Robbery Suspect Held On Murder Charge After Police Officer Killed By Friendly Fire

A man accused of attempting to rob a New York cell phone store where a police detective was killed in a friendly fire incident will face a second-degree murder charge, police said Wednesday night. Christopher Ransom, 27, is accused of murder, first-degree robbery, second-degree robbery, assault, second-degree aggravated manslaughter and menacing, according to an update from the New York Police Department's press information group. Ransom was wounded in the shooting Tuesday night and an "imitation pistol" was recovered, police said. Police said he is in custody, but didn't say whether he was still hospitalized. An investigation will determine who shot the detective, but authorities earlier put the blame on Ransom for putting officers in jeopardy. "Make no mistake about it, friendly fire aside, it's because of the actions of the suspect that Detective [Brian] Simonsen is dead," Police Commissioner James P. O'Neill said Tuesday night
CNN

LAPD, FBI Arrest Dozens Of Alleged Gang Members In San Fernando Valley, South L.A. Raids

Federal agents descended on dozens of homes across Los Angeles early Wednesday targeting members of two violent street gangs allegedly involved in drug trafficking and shootings of both rival gang members and police officers. The raids swept up 38 people who law enforcement officials said were members of either Florencia-13, a gang based in South L.A. that's associated with the Mexican Mafia, or the Vineland Boys, a San Fernando Valley-based gang founded in the 1980s. Indictments unsealed the same morning documented what Los Angeles Police Department commanders said were twin, three-year investigations that involved undercover detectives infiltrating both gangs to observe drug and weapon deals. Commanders from LAPD's Valley and South L.A. bureaus said the gangs attempted to establish control of neighborhoods by intimidating rivals. “(The Vineland Boys organization) has plagued the east part of the San Fernando Valley, spreading and ultimately terrorizing the people of the Valley through various violent assaults, murders, shootings and narcotic sales,” said LAPD Deputy Chief Kris Pitcher.
Los Angeles Daily News

Don't Stand By: Uber, LAPD, No More Join Forces In New Campaign To Help Stop Sexual Assault

"Don't stand by" is what a new sexual assault prevention campaign urges. Ridesharing giant Uber, Los Angeles police and the prevention organization No More are joining forces hoping to keep people who've had too much to drink from becoming prey. You'll start to see "Don't stand by" billboards all over Los Angeles, as well as posters at local bars and clubs, urging ways to keep people in vulnerable states from becoming victims. "Sexual assault is preventable," said Tracey Breeden of No More. "We all have a role to play in ending sexual violence. We can all do small but meaningful steps to intervene safely to help stop the problem before it starts." At the Fonda Theater in Hollywood on Wednesday, a forum took place for local bar operators that included ways to teach staff -- from the bartenders to the busboys to security -- signs to look for. There was also a reminder to teach bar-goers themselves ways to stay safe.
ABC 7

LAPD Releases Video Of Robber Who Fired Shot In South LA Store

Police Wednesday released images of a gunman who fired a shot while robbing a South Los Angeles convenience store, narrowly missing an employee. The Feb. 2 robbery occurred about 5:15 p.m. near the 700 block of East 54th Street in the South Park area, according to the Los Angeles Police Department. The gunman entered the store, approached the counter, pulled out a handgun that he pointed through the window of a bullet-proof glass partition and demanded money. In a video released by police, the cashier is seen cowering in the corner in an attempt to avoid the suspect as he waved his gun. “The suspect then fired one round, narrowly missing the employee,” according to a police statement. “Out of fear, the employee removed cash from the register and handed it to the suspect.” The gunman fled out the front door.
CBS 2

Offender Who Left L.A. Halfway House Arrested In Pacoima

A 34-year-old man who walked away from a Los Angeles halfway house last month was found at an abandoned home in Pacoima and arrested, authorities said Thursday. Ramon O. Lara attempted to run from California Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation agents about 10:45 p.m. Wednesday, but was taken into custody without incident, according to CDCR spokeswoman Vicky Waters. Lara was discovered missing from a halfway house on Jan. 6 after officials discovered his electronic monitoring device had been tampered with, Waters said. He had been at the home since Oct. 5, 2018, to finish out a three-year sentence for vehicle theft. Lara's case will be referred to the Los Angeles County District Attorney's Office for consideration of escape charges, Waters said.
MyNewsLA.com

LA Man Arrested On Suspicion Of DUI, Homicide In Fatal Six-Car La Habra Crash

Officers arrested a man Tuesday on suspicion of homicide and driving under the influence of drugs and alcohol during a six-vehicle collision in La Habra that left one woman dead on Sunday, Feb. 10. Police said a motorist traveling east on Lambert Road slammed into a vehicle headed north on Idaho Street shortly before 7:09 p.m., initiating a chain-reaction crash. Seven people were injured, including one woman who was pronounced dead at the site of the collision. One man was taken from the scene to a local trauma center Sunday evening and treated for minor injuries, according to a news release from the La Habra Police Department. It said he was later identified as Jovani Gomes, 25, of Los Angeles, and that he was later arrested on suspicion of homicide and driving while impaired.
Los Angeles Daily News

Fugitive Wanted In LA Sex Assault Is Shot And Killed At North Carolina Motel

The cross-country search for a fugitive wanted in an armed sexual assault of a woman in her West Los Angeles home and other assaults in Southern California came to an end Wednesday morning when he was shot and killed by federal agents at a North Carolina motel. Details about the operation that led to the shooting death of Greg Alyn Carlson, 46, were not immediately available, but the FBI confirmed he was shot and killed by agents who attempted to arrest him at the motel in Apex, North Carolina, just west of the state capital of Raleigh. The agents had been conducting surveillance at the motel after receiving a tip that Carlson might be there. Carlson was on the FBI's Top-10 Most Wanted Fugitives list, accused of sexually assaulting a woman and striking her in the head with a gun during a July 13, 2017 burglary in West Los Angeles. Carlson also was sought in a September 2017 West LA assault and linked to two other assaults in 2003 by DNA. He was arrested by Los Angeles police in 2017, but was released on bond.
NBC 4

Man Sentenced For Mortgage Fraud Scheme

One of six people indicted in a $4 million mortgage fraud scheme spanning four Southern California counties was sentenced Wednesday to nearly eight years in state prison. Prakashumar “Kash” Bhakta pleaded guilty late last year in San Diego to 113 felony counts, including conspiracy, grand theft and filing false or forged documents in connection with a scheme that “preyed on homeowners facing foreclosure” in San Diego, Riverside, Los Angeles and San Bernardino counties, according to the state Attorney General's Office. Bhakta and others offered legal assistance to residents looking to save their homes in exchange for thousands of dollars in payments and fees, state prosecutors said. The defendants then filed “numerous fraudulent documents, including false bankruptcies and false court filings.”
MyNewsLA.com

Public Safety News

Massive Fire Erupts In Huntington Park Building

A fire at a commercial building in Huntington Park sent up a plume of smoke so big that it could be seen across much of the Los Angeles basin on Wednesday. The blaze erupted in a three-story structure in the 2000 block of Belgrave Avenue around 10:45 a.m. A heavy plume of smoke could be seen coming from the roof of the building. At one point, power lines near the building sparked because of the intense flames from the second-alarm blaze. Video from inside the building shows fire ripping through stacked boxes and people scrambling to get out. "We had a very large smoke column. It was visible throughout the entire L.A. basin. It got well established," explained L.A. Fire Department Capt. Tony Imbrenda. A total of 200 firefighters battled the fire and prevented it from spreading to nearby buildings.
ABC 7

Season's Biggest Storm Raises Risk Of Mudslides In Southern California Burn Areas

Heavy rain again raised the risk of mudslides in Southern California burn areas where evacuations were ordered during a powerful storm that flooded roads, toppled trees and cut power further north. The system known as an atmospheric river snaked through southern Oregon, Northern California and western Nevada while feeding on a deep plume of moisture stretching across the Pacific Ocean to near Hawaii, the National Weather Service said. The tempest followed more than a week of severe weather in the Pacific Northwest and was the latest in a series that has all but eliminated drought-level dryness in California this winter. Mandatory evacuations were in effect for areas near a burn scar in the Santa Ana Mountains southeast of Los Angeles where officials said the risk of debris flows was high.
KTLA 5

Local Government News

L.A. City Council Committee Postpones Decision On Mobile Billboards

A City Council committee opted against taking any action Wednesday on a motion calling for a ban on digital rooftop advertising on taxicabs and ride-hailing vehicles after two of the three members expressed some reservations about the proposal. Councilman Bob Blumenfield, who introduced the motion, said that there has recently been a significant increase in the number of digital devices affixed to Uber and Lyft ride-hailing vehicles, posing a threat to safety. “We know that it is a distraction. It would not be an effective advertisement if it was not a distraction,” Blumenfield said. “The whole point of the billboard is to distract you. That is why people are paying money to put their ad on a billboard, to distract someone. That is a danger on the road.” 
MyNewsLA.com