Results tagged “homicide” from News 24/7

A La Verne man is accused of shooting and killing a popular Glendora resident who was having a party at his father's home Monday, police said.

Zachary Flanders, 19, was arrested on suspicion of homicide following the 9:20 p.m. shooting of 20-year-old Ronson Edgerly in the 300 block of East Bennett Avenue in Glendora, police said.

Ronson was pronounced dead at Foothill Presbyterian Hospital at 10:24 p.m. after suffering gunshot wounds to his upper body, Los Angeles County Coroner officials said.

Edgerly grew up in Glendora and was well-known throughout the community, friends said.

He had a history of anger problems and went to Glendora's continuation school, Whitcomb High School, before graduating, friends said.

But he had gained control of his anger issues in the last year, said a friend who was standing outside the crime scene Tuesday.

"He was just down to earth. Really social and knew everyone in Glendora," said the woman, who asked to remain anonymous. "He had some issues mentally; previous things he had done to himself."

She said Edgerly had done drugs in the past and had a pacemaker for heart problems. But Edgerly had changed much of his ways, was not taking pills and didn't drink anymore, she said.

He did, however, smoke marijuana and was having a marijuana party - April 20 is often celebrated by marijuana users as a special "smoke out" day - when he was shot, she said.

Flanders was arrested at his home several hours later, police said.

- staff reports

Jurors in the trial for Amber Rose Riley, who prosecutors say aided in the deadly stabbing of a friend in May 2003, are expected to receive the case today for deliberation.

Lawyers began their closing arguments this morning in San Bernardino Superior Court. Riley, 22, faces charges of murder and a special allegation for using a knife.

Deputy District Attorney Karen Khim told jurors that Riley had a fascination with death and wanted to see a dead body. Riley lured her friend Terry Taylor up to Perris Hill, where she assisted co-defendant Jason Lamar Harris in stabbing Taylor to death, Khim explained.

Testimony began this morning in the trial for a woman suspected of helping her boyfriend stab to death a friend in May 2003 in San Bernardino's Perris Hill Park.

Amber Rose Riley, now 22, sat quietly next to her lawyer Ed Congdon as prosecutors laid out the death of 22-year-old Terry Taylor in their opening statements to the jury in San Bernardino Superior Court. Testimony is expected to continue this afternoon.

Taylor was stabbed more than 20 times, and his neck was slashed.

Deputy District Attorney Karen Khim told jurors that Riley and her boyfriend, Jason Lamar Harris, talked Taylor into going to Perris Hill, where they attacked him with butcher knives about 1:30 a.m. on May 23, 2003. Both defendants later admitted to police about taking part in the killing.

Trial prepations begin today for a Redlands woman suspected of fatally stabbing her 22-year-old friend Terry Taylor more than 20 times - nearly decapitating him - about six years ago at Perris Hill Park in San Bernardino.

Lawyers will begin arguing pre-trial motions and preparing for jury selection at a hearing for Amber Rose Riley this afternoon in San Bernardino Superior Court, confirmed Deputy District Attorney Karen Khim. Opening statements and the start of testimony could begin later this week, she said.

Riley, now 22, and another man, Jason Lamar Harris, are suspected of carrying butcher knives and singing songs by a popular nu metal band as they lured Taylor to his death, according to San Bernardino police.

A jury has found Andres Landeros Garcia guilty of first-degree murder in the deadly car-to-car shooting of a San Bernardino woman in 2006 that possibly began as a confrontation outside a Rialto bar.

Garcia was found guilty of murder, attempted murder and assault with a firearm on a person in the death of 25-year-old Rosa Angela Trigo, who was shot while inside a car heading east on West Fifth Street in San Bernardino after leaving El Patio Bar, in Rialto.

Jurors reached the verdicts Friday, but the Judge Ronald Christianson ordered them sealed until they could be read this morning in San Bernardino Superior Court, according to court records.

Garcia, 23, is scheduled to return to court April 9 for sentencing, said Deputy District Attorney Terry Brown.

Trial proceedings are underway for Mario "Stomper" Valderrama, who allegedly took a four-foot long shotgun to collect a $150 debt from a Redlands man, shot him dead and left in the man's Chrysler PT Cruiser in 2004.

Lawyers in the case of the 25-year-old Valderrama announced they were ready for trial and then argued pretrial motions Wednesday in San Bernardino Superior Court, according to the District Attorney's Office.

Valderrama is charged with killing Keith Parks, 46, in a empty lot near the 100 block of 10th Street in Redlands on July 17, 2004. Emergency personnel found Parks' body with a gunshot wound to the chest, and he died at a local hospital.

Proceedings are expected to resume today with more motions, according to Deputy District Attorney Douglas Poston. It was unknown when lawyers' opening remarks and witness testimony might begin.

A suspect who was arrested over the weekend in last year's deadly shooting of a San Bernardino rapper is scheduled to be arrainged via a video link this afternoon in Barstow Superior Court.

While the arraignment of 23-year-old Jeffrey "Slutter" Berrouet was scheduled for this afternoon, officials at the San Bernardino County District Attorney's Office could not confirm that it would take place.

Berrouet, of Riverside, was arrested Sunday at a U.S. border crossing into Mexico. Barstow police began looking for him in June in the kidnapping and killing of 24-year-old Robert Mastrangelo. The victim's body was dumped along the 15 Freeway in Barstow.

Berrouet, a substitute teacher and suspected gang member, planned with Dudzai Prosper Pswatai, 21, to rob Mastrangelo over a phony drug deal, police said. Pswatai is in trial in Barstow Superior Court, according to court records.

A Westside gang member's parents, who reportedly intimidated witnesses in their son's cases and sold drugs to pay for his defense, were sentenced to state prison after pleading guilty in their own cases.

The parents of Keith Slaughter Jr. were arrested in 2007 and charged as San Bernardino police investigated their son's role in local shootings, including the death of 14-year-old Jarred Mitchell in 2006. He was convicted last year and sentenced to nearly three centuries in state prison.

Keith Slaughter Sr., 41, and Julie Sales Slaughter, 38, pleaded guilty charges as part of plea bargains before Judge Ronald Christianson in San Bernardino Superior Court, according to Deputy District Attorney Lisa Rogan.

A Riverside man was ordered held to face charges Thursday stemming from the death of two Mexican nationals whose charred bodies were found in the trunk of a car near Baker in 2006.

After listening to witness testimony, Judge John P. Vanderfeer determined sufficient evidence existed to hold over Alvaro Enrique Flores for trial on murder charges in the death of Francisco Alvarez-Garcia, 25, and Javier Alcala, 30, following a hearing in Barstow Superior Court.

Flores, 25, faces two counts of murder when he is formally arraigned Feb. 18. A second defendant in the killings, Jorge Magana, is named in a separate case and has a pretrial hearing Feb. 20.

Authorities found the torched car off Halloran Summit Road, west of the 15 Freeway, near Baker, on Dec. 6, 2006. Flores was arrested during a parole search by Riverside Police at a residence on 13^th Street, in San Bernardino, on Dec. 11, 2007.

A Highland man suspected of fatally shooting his 74-year-old former boss during a fued in a restaurant parking lot last September was ordered held over for trial during a superior court hearing.

After listening to witness testimony, Judge Douglas N. Gericke determined that sufficient evidence existed to hold Jodie James "J.J." Sanders on charges in the death of Robert Henry Jackson Jr. during a hearing Wednesday in San Bernardino Superior Court.

Jackson was shot in the parking lot of Jack-in-the-Box restaurant, in the 1600 block of Highland Avenue in San Bernardino, about 6:30 p.m. on Sept. 31, according to San Bernardino police. He was transported to St. Bernardine Medical Center, where he was pronounced dead.

Two men convicted in the carjacking and shooting death of Hannah "Honey" Jordan are due in court this afternoon for sentencing in the brutal attack in front a San Bernardino doughnut shop in 2001.

The defendants, Hector Miguel Aguirre and Ruben Garcia, are scheduled to sentenced at 1:30 p.m. before Judge Colin Bilash in San Bernardino Superior Court, Deputy District Attorney Robert Bulloch said earlier this morning.

Jordan is the wife of well-known local neurologist Dr. Kenneth Jordan, who worked at Arrowhead Regional Medical Center, in Colton, and St. Bernardine Medical Center, in San Bernardino.

Witness testimony got underway this morning in the trial for a Pomona gang member who authorities say gunned down Shanar Goulsby more than three years ago, after chasing him through his girlfriend's apartment in San Bernardino.

Defendant Alvin Williamson Jr. reportedly had a handgun and confronted the victim, 25-year-old Goulsby, outside of the East Date Street apartment on Aug. 2, 2005. Minutes earlier, Goulsby had been in a fist fight with his girlfriend's brother over a broken stereo in the apartment's outdoor patio.

Williamson, known as "Satan" in the gang, reportedly told Goulsby he had four minutes to leave or he was going to shoot him, prosecutors told the jury during opening remarks today in San Bernardino Superior Court.

A Big Bear Lake man was found guilty of first-degree murder in the 2003 death of his ex-girlfriend, whose body was found stuffed under a bed in his home.

A jury found Anthony Lemont McCollom guilty of murder late Thursday in the the death of 29-year-old Julie Baumgardner, confirmed Deputy District Attorney Karen Khim. The trial was conducted in San Bernardino Superior Court.

 

Jurors also found true an allegation that McCollom used a deadly weapon.

McCollom, 35, returns to court Feb. 10 for court trial, which is held only before a judge, about the defendant's prior offenses. A date for sentencing has not been set.

A jury began its first full day of deliberations today in the trial for a Big Bear Lake man accused of killing his ex-girlfriend in 2003 and stuffing her body under a bed.

Lawyers in the trial for Anthony Lemont McCollom delivered their closing arguments to the jury Wednesday morning, and the judge presented the case to the jurors later that afternoon.

Julie Baumgardner went missing after the pair planned to meet and exchange personal items in June 2003. Sheriff's deputies later found the 29-year-old Baumgardner's body under a bed while conducting a search of McCollom's home in the 39000 block of Big Bear Boulevard.

A convicted molester who was extradited last week to face murder charges in the death of a 10-year-old Beaumont boy entered a not guilty plea at his arraignment today a Superior Court in Indio.

Joseph Edward Duncan is suspected of snatching Anthony Martinez while he played outside his home on April 4, 1997. The boy's nude and battered body was found about two weeks later beneath a pile of rocks in rural Indio.

Duncan, 45, has already been sentenced to several life sentences in other cases and was sentenced to death in August for the kidnapping, sexual exploitation and murder of 9-year-old Dylan Groene, of Coeur d'Alene, Ida. in May 2005.

The defendant was arraigned today before Judge David B. Downing at Larson Justice Center in Indio. Duncan's stand-by lawyer, Robert Willey, informed the court that the defendant refused to be arraigned and that he wishes to represent himself, according to court records.

A Hesperia man charged with the shooting death of a 49-year-old man during a robbery at the San Bernardino Motel in 2007 is scheduled to begin trial proceedings tomorrow, prosecutors confirmed.

Lawyers are set to begin arguing motions and selecting jurors in the trial for 19-year-old Terrell Travon Austin in San Bernardino Superior Court, Deputy District Attorney Beth Houser confirmed.

Prosecutors say Austin, the suspected gunman, and co-defendant Camille Patterson, 17, tried to rob Virgil Fleming at the Foothill Boulevard motel when shots were fired. Fleming was targeted because he appeared to have a lot of money, they said.

A trial is set to get underway tomorrow for a High Desert man charged with the shooting death of a 62-year-old man whose body was fished out of the California Aqueduct by authorities in March 2007.

Steven Anderson Jones, 21, of Victorville, faces charges of murder and burglary in the death of David Van Fleet, who Sheriff's officials say was shot in his Victorville home a week before his body was discovered.

A jury was selected and sworn last week to the case in Victorville Superior Court, according to court records.

A trial is underway for a Hesperia man charged with the shooting death of 49-year-old Virgil Fleming during a robbery attempt at a Foothill Boulevard motel in 2007.

Lawyers are set to begin arguing motions and selecting jurors Tuesday in the trial for 19-year-old Terrell Travon Austin in San Bernardino Superior Court, confirmed Deputy District Attorney Beth Houser.

Prosecutors say Austin, the suspected gunman, and co-defendant Camille Patterson, 17, tried to rob Fleming when the shots were fired. Fleming was targeted because he appeared to have a lot of money, they said.

Testimony began today in a re-trial for Jimmy "Slim" Edward Cotinola in the deadly shooting nearly a decade ago of a Colton woman he had a relationship with, as she laid in bed with her then two-year-old son.

Prosecutors say Cotinola tapped on a bedroom window of an O Street home, where 29-year-old Anna Garcia lived with her three children, in September 1999. When Garcia told him to leave, Cotinola walked in through the back door, went into the bedroom and shot Garcia in the head.

Garcia's 5-year-old son was in a nearby bedroom, and the woman's 8-year-old daughter laid on the couch when the gunfire rang out. The oldest child called 9-1-1 for help.

The 17-year-old Fontana boy who was gunned down in front of his own home Monday night did not have a gun or weapon of any kind on him, said Fontana Sgt. Jeff Decker.

Police officers responded to a shooting about 8 p.m. in the 9800 block of Chantry Avenue, according to the San Bernardino County Sheriff's Coroner.

Darious Simmons, of Fontana was found with upper body trauma.

Simmons was transported to Kaiser Foundation Hospital. He was pronounced dead at 8:57 p.m., the coroner said.

Decker could not release much information on the homicide, but he did say the incident was a "walk-up shooting, as opposed to a drive-by shooting."

"We have not ruled out gang involvement in the homicide," Decker said.

lori.consalvo@inlandnewspapers.com