ring “a very covert operation that was very well-planned and very sophisticated.”
Los Angeles Times
Brock Turner: DA gets judge kicked off new sex case
In a sign of growing problems for the judge who ignited a national controversy by handing a light sentence to a former Stanford athelete convicted of sexually assaulting an unconscious intoxicated woman, prosecutors Tuesday got him kicked off another sex case. Santa Clara County prosecutors filed the peremptory challenge against Judge Aaron Persky on Tuesday morning, automatically preventing him from presiding over a preliminary hearing for a Kaiser Permanente surgical nurse accused of sexually assaulting a sedated woman. The move came the day after Persky took the unusual step of dismissing an unrelated misdemeanor case Monday -- in mid-trial. But the controversy first began earlier this month, after Persky sentenced former Stanford swimmer Brock Turner to six months in jail for sexually assaulting a young woman outside a campus frat party, sparing him from a prison sentence sought by prosecutors.
Mercury News
Reward Offered in California Serial Killer Cold Case
Authorities are announcing what they say will be a "significant" reward Wednesday as they renew their search for an elusive serial killer they say committed at least 12 homicides, 45 rapes and dozens of burglaries across California in the 1970s and 1980s. The FBI and Sacramento County officials are holding a 9 a.m. news conference in Sacramento to announce more details of the latest attempt to solve the 40-year-old cold case. The suspect terrorized citizens in multiple California counties and has been linked to more than 175 crimes between 1976 and 1986, the FBI said.
Associated Press
California Democrats Advance Sweeping Gun-Control Bills
Democrats on a California legislative panel voted Tuesday to advance a dozen proposed gun-control measures already in the works before the Orlando nightclub mass shooting. The bills were written in the wake of the San Bernardino terror attack. Supporters of the measures said the massacre highlighted the urgency of tightening California gun laws that are already among the toughest in the nation. “There's no time to be lackadaisical on this issue,” said Senate President Pro Tem Kevin de Leon, D-Los Angeles. “Forty-nine people were massacred, were mowed down quite easily with high-powered weapons. So, it gives us more of a sense of urgency.”
CBS 2
California Democrats push Congress, again, for gun control votes
Frustrated House Democrats with limited ability to influence the congressional agenda tried for the dozenth time Tuesday to force a gun-control vote. Specifically, lawmakers used a procedural move in an attempt to get their colleagues to vote to prevent people on the FBI's terrorist watch list from being able to purchase a gun. Given Republican control of Congress and a years-long logjam on anything related to guns, the push was symbolic. But it was the second emotional and tense moment for Democrats who have repeatedly pushed for the provision and other changes to gun laws in the months since Rep. Mike Thompson (D-St. Helena) and other California members first stalled House floor action in the days after the San Bernardino shooting in an effort to raise the same issue.
Los Angeles Times
Details emerge about nightclub shooter's wife
She was a sweet, pretty California girl with Palestinian roots who left an arranged marriage only to find love with a man who committed the worst mass shooting in modern U.S history. Authorities believe Mateen's wife knew about the plot ahead of time, said an official who was briefed on the progress of the case but insisted on anonymity to discuss a continuing investigation. The official said investigators are reluctant to charge her only on the basis of possible advance knowledge of her husband's plans.
Associated Press
Orlando Gunman's Face, Name Become Journalism Challenge
Anderson Cooper faced the camera, his voice freighted with emotion, and took a stand on covering the worst mass shooting in U.S. history. "We will not say the gunman's name or show his photograph," Cooper told CNN viewers on a telecast Monday. "It's been shown far too much already." The withholding of such information is an unusual but not unprecedented move by a reporter or news organization, one that some media experts say can be justified. Cooper said on-air that his intention was to keep the focus where it belonged, on the 49 people who died in last weekend's nightclub shooting in Orlando, Florida, and not on the killer. He went on to identify and describe each of the known victims.
Associated Press
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