48 hours in the SGV
El Monte police found themselves in the middle of a bona-fide crime wave earlier this week. Bethania Palma pieced it all together for an article that ran in today's Tribune. Crime Scene gotta give a shout out to Detective Ralph Batres, who rolled to all the incidents described below and found time to answer his telephone in the process.
Here's an excerpt from Bethania's report:
EL MONTE - A stabbing, a shooting, three search warrants leading to a major pot bust and a bomb scare involving 30 pounds of TNT.
It's a roll call of major crime that sounds like it could fit neatly into a busy month for any police department.
But in El Monte, those calls made up part of a frantic 48 hours that saw police handle two homicides - making arrests in both cases; bust up a $2 million pot operation 15 miles away in Rowland Heights; and swiftly clear a neighborhood endangered by 30 pounds of TNT.
"We have a very active city," said police Chief Ken Weldon. "It's a challenge to stay on top of it."