Results tagged “Monrovia” from Crime Scene

PASADENA _ Two men suspected in the January 2008 slaying of 16-year-old Sammantha Salas in Monrovia are scheduled for arraignment on charges of murder and attempted murder in superior court this morning, officials said.

Rayshawn Blackwell and Nickleis Blackwell, who are both in custody will be charged with the Jan 26, 2008 slaying of Salas and the attempted murder of her unidentified friend.

The shooting came during a turf battle between black and hispanic gangs in the Monrovia area. Salas mother' Jeanette Chavez, said she was notified of the arrests last evening.

"I'm really excited to hear about this," Chavez said. "I was able to sleep. And this morning I got up early."

Chavez admitted following the case through the legal system won't be easy.

"That's going to be a challenge," she said."

It's unclear if a reward offered for information leading to the arrest and conviction of Salas'e killers' played a factor in the arrests of the Blackwells. The two match a pair of composite drawings cuirculated in the case late last year. On Thursday, detectives identified a third teen who was at the scene of the Salas shooting. He apparently fled when shots rang out and was difficult to locate until recently. The teen was not identified.

Los Angeles County Sheriff's homicide Lt. Dan Rosenberg said the teen was not a gang member.

The detective described the slaying as an "ambush-type attack."

Also Tuesday, police announced they have arrested a suspect in the Jan. 13, 2008, shooting of 64-year-old Sanders Rollins.

The slayings were part of a string of gang-related shootings in the Monrovia/Duarte area that left four people dead in late 2007 and early 2008.

On Tuesday, authorities announced that Monrovia resident Uriel Garcia, 24, has been arrested and charged with murder in the death of Lee, who was fatally wounded by gunfire as he emerged from a friend's car on Almond Avenue in January 2008.

A second man, Valentin Valenzuela, 20, was arrested and charged with the attempted murder of Lee, said Sandi Gibbons, a spokeswoman for the Los Angeles County District Attorney's office.

Carlos Torres Jr., 16, has been charged with murder in the Rollins slaying, Gibbons said. Rollins was shot in the back outside his Sherman Avenue home as he walked to the front door.

A second suspect has been identified but had not been arrested Tuesday, Gibbons said. Garcia, Valenzuela and Torres are all due in court for arraignment March 11, according to Gibbons.

THe shooter or shooters of 16-year-old Sammantha Salas outside a Monrovia apartment building last Jan. 26 remain at large. A reward has been offered and extended in the case.

Nate McIntire chronicles Monday's shooting on Sherman by interviewing witnesses, cops and Monrovia PIO Dick Singer.

Singer's comments are perhaps most telling. He says nothing about the fear induced by ongoing racial tensions in the neighborhood and instead points the finger at Crip gang members who suppossedly live in the home where Sanders "Pete" Rollins was shot to death last year.

Here's a link to Nate's story. Below, Dick Singer's interesting quote:

"That house has always been a hotbed of gang activity, anyway," he said. "Crips live there."

I guess that justifies the shooting...

It was a year ago this week that a racial tensions in Monrovia flared up and resulted in a gang war that left four people dead and several wounded.

Things got heated when Sanders "Pete" Rollins was shot and killed in front of his home on Sherman. It only got worse when teens Sammantha Salas and Brandon Lee were also shot and killed in what appeared to be retaliatory attacks.

Last night, neighbors got a terrible reminder of that violence when Rollins' former home was shot up again.

Here's a letter (not edited)  I received from a neighbor, who is scared and concerned that the violence is about to get worse:

A pilot program targeting gangs in various county neighborhoods had been initially scheduled to beta test in the Firestone and Pacoima neighborhoods.

The plan was expanded this afternoon by the County Board of Supervisors to include Monrovia and Duarte, authorities said.

The plan utilizes a variety of techniques to track gang members, potential gang members and their families as a way to reduce violence. Here's a copy of a report presented to the board by CEO Bill Fujioka.

*Police are reporting the discovery of a body on a Monrovia front lawn.

Police and detectives are on scene.

Cops are saying the death is a likely suicide. The victim has a gunshot to the head

The body is located outside a home near the intersection of Melrose and Hillcrest.

Here's a map of the location:

A man and woman were arrested following a standoff with the Monrovia PD in the 100 block of North Magnolia.

Interestingly enough, the story came to light because the woman notified the news media.

Here's a link to Robert Hong's story.

The incident apparently followed an eviction attempt. Another sign of a failing economy?

A woman who apparently threatened Sheriff's deputies on Tuesday with a shotgun is apparently barricaded ina home in the 100 block of Magnolia with a shotgun.

Now she's apparently threatening Monrovia officers who are outside her home.

We'll get an update as soon as more information becomes available.

*THe woman is apparently distraught about an eviction.

She called several local television stations to discuss her grievances, according to reporter Robert Hong.

As of 6:22 she remains holed up. Fortunately, looks like the local TV stations cared more about Bush's address to the nation.

From reporter Nathan McIntire:

MONROVIA - A reward for information leading to the arrest and conviction of the person responsible for killing Sammantha Salas has been increased to $20,000, Los Angeles County Supervisor Michael D. Antonovich announced Tuesday.

Salas, 16, was fatally shot on Peck Road near Longdon Avenue in the unincorporated area of Monrovia on January 26.

The two suspects in the slaying are described as African-Americans in their late 20's wearing dark-colored bandanas or hooded sweatshirts. The suspects are believed to be members of the Du Roc Crips gang.

More cutting and pasting. This time there's three sources. First, Kate Kealy, night editor, reports:

The Board of Supervisors is about to extend the time limit on the $10,000 reward offered for information leading to the arrest and conviction of two men suspected of killing Sammantha Salas in January.

Salas was gunned down in a section of Monrovia known as "No Man's Land." Police believe her killing was the result of a series of escalating gang violence attacks between black and Latino gangs that took on racial overtones.

The reward vote takes place Tuesday.

***

Sheriff's homicide Lt. Dan Rosenberg said Monday that all five juveniles suspected of taking part in the robbery that killed Covina Hills resident Michelle Chien at her home earlier this year will be tried as adults. One suspect, Victor Maurtua, 19, a member of the El Monte Flores gang remains at large in the case.

"This is a pretty vicious case," Rosenberg said. "And it was random basically. These were local kids. One individual orchestrated the whole things and the others followed along."

***

Rosenberg also has a crew working alongside LAPD detectives in hopes that they can solve the slaying of Los Angeles County Sheriff's Deputy Juan Escalante, 27. 

The deputy was slain outside his home two weeks ago, as he left for work at Men's Central Jail.

According to the Los Angeles Times:

A U.S. Army reservist, Escalante had worked for the Sheriff's Department for 2 1/2 years. He was assigned to the "high power" unit, where dangerous inmates -- many of them violent gang members -- are housed in single-man cells. Investigators said this week that the shot that killed Escalante was fired from behind him and that he may not have seen his killer or killers.

Ropsenberg said deputies and officers are working alongside and getting along.

"We're working real well together," he said. "We still don't have a motive, but we're looking at everything." 

Nate McIntire's story on an ATM scam in Monrovia was pretty thorough and included some interesting information from local authorities. It developed from an email posted here last week that generated some interesting commentary on the Foothill Cities Blog.

Goddess of Pomona has a local tale from the victim's point of view that makes for a great read:

The first thing that was sort of odd, is that when I went inside the store to pay, no one was there, and it was a good two minutes before anyone came inside. The man who came inside did not have a name tag on and that sort of bothered me too. I paid by credit card and what was irregular about that was that it looked like a normal cash receipt, but there was no pre-printed line for my signature. Instead, the checker drew a line in pen along the side of the receipt and had me sign my name perpendicular to the rest of the receipt. I convinced myself that these irregularities were rather charming in a funky Pomona kind of way. The gas station was absent of any other customers, 'cept a woman and her teenage son in an old caddie.

Otherwise, the pump worked fine and the money I put in seemed to make my gas monitor go up to to the proper level.

Well, fast forward to tonight. A few minutes ago, I turned on the Channel 9 news to see the cashier at Fuel It Up being interviewed about an alleged credit card scam operating out of the gas station.