Media separation at Blair …

This from Brian Day:

I guess this is what the Pasadena PD was trying to prevent by separating the media from the parents:

Christina Anderson, who is the mother of a student, told KCAL9 her sense of security was

shattered.<QA>

“Im upset, Im terrified, rather,” she said. “You think youre sending your kids to school. I

sent him to this school instead of another school in my area thinking this school was a much

better school and then this happens.”

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Blair students still detained

Police are continuing to hold several Blair students and teachers as they search the school for a suspected gunman. This standoff began at 9:30 a.m. and is still going at 5:30 p.m.

Is this necessary?

There seems to be some confusion as to what buildings on the Blair campus have been cleared.

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Desert Sky

  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 Acostas death, her family received two letters in the mail allegedly from Aaron Raigoza Acostas 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 Acostas 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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Blair update

Two are apparently being detained. A police officer running the command post gave specific instructions to keep “the media” away from parents at the school.

Another officer referred to media as “any of those”  as though we are something to scrape off their shoes.

We still don’t know the full extent of the situation.

Students have been evacuated to the football field. Classrooms are still being cleared.

 

 

 

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Captured!

This from Dan Abendschein, working the cop shift this morning:

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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.

 

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Extreme makeover

As you can see Crime Scene is getting remade … per the LADN guidlines recently discussed on LA Observed.

There will be ads (not content specific — yet), a better search capability and faster loading pages …but bear with us because the complete task may take a few days.

Thanks for all your support!

Frank

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Residents win clown house battle

Here’s what we’ll be reporting tomorrow:

Six violent sex offenders living in an Altadena group home will be moved out over the next several days, officials said. The move comes after strong public protests from residents of the Meadows.

I don’t know much mor ethan this…but we’ll stay on top of this story.

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Altadena Clown House update

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On Wednesday, KFI’ s John and Ken devoted their 6 p.m. hour to the sex offender clown house in Altadena. The began by taking issue with us for a “wimpy” headline — “Residents decry halfway house.” But also praised reporter Elise Kleeman’s story.

A few members of the Altadena Town Council appeared on the show and discussed their opposition to the Sober Living residence for sex offenders in their neighborhood. They also said there’s not much they can do without the help of County Supervisor Mike Antonovich, since Altadena is unincorporated.

Antonovich’s spokesman Tony Bell called in to discuss the issue as well.

Nobody’s heard from state officials nor the management of the house “New Horizions Sober Living”, which appears to be branching out into the sex offender housing market.

There are a couple of Altadena blogs discussing the clown house too. They are The Meadows Blog, which originates from the neighborhood where the clown house is located. There’s also the Altadena Blog, a more general blog about the unincorporated Los Angeles County community, which has this post on the subject.

An Altadena reader took offense with Thursday’s column on the subject. Here what he had to say:

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Re “High time to fix the system,” in the Feb. 27th Pasadena Star-News:

I assume your piece is just an opinion piece, rather than what most would consider straightforward news. I haven’t read your column before, so maybe I’m wrong. The situation of the convicts in Altadena is definitely alarming (I almost bought a house up there in ’05) and deserves balanced coverage.

I think your article, & future reporting on this situation, would be more useful without the terrified editorializing. It’s fine for you to quote residents, but you ought to trim your outrage. Give your readers facts and let them decide what to think.

E.g., have you done any legwork (phone calls, interviews, research, etc) to discover whether there’s any correlation between the “groups of these men living together” and an increase in those areas in similar crimes? Or did you just sit down and bang this column out?

That seems a basic question. Without examining it, your article is half reporting (the residents’ reactions) and half fear-mongering (your reaction). So far, fifty percent of your job remains undone. I’m probably not the only reader who wants more from the Star-News.

Regards,

John Sandel

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Alleged baby killer guilty on some counts

Weve just confirmed the verdict is being read right now in the trial of Armando Abundis Sr., an Alhambra man accused of murdering a 2-year-old girl in 2005.

 

He is charged with murder and child abuse resulting in death in connection with the slaying of Sarah Angelina Chavez, the grandniece of Abundis wife, Frances.

I just got off the phone with the court clerk and she said hes been found guilty on some of the counts. The hearing is not complete.
Well update you when we have more information.

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