187: February 2008 Archives
Suspected killer Aaron Raigoza holed up at the Desert Sky Motel and RV park in Yucca Valley. He was captured Thursday and appeared in court Friday to face murder charges. No bail in the case. Apparently Raigoza had written letters to his in-laws after the killing of Ana Acosta, his former wife. Family members described the letters to Tania Chatila. In the letters Aaron apparently said he was sorry he had hurt the family.
Here's what Tania wrote after learning about the letters:
I had a conversation Laura Avina today, the sister of Ana Maria Acosta, who was murdered in front of her parents’ Monterey Park on Feb. 4.
Avina told me that two days after Acosta’s death, her family received two letters in the mail allegedly from Aaron Raigoza — Acosta’s estranged husband and a suspect in her death.
The letters were postmarked on Feb. 5, the day after Acosta was shot, according to Avina.
Avina claims one letter was specifically addressed to Acosta’s mother and the other letter was penned for the rest of the family. She said Raigoza confessed to the murder in both letters, allegedly saying he was sorry for killing Acosta but that "she deserved it."
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This from Dan Abendschein, working the cop shift this morning:
MONTEREY PARK - A man suspected of killing his estranged wife was arrested in Yucca Valley on Thursday evening, authorities said.
Aaron Raigoza, 34, allegedly shot his wife, Ana Maria Acosta, 32, to death outside her parents' home in the 500 block of South Russell Avenue in Monterey Park earlier this month.
Court documents show that Acosta had three restraining orders against Raigoza dating back to last spring, because of threats on her life.
"I'm going to kill you," Raigoza told Acosta on May 28, 2007 according to court documents. "I'm going to die and you will come with me. You will shed a lot of blood."
Acosta and Raigoza - both employees of the Los Angeles Unified School District - were embroiled in a divorce, which was set for trial on March 8.
Records show that Raigoza was contesting the $1,880 in child support payments he had to pay Acosta each month for their 6- and 7-year-old children.
Raigoza was arrested around 9 p.m., according to Lt. Carrie Mazelin of the Monterey Park police department.
He is scheduled to be arraigned in Alhambra Superior Court on Friday morning, she added.
Dan is headed to court for the arraignment this a.m.
These come from reporter Brian Day:
"All I know is two families are devastated. Two good families."
- Anonymous 20-year resident of the street
Several neighbors did not recall ever seeing police at the house, or even on the block. (including above "20-year resident."
"There's never been trouble. No gangs, no activity like that."
-Anonymous resident
Roy Perez was "pretty quiet," and "kept to himself." "He never had any friends."
-Anonymous resident
"He's a little off."(Roy Perez) But the resident added that they had not seen anything that would lead him to believe Roy was capable of this kind of violence.
-Anonymous resident
END BRIAN"S CONTRIBUTION
Comment: I find it interesting that some of these people asked to be anonymous even though they were on television for most of the day.
The two guys who held a street race in El Monte that ended in a fiery crash and killed a woman and her two children will be tried on murder charges, officials said.
Pomona Superior Court Judge Charles Horan found sufficient evidence to require Martin Morones, 21, and Robert Canizalez, 19, to proceed to trial on three counts of murder.
Canizalez also is charged with a felony count of witness intimidation.
Both men, who remain jailed, are due back in court for arraignment March 11.
The charges stem from a crash last Oct. 8 that killed 41-year-old Dora Groce and her children, Robert, 8, and Catherine, 4.
I returned Tuesday morning to the Baldwin Park neighborhood where three people were killed, including an infant were killed Monday.
A man accused in the shooting, Roy Perez, 28, of Baldwin Park, is in custody.
The neighborhood was swarming with media, including Univision, Telemundo, Azteca America, KCBS, KCAL, KNBC, and KABC. The FOX 11 van carting Nichelle Turner was already packing their gear to head for the next story.
There are widely varying accounts of what happened. And no one can quite explain the sequence of events that ked to the killings and Perez's arrest.
Brian Day and I listened to the incident as it unfolded on the newsroom scanner. Brian's first words were, "I think this is going to get big. He bolted for the scene and arrived before backup units or the fire department. He reported that upon arrival he saw a man sitting on a porch wailing about his house his neighbors and begging the fire department for help.
Neighbors told a Univision reporter and our Bethania Palma that the man was in fact Perez. We are still trackign that down.
I also heard the story of a man named "Mario." Mario was appraently moving from a house next door to where the shootings occurred. A relative said "Mario" witnessed much of the incident and saw Perez run from home to home in the neighborhood.
"Mario" apparently stayed outside the whole time the incident unfolded. "Mario's" relatives said he wasn't interviewed by the police and was allowed to leave before the investigation had been completed.
As you can see from the picture by Leo Jarzomb, the Los Angeles County Department of Coroner arrived roughly 12 hours after the killings. They are removing one of the three victims.
Perez was booked for murder and held without bail. Fatally wounded were Perez’s mother, Alicia Rivera Perez, 47; along with Dalmy Perez De Mata, 31, and her daughter Briana Mata, said Craig Harvey of the coroner’s office.
THIS ENTRY HAS BEEN CORRECTED 2-25-08 11:18 P.M. and again at 11:32 p.m.
[BYNAME]By Brian Day and<QA0>
Frank C. Girardot
<MC>Staff Writers
[BODY]BALDWIN PARK — Police arrested a man after a shooting incident Monday night that left two women and a 4-year-old child dead and two other children wounded in two homes in the 14500 block of Rockenbach Street.
The <NO1>man who was arrested <NO>suspect was not identified. The surviving victims were taken to a local hospital, but their conditions were not known, authorities said.
They were described as a 9-year-old and a 14-year-old.
Police responded to a report of shots fired about 7:30 p.m., said Baldwin Park police Capt. Michael Taylor<NO1><NO>. The officers discovered a total of three people fatally wounded and two others who had been shot, Taylor said.
<NO1>Both of the dead children “were very young,” Taylor said.
<NO>The shooter, who was armed with a handgun, apparently went from one house to the other during the rampage, said Los Angeles County sheriff’s Lt. Dan Rosenberg.
<NO1>“This was a tragic event in a quiet neighborhood,” Taylor said.
<NO>A dispatcher at the Baldwin Park Police Department said all available units had been dispatched to the scene.
The shootings may have stemmed from a family dispute, officials said.
<NO1>“The son shot the mom,” said a man who identified himself as the son-in-law of one shooting victim.
<NO>A call to the Baldwin Park Police Department at 7:28 p.m. indicated that a man had shot his mother.
“The suspect got into an argument with his mom,” Rosenberg said. “He then went next door and shot the neighbors.”
<NO1>Other family members were apparently talking to police detectives following the shooting, authorities said.
<NO>Several officers from the Irwindale Police Department were dispatched to the scene. Additional units from the Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Department were called in to handle crowd and media control.
Immediately after the shootings, a man, who appeared to be in his 20s, sat outside the home where the incident took place and cried out:
“In my house. In my house. My neighbor,” the man said, pointing arriving firefighters in the direction of the victims. “Please hurry up. Hurry,” he said. “There might be time to save them.”
Police with automatic rifles patrolled the working class neighborhood in the moments after the shooting as multiple reports of shots fired flooded in from other homes in the neighborhood.
Family members tried to force their way in at the crime scene, but detectives held them back. More than one broke through crime scene tape.
In the aftermath, family members consoled one another.
<NO1>Several had questions that police were unable to immediately answer.
<NO>“Where’s my dad?” one man asked.
[TAG1]brian.day@sgvn.com
frank.girardot@sgvn.com
<MC>(626) 962-8811 Ext. 2718, 2717
http://www.insidesocal.com/sgvcrime
This comes from crack crime reporter Brian Day in the SGV newsroom:
Cuauhtemoc Ortiz, 58, of Temple City, plead not guilty Monday to the slaying of an El Monte man in his home early this year, officials said.
Lester Lear, 47, was shot multiple times with a shotgun inside his house, said Detective Richard Ramirez of the Los Angeles County Sheriff's Homicide Bureau.
Investigators believe the motive in the shooting was that Ortiz viewed Lear as a rival for the affections of a woman, described as a local woman in her 40s.
Ortiz allegedly also tried to shoot Lear but missed on Jan. 1, officials said, at the same house where Lear was ultimately killed.
Lear is also being investigated by the El Monte Police Department in several other violent incidents that occurred prior to Lear's slaying, said Ramirez. Details on those incidents were not available.
A letter sent to the San Gabriel Valley Tribune newsroom claiming to be from Ortiz expressed concern that an "informant" in his case is not being adequately protected by the police and is in danger of "eminent murder."
"I've never heard of anything of this nature," Ramirez said after being told of the letter.
Ortiz was arrested Jan. 16 several blocks from his Temple City home as he was walking to his car, Ramirez said.
Lear was fatally shot Jan. 4 at his house in the 10000 block of Rose Avenue, said Deputy Rick Pedroza of the Sheriff's Headquarter's Bureau. He was pronounced dead at the scene, he added.
Here is some more information about the "person of interest" in Eileen's murder.
From the story:
POMONA - A parolee gang member relative of the husband of a Covina woman who was found murdered in her van on Saturday has been named a "person of interest" in the case by Pomona Police.
Police said Joseph Orta, 34 has not been officially named as a suspect in the murder of 22-year-old Eileen Ponce-Orta, who was found fatally stabbed in the neck on Saturday.
Orta, a former gang member out of Azusa, was convicted for the 2001 attempted murder of his step-father, according to family members of the victim.
Other notes from reporters Brian Day and Dan Abendschein:
HOWEVER - it seems Mr. Orta just got out of prison for an attempted murder in 2001 which we covered(below):
Also, per Dan, it appears the motive MAY have been some sort of psycho fatal attraction thing Joseph Orta had for Eileen Orta.
Man sought in stabbing of stepdad
San Gabriel Valley Tribune (West Covina, CA) - December 8, 2001
Author: Rodney Tanaka Staff Writer
WEST COVINA -- Police were searching Friday for Joseph Gary Orta , 28, who allegedly stabbed his stepfather during an argument. Police responded to a stabbing in the 200 block of South Pima Avenue at 8:50 p.m. Thursday. Orta argued with his stepfather, Raul Sanchez, 26, over Orta 's alleged alcohol abuse, West Covina Police Lt. Mark Dettor said.
Sanchez suffered cuts to his neck and scalp and a puncture wound to his left side during the fight, although no knife has been found, Dettor said.
Sanchez was airlifted to County USC Medical Center and was listed Friday in stable condition.
Orta , a transient living in the area, is wanted for attempted murder. He has black hair, brown eyes, weighs 180 pounds and is 5 feet, 7 inches tall.
He has an "Azusa" tattoo on his neck and an "A" tattoo on his right arm, Dettor said. He was last seen wearing a white T-shirt and brown baggy pants.
Anyone with information on Orta 's whereabouts should call West Covina police at (626) 814-8557.
Reporter Paul Clinton of the Daily Breeze forwarded this press release from LAUSD regarding a fund for Ana Raigoza.
LAUSD ESTABLISHES CHARITABLE ACCOUNT IN THE NAME OF
SLAIN DISTRICT EMPLOYEE, ANA MARIA RAIGOZA
"Ana Family Fund" to support the victim's two surviving children, ages
7, and 5
LOS ANGELES - The Los Angeles Unified School District (LAUSD) today
announced the establishment of a charitable account in memory of slain
District employee, Ana Maria Raigoza, 32, who was tragically killed at
her Monterey Park home, Feb. 4. She leaves behind two young children.
"Ana's children will forever be scarred by the senseless death of their
mother," said LAUSD Superintendent David L. Brewer. "The District
created the fund to allow her friends, co-workers and the general public
to financially support her children during this difficult time."
Members of the public can make their checks out to "Ana's Family Fund"
and send their donations to:
"Ana's Family Fund"
c/o The Office of the Superintendent
Los Angeles Unified School District
333 S. Beaudry Ave, 24th Floor
Los Angeles, CA 90017
All contributions, which are not tax deductible, will be deposited in an
account in Ana's name at the California Credit Union, which is located
on the second floor of the LAUSD Administrative Headquarters Building in
Downtown Los Angeles.
Raigoza, who worked eight years at the LAUSD, served as a payroll
technician at the time of her death. She is survived by a son, 7, and a
daughter, 5.
The victim's husband, Aaron Raigoza, is being sought for questioning by
the Los Angeles County Sheriff's Department.
LAUSD sort of downplays the Aaron Raigoza reference. He's a suspect in Ana's killing. He was seen leaving the area after she was shot to death.
Fred Ortega's piece on the history and influence of La Eme is now online. Here's an excerpt from the bottom of the story: The SGVN's online look at gangs is here.
The (Lola) Llantada case is only the latest example of the influence that the Eme wields in the San Gabriel Valley.
In April 2006, four men were arrested in Pomona in connection with an attempted Mexican Mafia contract killing. Their trial is scheduled for this year.
Last November, reputed Emero Frank "Frankie B" Buelna, 61, was shot to death in a Pomona sports bar. Buelna was reputed to have broad power within the Mexican Mafia, and officials are still investigating the motive behind his killing. The perpetrators are still at large.
And in December, reputed Eme member Eulalio "Lalo" Martinez, 46, was charged with ordering the killing of former gang member Donald "Pato" Schubert in Rosemead in 1998. In that case, prosecutors allege that Martinez runs the Lomas Rosemead street gang from Pelican Bay State Prison, where he has been incarcerated for the past 15 years.
La Eme's deep roots in the San Gabriel Valley became clearly evident to Steinwand, the sheriff's homicide investigator, when he moved to the Industry Station from the South Central Los Angeles area early in his career.
"Over there in South Central when there were orders from the Eme to stop drive-bys, guys would go out and do five of them in one night just to spite them," said Steinwand, who has been a detective for 18 years. "But they have a lot more control on this side of the 710 (Freeway).
"When I came to work at the Industry Station, it was amazing," he added. "When the Eme said something, (the gangs) listened."
Some of this information surfaced during the investigation of Robert Whitehead's killing. Whitehead was killed after confronting taggers near his parents home. Among those suspected in the case was Paul "Malo" Salazar, a graduate of Bishop Amat High School in La Puente, who was also a suspected member of Puente Trece.
Salazar was killed at his home during a get-together in July.
Interesting side note, Whitehead's brother is a Monrovia police officer.
This also makes a nice mash-up with the map showing Pasadena homicides in 2007. Thanks to Pasadena police Cmdr. Mike Korpal for the heads up on today's arrests.
PASADENA - Police arrested four men as suspects in a year-old murder case, conducting SWAT-supported raids at five locations early this morning.
Authorities said the arrests were part of an investigation into the shooting death of 18-year-old Sean Baptiste exactly one year ago today. Officials said Baptiste was shot at Lincoln Avenue and Orange Grove Boulevard.
Sixty-five Pasadena Police Department officers took part in the operations that involved serving warrants at residences on the 1700 and 1800 blocks of Lincoln Avenue, the 900 block of Mountain Street, the 1800 block of Summit Avenue, and the 1400 block of El Sereno Avenue, said police Cmdr. Mike Korpal.
While detectives had been working on the Baptiste shooting case for a year, Korpal said the raids sent a message that police never give up.
"It sends a message to criminals that if you commit a crime here we are going to exhaust every effort to find out who is responsible and prosecute that person," he said.
Here's the latest from LADN:
WINNETKA - An LAPD SWAT team member was shot to death and another was wounded overnight by a gang member with mental health issues who earlier killed three people inside a home and eventually was shot to death by police, authorities said this morning.
Officer Randy Simmons, 51, died about 1 a.m., a few minutes after entering the home in the 19800 block of Welby Way. He was shot in the neck, according to City Councilman Dennis Zine.
Officer James Veenstra, 51, was shot in the face and jaw, Zine said. He is in critical condition at Northridge Hospital Medical Center, but is expected to survive.
Both worked on the Special Weapons and Tactics team for 20 years, and had spent more than 25 years in the Los Angeles Police Department, said LAPD Assistant Chief Jim McDonnell.
It was the first fatality in the history of the elite LAPD SWAT team, which was created in 1967.
"I want to say how deeply saddened we are this morning that we lost a member of our LAPD family," McDonnell said. "Our hearts and prayers go out to these families at this tough time."
Veenstra was apparently a resident of Pasadena and Altadena in the late 80s and early 1990s, according to public records. He is married to an LAPD.
The LAPD family has several members who live in the San Gabriel Valley and we know they will be monitoring this event closely throughout the day. We'll keep it updated here.
The shooting death of Ana Maria Acosta, 32, outside her parents' Monterey Park home Monday night stands as another reminder of the nature of temporary restraining orders - sometimes they aren't enough.
Police say Acosta's estranged husband, Aaron Raigoza, 34, is a "person of interest" in the shooting, and witnesses placed him at the scene of the crime.
Turns out Raigoza was named in a TRO filed by Acosta.
...
Attorney Denise Wright, who briefly represented Raigoza, a high school teacher in Huntington Park, wouldn't discuss her former client. Wright did recall Acosta as a "lovely, lovely, reasonable, level-headed woman."
...
Wright said she makes a living representing Los Angeles Unified School District employees and teachers like Raigoza.
"I represent a lot of teachers," Wright said. "They are the nicest people."
...
A man who lives in an apartment complex near King Taco in Baldwin Park called in early Wednesday to talk about a shooting in his neighborhood.
He had a ton of reasons for not wanting his name published, but we'll boil it down to this: He fears for his safety.
The shooting, which police characterized as a drive-by, resulted in the death of a 29-year-old man, according to Baldwin Park police Lt. David Reynoso.
The now-deceased man was reportedly walking on the sidewalk when he was shot twice in the abdomen, once in the thigh and once in the left arm.
Nearby, the caller and several others hit the floor.
"There was like eight to 20 shots," the man recalled. "I thought the first one was an M-80. Boom, boom, boom, boom. They were loud. We didn't know if the shooter was going to come over the wall to the apartment building where I live. Everybody was really scared."
The City Council apparently took the shooting into consideration late Wednesday in a discussion about the future of police Chief Edward Lopez.
Tania Chatila, who covers Baldwin Park for this newspaper, reported a conversation she had Wednesday afternoon with Councilwoman Marlen Garcia.
"She could not comment on Lopez's job security Wednesday afternoon, but did say they were going to be taking everything `into account in evaluating the chief,"' Chatila said.
Including Tuesday's killing, Garcia told Chatila.
"It's really a matter of looking at the community at large and ensuring we are providing the best programs and processes to provide a safe community."
...
A woman was injured and shots were fired in a credit union takeover in Santa Fe Springs.
The robbers apparently bluffed their way into the location by pretending to make a delivery - in a Buick Le Sabre!
Veteran police reporter Ruby Gonzales said the heist "smacks of an inside job."
"Why hit a credit union in a fairly secure location when you can just hit one in a shopping center?"
Police said they've made one arrest in the case and more are pending.
This is basically what our story will say tomorrow:
A woman who was shot and killed near her parent’s home Monday night had just left the police station where she had filed a complaint about her estranged husband, officials said.
Police were searching Tuesday for the man identified as Aaron Leonel Raigoza, 34, a teacher at Henry T. Gage Middle School in Huntington Park. He was identified as a person of interest in the shooting death of Ana Maria Raigoza, 32, police said.
The couple were embroiled in a divorce case in Los Angeles, according to court records. There was at least one hearing on a temporary restraining order in the case. The couple most recently appeared in court on Jan. 22 and were due to return on March 8, court records indicate.
The dead woman is identified as Ana Maria Raigoza. She was shot to death last night. Police are looking for her husband Aaron Raigoza, a person of interest in the case.
Ana Maria worked at LAUSD downtown, according to reporter Amanda Baumfeld.
Raigoza had apparently left the Monterey Park police station just before she was shot to death. MPPD are not releasing domestic violence call logs for the Raigoza residence....they apparently want to give most of their information to FOX News this afternoon at 4 p.m.
Two men arrested in relation to gang violence in the area were released last week. Cousins Nickelis and Rayshawn Blackwell were released last Thursday after their arrest on Tuesday on suspicion of attempted murder stemming from a Jan. shooting in which a group of latinos were shot at but not hit. And of the seven people arrested in raids Friday, two were set to be released today.
Unfortunately this picture didn't make the deadline last night so we decided to reproduce it here:
Monrovia Unified School District board members, members of law enforcement and city officials were on hand to address last weeks gang violence in Monrovia Monday February 4th 2008 in Monrovia. (SGVN/staff
photo by Greg Andersen/SXCity)
MONTEREY PARK - A woman was shot and killed Monday, officials said.
The incident was reported about 6:40 p.m. on Newmark at Russell Avenue. The Sheriff' sdepartment originally placed the crime scene at Garvey. It's actually on Russell just south of Newmark.
The woman was pronounced dead at the scene, said Los Angeles County sheriff's Deputy Ed Hummel.
Detectives from the Sheriff's Homicide Bureau are assisting the Monterey Park Police Department in the investigation, Hummel said.
No further details were available.
At 10: p.m. a television helicopter was hovering above the investigation. Police were out in force on the scene.
Both of these come from reporter Brian Day, SGVN's crack night cop reporter:
BASSETT — Officials have released the identity of a man found shot and killed inside a trailer Sunday.
Richard Casillas, Jr., a 43-year-old La Puente resident, was pronounced dead shortly before 9 a.m. in the 13800 block of Proctor Avenue, said Los Angeles County coroner’s Lt. Fred Corral.
The shooting is being investigated as a homicide, Corral said.
No further details were available.
ROWLAND HEIGHTS — A man found shot to death last week remained unidentified Monday, officials said.
The body was discovered about 5:30 a.m. in the 18100 block of Los Palacios Drive, sheriff’s officials said.
The dead man, only described as Latino, is believed to have been shot elsewhere and dropped off on Los Palacios Drive, said Los Angeles County sheriff’s Deputy Maribel Rizo.
Investigators are still investigating the man’s identity through methods such as finger prints and dental records, however he is currently designated John Doe No. 24, said Los Angeles County coroner’s Lt. Fred Corral.
No further details were released.
LA Opinion, the Spanish language newspaper has been covering the recent events in Monrovia. I found and translated two articles that may be of interest.
Additionally, I uncovered a report from Monrovia City Manager Scott Ochoa outlining some history and again giving the city's take on the ongoing situation.
A funeral Mass for Sammantha Salas is underway in Alhambra this morning. Salas mother and father are in attendence as are several hundred mourners who've come to pay their respects. The church is surrounded by Alhambra police and Sheriff's deputies as well as detectives.
One week ago today Salas was gunned down outside an apartment on Peck Road in a section of Monrovia that has seen an uptick in gang violence targeting innocent teens.
Following the service Sammantha will be buried in East Los Angeles.
FRANK GIRARDOT
|
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