Monday morning fishwrap

DEL TACO ROBBED

COVINA - A man escaped on foot with an undisclosed amount of cash after he robbed a fast-food restaurant at gunpoint early Monday morning, according to police.

Employees from a Del Taco located at 400 S Citrus Avenue reported that a masked man armed with a handgun ordered them on the ground, removed cash from the register and fled on foot, according to Covina police Lt. John Curley.

MOTORCYCLE DEATHS UP

LOS ANGELES COUNTY -- The rate of people dying in Los Angeles County motorcycle crashes has almost doubled over the past eight years, according to data from the California Highway Patrol.

Countywide, 96 people died in motorcycle collisions in 2008 compared to 58 deaths in 2001, according to provisional statistics from the CHP.

In 2007, 85 people died in motorcycle collisions.

BAR SHOOTOUT INJURES ONE

WHITTIER - One man was injured in a shooting that occurred after an argument at The Hide Out Bar in Whittier Saturday night, authorities said.

A 44-year-old man was shot once in the shoulder with a handgun after an argument between two groups of patrons outside the bar at the 13000 block of Telegraph Road around 10 p.m., said Sgt. Ralph Gama of the Los Angeles County Sheriff's Department's Norwalk station.

The victim drove himself to Presbyterian Intercommunity Hospital. He is expected to survive, Gama said.

VANDALS HIT ELEMENTARY SCHOOL

WHITTIER - Vandals broke into a classroom at a Whittier elementary school over the weekend and sprayed the classroom with a fire extinguisher, according to officials.

The break-in was reported Sunday evening at 5 p.m. at Lake Marie School in Whittier, said Sgt. Ralph Gama of the Los Angeles County Sheriff's Department's Norwalk station.

BODY FOUND IN ANGELES NATIONAL FOREST

ANGELES NATIONAL FOREST - Officials worked to recover a body found Sunday in the forest north of La Crescenta, authorities said.

The body was found more than 120 feet below a bridge near Big Tujunga Canyon Road, about 10 miles north of the road's origin in Sunland, Los Angeles County sheriff's Lt. Angela Shepherd said.

Officials from the United States Forestry Department discovered the body about 3:30 p.m. and contacted sheriff's officials, Shepherd said.