Results tagged “murder”

One week ago, 16-year-old Wilson High student Melody Ross was with her friends, watching the school's Homecoming football game. Last night the team observed a moment of silence in her honor, as Ross was gunned down minutes after she exited the Long Beach school's stadium. At last night's game students wrote MR on their cheeks, the team turned the school's "W" on their helmets upside down to make an "M" in their classmates honor, and attendees faced upped security, according to the Press-Telegram. Earlier that day in a Long Beach court Tom Love Vinson and Daivion Davis, both 16-year-old gang members, found themselves charged as adults; the Deputy DA said the charges are as a result of the "seriousness of the crime" and the fact that it was gang-related, notes LA Now. Ross was an innocent bystander; two young men who were wounded "may have been the intended targets."

It's been a week of mourning in Long Beach after the death of 16-year-old Melody Ross between last week's Homecoming football game and dance at Wilson High School. She was an innocent bystander when two alleged 16-year-old gangmembers shot bullets into a crowd meant for two men who were wounded. Those teens were identified today--Tom Love Vinson and Daivion Davis--because they were charged as adults, according to the LA Times.

Santa Monica police today released the names of the four suspects allegedly involved in Tuesday night's murder. Patrick Dwight Birdsong Jr, 18; Norman Lovan Cole, 33; Sean Alex Mermer, 29; and a male juvenile were all booked on murder, attempted murder and "promoting of a street gang." Cole and Mermer were also charged with violating parole.

In a follow-up to yesterday's post about the arrest of four suspects in Tuesday night's Santa Monica slaying, there is some speculation that it might be connected to a murder in Venice during the afternoon hours the same day. The LA Times reports that "William Charles McKillian Jr., 19, was in the 600 block of Westminster Avenue in Venice when he was confronted by at least one attacker who opened fire about 3:30 p.m." Police are unsure if they are connected at this point, but are "aggressively pursuing the cases in an effort to make sure there was no chance of the violence escalating."

DNA evidence from a double murder 12 years ago has been linked to a suspect who is currently in a California prison. Back in September of 1997, the stabbing murders of 57-year-old Nancy Boehm and her mentally impaired 23-year-old son Shawn occurred in their North Hollywood home on the 5700 block of Riverton Avenue. Without any leads, the case remained unsolved.

A shooting that left one man dead last night in a Santa Monica park led to the arrest of multiple suspects. At around 8:52 p.m. last night, two suspects approached and began shooting at a group of four people in Virginia Park on Pico Boulevard, a few blocks from Santa Monica College. Three people escaped safely, but 20-year-old Richard Juarez was killed. The Santa Monica Police Department this afternoon announced that four suspects are in custody.

Travion Terrett Ford, 25, was sentenced Thursday to prison for 2nd degree murder in the fatal stabbing of a USC student in September of last year. Bryan Richard Frost, 23, was walking with two other students early morning on the September 18th near 28th Street and Orchard Avenue when Ford apparently approached and an argument turned fight. Frost was killed by his stabbing wounds.

KABC-TV is reporting a shooting death in front of a Van Nuys apartment building that has left one person dead. Two suspects, one reported to be a female, were apparently seen running eastbond on Vanowen towards Sepulveda. LAPD Media Relations has few details at the moment. Also: The Los Angeles Fire Depatment is reporting the death of a man in his 60's who was apparently was killed in a trash compactor at 8201 N. Woodley Ave., near the Van Nuys Airport.

Richard Ramirez, better known as the Night Stalker, sits on death row for 13 murders in Southern California from two decades ago, but that number might change as police in San Francisco identified him as a suspect in a cold case murder today. DNA has connected him and a possible second and unknown suspect to the rape and murder of an 8-year-old girl in April 1984, two months before his first known murder in Los Angeles' Glassell Park neighborhood.

Following the arrest of Alfonzo Landa earlier this month, officials today announced the identify of 23-year-old Ricardo Hernandez. A $50,000 reward for tips leading to the arrest of those involved was announced in late September, a couple days after the murder.

The suspected arsonist in the Old Fire that scorched some 90,000 acres of the San Bernardino Mountains was indicted by a jury on 5 counts of murder today. Six people died and 1,000 homes were lost in the October 2003 blaze. Months later on a rainy Christmas day, 14 people died when debris flows swept through a Church camp.

Fearing that she would turn him in, Joe Saenz kidnapped, raped and murdered the mother of his child, leaving her body at his grandma's house. That was in 1998, just days after he killed two rival gang members on the Eastside.

A 21-year-old man was killed in Northridge yesterday when a vehicle pulled up and began opening fire, possibly mistaking the victim for someone else. About one half hour earlier, two groups of black males got into a verbal dispute at the corner of White Oak Avenue and Lassen Street. One group fled when they realized the other group was armed with handguns. Most ran across the street to take cover on a church's grounds.

Last month was a tragic one for the Van Nuys community. Andrew Garcia, just four months old, was killed when bullets flew into the car where he was being fed. Two others were wounded. The two suspects in the case got away until last Thursday when one of them was arrested. Alfonzo Landa, 17, will be charged with the murder of Garcia and the attempted murder (with a shotgun, no less) of six others in the September 27th shooting in Van Nuys.

Statistics for 2008 crime in California were released today (.pdf) by the Attorney General's office, finding that homicides and many other crime categories were down. In 2007, there were 2,258 homicides, compared to 2,143 in 2008--a 5.1 percent change. Forcible rape slightly decreased 1.6 percent to 8,906 incidents. The other two violent crime categories, robbery and aggravated assault, also went down to 69,391 and 104,793, respectively. However, burglary and larcenty theft over $400 increased slightly.

The truck driver who killed two people and injured twelve when his vehicle careened into a La Canada Flintridge intersection was spared the possibility of murder charges today. A Pasadena Superior Court judge said there was insufficient evidence that Marcos Barbosa Costa, 44, had intent to kill people, according to the Daily News. However, he will still face vehicular manslaughter and reckless driving charges.

Reality TV contestant Ryan Jenkins allegedly left a suicide note on his computer, the Buena Park Police Department announced today. He never mentions the death of his wife, Jasmine Fiore, but he blamed her for the situation he was in--"professing both his love and disdain for her," according to TMZ. "About half of the letter described how much he loved her, and in the same breath, he would talk about how frustrated she made him and that he felt very jealous about some of her relationships and that frustrated him immensely,"

It was baby Andrew Garcia's baptismal celebration the morning he was shot in the head. Earlier and just a few blocks away, a large party was held for the 4-month-old child. At around 1 a.m. on Sunday on Kittridge Street in Van Nuys, Andrew, his mother and a friend, who is pregnant, were sitting in a parked car outside a friend's house. The friend, 28-year-old Anna Contreras, was feeding Andrew while the father and Eric Ramirez, 18, stood outside. Two young men walking by got into a verbal exchange with them, which escalated with several shot gun rounds fired at the family.

Susan Atkins, the longest incarcerated woman in California history, died last night of natural causes. The 61-year-old native from San Gabriel was diagnosed with brain cancer, which prompted her to and relatives to ask for a compassionate release. That, along with thirteen attempts to be paroled, was denied last summer. Her last parole hearing was just a few weeks ago on September 3rd (she's been trying to be paroled since 1976).

Los Angeles County Sheriff's patrol large swaths of land from up in the Antelope Valley to the Palos Verdes Peninsula. Charged with all unincorporated areas such as parts of South LA and communities like Castaic and cities that contract their services like West Hollywood and Santa Clarita, yesterday the agency announced a major drop in crime despite the economic downturn. The news comes on the heels of four fatal deputy-involved-shootings that occurred within one week's time.

A 30-year-old woman was shot to death last night in the parking lot for a student housing complex at the University of California Irvine, according to abc7.com. The shooting took place around 7 p.m. outside the Verono Apartments, and appears to be "a deadly domestic dispute," between a couple who lived on campus with their four-year-old child who "was nearby when the gun fire rang out."

With only months to live, Susan Atkins was denied parole for the 13th and most likely final time yesterday. The San Gabriel-born 61-year-old Charles Manson follower has been behind bars for 38 years after being convicted of murder over a 1969 killing spree left eight people, including Sharon Tate, dead. She has been diagnosed with brain cancer, prompting her and family to ask for a "compassionate release," which was also denied last summer.

Prosecutors revealed today that they will seek the death penalty for Pedro Espinoza, the 18th Street "gang member accused of murdering a local high school football player," reports KTLA. Espinoza is charged with the March 2008 murder of Jamiel Shaw, a 17-year-old Los Angeles High School student who was known for his football talent. The accused, it was revealed, has been residing in the US illegally, and "had just been released from jail on a firearms charge the day before Shaw was killed." Espinoza's immigration status was part of the fuel re-stoking the fire about Special Order 40.

With less than a week left, there have been 18 gang-related homicides this month in South LA. That's already six more than July meaning close to 40 deaths in two months for one region of the city. That said, the LAPD and other agencies announced an effort today to flatten that trend. "Every spike in crime is a clue for preventative measures," said Deputy Chief Kirk Albanese, Commanding Officer, Operations-South Bureau.

Although the sought-after suspect, Ryan Jenkins, was found dead Sunday evening in a British Columbia motel room, authorities are still searching for Jasmine Fiore's car and the possibility of a second suspect in the case. Her white Mercedes sedan is still missing and may hold the key to clueing police in if there is a second suspect. “The Mercedes is still missing. It is the biggest piece of the puzzle. We hope it will contain evidence that will help us determine what happened,” said Sgt. William Kohanek to the LA Times. “Did someone else drive it away?" Fiore's body was found stuffed in a suitcase on August 15th. The day before Jenkins was at a hotel in Del Mar. When he checked into the Canadian motel while on the run last week, there was a woman accompanying him who is now a "person of interest."

The weekend left five dead in separate shootings, but one in particular caught the attention of civil rights leaders in the Hyde Park neighborhood of South LA. 17 year-old Brandon Jamal Perry was shot in the face after an occupant stepped out of a vehicle with a rifle and began shooting at him and others standing in front of a house late Saturday night. Three others were injured, but Perry died at the hospital.

Los Angeles started the weekend without any killings on Friday. Then came Saturday and Sunday which left five dead, four within a 12-hour period. It first started on Saturday morning around 6 a.m. when 35-year-old Ching Tseng was walking on the 3300 block of West 6th Street, a couple blocks from Wilshire and Vermont. He was approached by a male Hispanic, approximately 25 years of age, who demanded Tseng’s money and vehicle, then shot Tseng and fled to a waiting car with three additional suspects, two males and one female, says the LAPD. Tseng later died at the hospital.

After a manhunt lasting several days and crossing the border into his native Canada, investment banker turned VH1 reality television contestant Ryan Alexander Jenkins appears to have committed suicide, according to KTLA. "Officials believe [he] took his own life in the hotel room in Hope, British Columbia where his body was found." Jenkins had been charged this week in Orange County with the murder of his wife and former model Jasmine Fiore, whose finger- and toothless body was discovered crammed in a suitcase abandoned in a Buena Park dumpster last weekend. Jenkins, who filed the missing person report for Fiore, has been on the run since before Fiore was identified by the serial numbers on her breast implants, and escaped to Canada on Wednesday. A warrant for his arrest was issued last week.

Reports yesterday out of Toronto indicating that murder suspect Ryan Alexander Jenkins was arrested after arriving to the Canadian city by air turned out to be a miscue after authorities determined the had the wrong man. The search continues across the border for the reality show contestant who is believed to have killed his wife, model and Playboy rep Jasmine Fiore, then left her mutilated body in a suitcase in Buena Park dumpster before reporting her missing and fleeing.

A warrant has been issued for the arrest of Ryan Jenkins, the missing husband of Jasmine Fiore. He was reportedly last seen in Bellingham, Washington and is thought to have walked over the border into Canada. TMZ says police obtained a "Ramey Warrant," which they explain to be "an arrest warrant that allows police to bypass the D.A. and go directly to the judge... In order to get a Ramey Warrant, police must prove there is probable cause to believe the suspect committed a felony. In this case we're told a judge decided there was probable cause to believe Jenkins was involved in the murder of his wife, Jasmine Fiore." The warrant will bring in the help from Canadian authorities.