August 2007 Archives

Ebony Huel found herself in the wrong place at the wrong time and caught a bullet intended for somebody else, according to a story by Mary Gurton in Friday's Star-News. The story ties up several elements of the case and brings in another link to the proliferation of "Sock on Mexican" attacks that have plagued Pasadena in recent months.
On Thursday, Gurton reported that the Underground Club where Huel was shot, lost its license -- even though it never had one for late night parties to begin with.
BTW, the photo here is by Watchara Phomicinda, a great young photog on our staff.
Finally, conversation on the case continues in the local blogs and beyond

Since putting together a follow up story on the stabbing death of Chris Boo K. Lee, I have received several emails and phone calls from friends and family of Lee's who want to share their memories of Lee.
Here's a sampling from one letter sent Wednesday evening: (I'm keeping the writer anonymous and have edited this slightly)

Hello Frank, regarding your article today about Chris, it is good to know that your doing your job and made those names public. It is unfortunate to hear that the gangmembers that were arrested ... were released for a reason I do not know yet. I am a very close friend of Chris and I can personally tell you that Chris was not a gangmember. ... The last 7 years i have known him he has always been a good student, helpful to his family, and a very loyal friend.

In Wednesday's article, homicide detectives said they were searching for an Arcadia teen identified as Paul Kim.
A former friend of Kim's, who identified himself as "riceboy" sent a brief note as well:

yeah paul used to be my best friend till he became stupid

We are pushing for Kim's mugshot to be released and any additional information detectives might have in the case.

A man walking his small dog found himself victimized by a loose rottweiler on South San Gabriel near Del Mar Thursday.
Few details are available, but it's the second dog shooting in Pasadena this summer. Apparently this beast weighed more than 100 pounds and was primed to kill. The smaller dog survived the attack with puncture wounds, and was taken to a vet in shock

They are called "Sock on Mexican" attacks, and Pasadena has seen a huge rise in them over the past several months, officials are saying.
So what's gong on? Pasadena police say it's part of a gang initiation rite. The most recent reported attack occurred Tuesday near the AM/PM on Los Robles, Pasadena police Lt. Keith Jones said.
Several area bloggers, MALDEF and KNX have their own takes:
Aaron Proctor here.
Pasadena Pundit here. (scroll down several feet)
Urban Onramps here.
MALDEF here.
KNX (with a surprising lack of any attribution) here.
I think ...

So what will it be?

This image released Tuesday Aug. 28, 2007 by the Beijing Public Security Bureau, shown is cartoon figures of 'virtual police'. Police in Beijing said Tuesday they will soon begin patrolling the web using the animated beat cops that pop up on a user's browser and walk, bike or drive across the screen warning them to stay away from illegal Internet content. (AP Photo/Beijing Public Security Bureau, HO)
In my opinion this photo looks more suited for Ruby's Gonzales' Anime blog. Sure looks friendly, so it must be harmless right?

Comments welcome on any answer.

This came from Jan Williams, the mother of Neal and grandmother of Devon and Ian. The three were found dead Aug. 8 inside their Rowland Heights apartment.
Neal Williams' wife, Man-Ling (aka Manling), is facing capital murder charges in connection with the case. She is set to be arraigned Friday morning in West Covina.
Here's what Jan Williams wrote this a.m.:

A memorial service for all three of my handsome boys was held at the SkyRose chapel in Rose Hills on Thursday morning, August 23. The outpouring of support from the community has been deeply appreciated. If we have tried to mourn this terrible blow in private, I'm sure your readers can understand our feelings. I have lost 3 of people who made my life worth living. The Tsang family has also suffered a horrible loss. It is uncomfortable to wear a broken heart on your sleeve for all the world to see. The wound is raw -please let us heal a while in private. JW

We know that Sheriff's HQ people say 10 people were arrested in connection with the stabbing of West Covina resident Boo K. Lee in Rowland Heights on July 31.
What they haven't detailed, and apparently won't tell us, is the names of the 10 arrestees. Sheriff's officials have consistently directed our reporter to their online inmate locator, which coincidentally only locates inmates with a name. The DAs office hasn't been too helpful either; claiming they know nothing about the case.
Either some very dysfunctional byproduct of bureaucracy is at work here, or there is a reason for keeping the names of people who were arrested out of the press.
Is this right? Should we know the names of people arrested on suspicion of anything?
Or would releasing the names of suspected gang members somehow taint the investigation?
Do gang members even read the newspaper?
Even if they don't read newspapers, wouldn't they know if their friends and associates were arrested on murder charges?
These are the questions we been asking in the newsroom all day.
Fortunately...

Arraignment is scheduled Friday for Man-ling (Manling) Tsang Williams, who is charged with capital murder for the slayings of her husband and the couple’s two young sons at the family’s Rowland Heights home. We haven't heard much about this case since her original arraignment was postponed.
Neal Williams' family has been very reluctant to discuss the case and were very private about any funeral. We do know that both families participated in a service of some sort at Rose Hills last week.

First some photos:

Then, the text of Brian Day's story on a hapless Santa, who arrived too early this year.

A would-be burglar was captured early Sunday after he tried to climb into a house through the chimney and became stuck about 10-feet down, officials said.
The suspect, a 32-year-old La Puente man, was booked on suspicion of burglary after firefighters partially dismantled the chimney to free him, said West Covina police Sgt. Dario Aldecoa.cq
A family member living in the home heard faint calls of “help me” and got up to investigate about 4:50 a.m. at a house in the 2100 block of Anson Way, police and fire officials said.

Whittier Daily News reporter Ruby Gonzales put together a nice piece on the rise of the Brown Authority gang in Pico Rivera, which ran in Sunday's paper. The competitor put together a piece of their own that ran today with a look at Brown Authority; it's rise from humble origins, the gangs' ongoing power struggle with Pico Vieja; and ties to the community at large in Pico Rivera.

Durham, North Carolina police picked up a 93-year-old man on suspicion of trafficking in cocaine.
From the story:

Durham police have arrested a 93-year-old man on cocaine-trafficking and related charges.
William C. Tinnen was arrested Thursday during a raid at 204 Teel St., police said in a news release issued today. Police spokeswoman Kammie Michael said she assumed police had a tip that drug activity was taking place there.

In addition to trafficking, Tinnen is charged with possession of cocaine with the intent to sell or deliver, possession of drug paraphernalia and maintaining a dwelling for the sale of drugs. Officers also confiscated three firearms from the house.

Tinnen's bond was set at $200,000.

With a link to Pico Rivera Mayor Ron Belke discussing the impact of the Maria Hicks murder on KABC 790 last monday.

Got this email from Anthony Martinez. He doesn't like my description of Pico Rivera. (BTW, the photo comes from an interesting website take a look

Here's Mr. Martinez's letter:

Main Entry: gritty Pronunciation: 'gri-tE Function: adjective Inflected Form(s): grit·ti·er; -est 1 : containing or resembling grit 2 : courageously persistent : PLUCKY (a gritty heroine) 3 : having strong qualities of tough uncompromising realism

Good Afternoon Sir.

I beg to differ with your description of the City of Pico Rivera. I was raised in The City of Pico Rivera and I am currently living in Whittier near Uptown. Gritty does not come to mind when I think of Pico Rivera. Pleasant...

I have no idea where this happened, but it's a fun surveillance video.
Here's part of the attached story:

Shop owner Gurmukh Singh, 26, decided to take matters into his own hands when two armed robbers entered his Gagi's Market, at 401 S. Warman Ave. on the Westside, shop this week.

Swinging a baseball bat, Singh, chased two armed robbers...

There's not a lot of details available yet. But here's what we know so far:
Shooting death approximately 8 p.m.Thursday in the 4100 block of Maris near Beverly Boulevard. Homicide still on scene at 4 a.m. Friday.

If the Hate Crime DAs are successful in their prosecution of the May stabbing outside Carl's Jr. In Temple City, could federal civil charges be far off for CJ Mitcheltree and his buddies in the "Brown Side" gang?
A group of self-professed supremacists in Temecula just got hit with a huge judgment in a similar case that took place eight years ago.
Food for thought.

Columnist Shirlee Smith has her own take on the aftermath of the Ebony Huel murder in Northwest Pasadena last Friday.
I find the distinction she makes between the "colored" side of town and the "non-colored" side of town a bit simplistic. In fact I'm hard pressed to remember even hearing the "C" word uttered since the early 70s.
That said, the underlying story in this senseless murder isn't about class and race divides, but about economic divides and the fear all parents have about where their teens are at night.
That's my spin.

First, Fred Ortega's story about the bust up of a Mexican drug cartel operating in LA San Berdoo and Riverside counties.
Second, ICE agents rounded up 60 Mexican nationals with ties to San Diego street gangs.
It all adds up to a lot of arrests and potential deportations. (119 to be exact).

Great 9-1-1 call from a cop who believed he was dead!

Got this picture and a couple of others via email. They depict the LAPD pursuit that ended at Rosemead and Colorado Monday night in a fiery collision. (Why is it fiery and not firey?) Anyway thanks to the photog. I appreciate his effort.
Also got a note about the story:

The next time you do a piece about a high-speed chase, include some background about the suspect's upbringing. See, the media seems to believe that publicizing these spectacles is a deterrant. Personally, I don't think these elements ever read the papers or watch the news. By learning what kind of mothers these people had, or if they ever learned right from wrong, the public may be able to comprehend what drives these &**@^%#@.

I don't know how much time this man (or woman) thinks we have on our hands here, but there isn't enought time to background every idiot in a car chase.
The point about these stories is ...

A post titled "the death of Ebony" has some interesting comments from Pasadena residents who clearly feel strongly about the murder of Ebony Huel. Some of the posters have done admirable work tracking down Ebony and what could be her tracks on the Internet.

This morning, I received two letters regarding Pico Rivera and the murder of Maria Hicks.
The first was a reminder about a similar case that occurred at the end of July:

I was looking to see if you had any information on the shooting that happened on or about July 31, 2007 to Ruben Gomez, 51. He was a real estate broker in Montebello. He was shot in Pico Rivera on Bicentennial Road, just north of where the grandmother was shot.

I'll map this one on the new homicide map for comparison purposes.
The next note came from a self-identified Pico Rivera resident who had concerns about her neighborhood and how the major media have a collective tendency to ignore eastern LA County. (BTW the note is slightly edited)

i read several articles regading this tragedy....then i read your comments and i thought that maybe we should all contact Michael Moore the director, he seems to get into alot of trouble for exposing the truth about the matter.
I have grown up in montebello, with pico rivera just a couple of miles away, and it is so true, it is a shame at the criminal activity going on all around us...

Foothill Cities has an interesting give and take on the effect of gang violence in Pasadena and community reaction to it in the wake of Ebony Huel's death Friday night.

Molly R. Okeon reports that if Ebony Huel had the money to pay the cover charge at the Underground Club on Lincoln Friday night, she might still be alive today.
Okeon's story also details Huel's status as an innocent bystander and victim and the arrest of 19-year-old John Reynolds of Los Angeles.
Reynolds was booked on suspicion of murder, said Pasadena police spokeswoman Janet Pope Givens. He is being held without bail scheduled to be arraigned at Pasadena Superior Court today, officials said.
Meanwhile, the blog Pasadena Pundit ...

Sleepy Diamond Bar apparently has a lot of stuff going on behind closed doors.
The final chapter in the Gregory Eversole/Jason Burke murder/suicide involves a girl, a grow house, an early morning murder where the killer may have entered Eversole's apartment through a doggy door and a suicide in the parking lot of a Nevada casino.
Oh....and there was a note.
Complete story here for now.
I'll update link in the a.m.

Fred Ortega mixes the smell of fresh baked breads and the sounds of illegal slot machines in the Foothill Cities with his piece on slot machines that ran over the weekend.
BTW, Fred took the photo in this entry with his very own phone. ...doesn't look like he had a winner in those reels though.
Tania Chatila answers the age old question "What is the sound of one car crashing?" Cacophony! especially when it crashes into a West Covina piano store.

There appear to be several MySpace sites dedicated to the memory of Ebony Huel. This one has several photos and links to others.

This week's innocent victim is 16-year-old Ebony Huel of Pasadena. Huel was apparently the unintended target of a shooting at a party. A man has been arrested in connection with the killing.
Molly Okeon is following the story today and filed this early report.

Some of what Molly has learned:

A friend said Huel went to Rose City High. The firend said parties for teenagers are often held at the building by a group called "The Underground," though she was unsure of who they were. Friday night's party was attended by about 50 kids for a girl's birthday, she said. Friends described the parties as a place high school students go to dance but no alcohol is served, she said. "They have security," she added. "It's not too crazy. Everybody there knows each other." Marlene Jackson, a friend of Huel's aunt when Huel was a baby, drove all the way from Northridge with her 15-year-old daughter's to see Huel's memorial today. Though she hadn't seen Huel in years, she said she stopped by to see what she looked like as a teenager. Jackson said she used to live nearby in Altadena but moved away three years ago for her daughter's safety. "I would never let my daughter come down here," she said of the area. "This is one of the reasons I moved away."

Pro quarterback Michael Vick has reportedly agreed to plead guilty to federal dog fighting charges, according to CNN and the Roanoke Times.
Vick is going to enter a guilty plea to the felony conspiracy charge next Monday at 10:30 a.m., said Lawrence Woodward, one of Vick's defense attorneys.

"

Mike's accepting full responsibility," Woodward said. "He's going to do everything he can personally and professionally to make this situation right."
Meanwhile the Atlanta Humane society ...

Vick's decision came after his last two co-defendants pleaded guilty Friday and agreed in deals with prosecutors to testify against Vick if they were called to do so at trial. A third co-defendant pleaded guilty in July under similar conditions.

Pasadena police Lt. Keith Jones was so happy to report this arrest, he even suggested a headline (very similar to the one above this entry).
Jones said detectives may be able to make this man for five gas station robberies in Pasadena and several others in neighboring communities.
You can bet detectives are quizzing the heck out of the suspect, who was arrested with a plastic gun and a change of clothes in a car that matched the description of a vehicle connected to one of the robberies.

A San Gabriel man, possibly implicated in a Diamond Bar shooting, was found dead in a Primm, Nevada casino parking lot.
Clark County Coroner's officials said the man, identified by posteres here as "j", was Jason Burke, of San Gabriel.
There's some interesting speculation about the case in the comment sections of earlier postings. here.

ICE agents got their woman this weekend.

KABC's Leo Stallworth posted an interesting story on this case. Looks like he had an in with the detectives in the case who gave him most of the information on background (notice the lack of named sources ...there's a lot of "officials said.")
There's also an anonymous comment attached to the story below that seems to indicate there was no suicide note, but a phone call.
I'm definitely making calls Monday on this deal...

Here's the gist of what we'll be reporting tomorrow -- its a twist or wrinkle (whatever you want to call it)

The investigation into the shooting death of a Diamond Bar man led detectives Friday to “Sin City” where they tried to determine if a man who committed suicide there might be linked to the murder, officials said.
Gregory Edward Eversole, 29 was shot to death Wednesday morning inside his apartment in the 21700 Laurel Rim Drive in Diamond Bar, officials said.
The Las Vegas suicide victim, was only identified as a man in his 30s. The man’s identity was not released pending notification of next of kin.

My assumption is that the Vegas man left a note. Clark County coroner's showed up read the note and called LA.
In any event, Sheriff's homicide is still being prety tight lipped about the whole case. We'll take another look Monday morning.

Gang members are gunning down innocent grandmas, and here's what the LA County Sheriff's Department is doing to protect the citizens of the county.
An excerpt:

California lawmakers are considering a bill that would make it a crime for law enforcement or court employees to profit from celebrities misfortunes.
Los Angeles County Sheriff Lee Baca...

A funeral is scheduled in Pico Rivera today for Maria Hicks. The funeral will be held at St. Francis Xavier on Acacia.
The 57-year-old grandmother was apparently killed by taggers after she followed one who had painted a wall near her home last Friday.
Three people have been arrested, but detectives are on the look out for more.
Today's story on the case is here.

More loose ends:
The John and Ken Show on KFI devoted their 5:30 p.m. segment to the case Wednesday. Callers were asked to talk about times they attempted to stop a crime in their neighborhood. I dont' remember any of the callers saying they had suffered consequences from intervening. John Kobylt was on vacation in Alaska, so it was up to Ken Chiampou to field the three or four callers.
Bill Handel's "Handel on the News" show at 6 a.m. Thursday briefly mentioned the story. That's probably because the Times ran the Hicks story on its front page Thursday ...

Some random loose ends:
A coroner's spokesman Wednesday told reporter Ruby Gonzales that Neal Williams died from "sharp force injuries" which would idicate he was stabbed more than once. I saw a comment on an Internet news group from a person identifying herself as a neighbor who claimed Neal was stabbed 40 times.
The children's bodies have been released to Rose Hills Mortuary as of Wedensday and now the coroner is saying an actual cause fo death determination has been delayed. Any number of things could be read into that including the possibility they were poisoned. (No one has said that)...

The arrests of both suspects in the Deandre Netter murder coupled with the arrests of suspects in the hate crime stabbing of a man outside Carl's Jr. on Las Tunas Drive, gave investigators some room to talk about both cases.
On background they have repeatedly said the cases might be linked. The link became clearer Thursday when a homicide detective said search warrants served on most of the suspects in both cases turned up similar graffiit in all their homes. The graffiti seemed to indicate the teens are all memebrs of a group that called itself "Brown Side."
No one is sure about the origin of the name.
Arraignment for Phillips Guerra and Christopher Lopez, both 18, both charged in Netter's murder, has been scheduled for mid-September. Both waived their speedy trial rights in the case, authorities said.

Following the shooting death of Gregory Edward Eversole, 29, of Diamond Bar, detectives interrogated a woman, who was apparently his girlfriend, authorities said Thursday morning.
The girlfriend, who wasn't identified, is not a suspect in the case, the same detective said. She was released late Wednesday.
In any event, the case was