Man killed by officers had previous run-in with Pasadena Police *

Leroy Barnes, the man shot and killed after apparently firing on Pasadena police officers had been in a shootout with Pasadena police in the early 1990s, according to authorities.

Barnes apparently had a long criminal history that includes convictions for tresspassing, spousal battery and assaulting an officer. A story is coming and we’ll continue to flesh out the details of the shooting throughout the day.

*UPDATE from Nate McIntire:

We don’t have the shootout confirmed and the charge against him for assaulting an officer (w/o a weapon) was dismissed. Convictions for assault with a deadly weapon, battery, driving without a license and littering are all confirmed. The web update has all the right info

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“Salt and Pepper Bandit” suspect captured

24251-Salt and Pepper 2-thumb-300x322.jpg

Officials captured a man suspected of robbing or attempting to rob 17 Southern California banks in four weeks , inlcuding one in Covina, Wednesday, authorities said.
Brian Keith Robinson, 49, was arrested without incident at his Los Angeles home, FBI officials said in a written statement.
Robinson has been given the moniker, “the Salt and Pepper Bandit,” because of his graying hair.
Robinson is suspected in a series of bank heists dating back to Jan. 5 in Covina, Los Angeles, Santa Monica, Encino, Seal Beach, Beverly Hills, Glendale and Manhattan Beach, officials said.
Robinson allegedly passed a demand note to tellers and threatened to start shooting if his demands for cash were not met, officials said.
Robinson was first identified as a suspect in the Salt and Pepper Bandit robberies on Jan. 10, the FBI statement said, however he allegedly continued robbing banks, officials said.
He was located and arrested after photographs and the suspect’s name were released to the public, officials added.
Robinson, who officials said is being charged federally, is due to make his first appearance before a United States magistrate in the United States District Court in Downtown Los Angeles Friday.

*Photo courtesy of the FBI

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OIS Update in Pasadena

A police officer shot and killed a young Pasadena man near the intersection of Washington and Mentone, officials said Thursday. Police said they shot the man after he opened fire on them. A young woman is in custody.

An unruly crowd and several television crews are making crowd control difficult for the Pasadena Police Department, according to reports from the scene. The shooting is the second OIS in Pasadena in the last several months.

Not sure if this is a training issue or a matter of bad timing. Perhaps Chief Barney Melekian will address some of the issues raised at the scene.

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Heavy police activity in Pasadena*

Police are responding en masse to Mentone Avenue, just south of Washington Boulevard. Not  a lot is clear at this point except that there is a “person down,” there are possible reports of “shots fired,” and police were asking for major backup in a hurry.

A command post was being set up, and officials were heard over the radio inquiring about the condition of a patient.

Radio traffic also indicated police may have been in foot pursuit of suspects.

*Here’s what the California Fire Page has to say about the incident:

*Shooting* Mentone@Washington, Pasadena; Single vict down w/ gun shot wound, Large crime scene area, Violent crowd, PD command require arrest team setup and slug gun to scene; Live Scanner Traffic: tinyurl.com/LAFEED ; Red 2 and PPD Ch4 ###

Reporter Robert Hong is en route to the scene.

**4:51 p.m.: News wire reports are now indicating that this incident is an officer-involved shooting.

 

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Northcott’s death penalty

After his 1929 conviction for killing young boys on his Wineville Chicken Ranch, Gordon Northcott was put to death within months, as Wikipedia notes:

On February 8, 1929, a 27-day trial before Judge George R. Freeman in Riverside County, California, ended. Gordon Northcott was convicted of the murders of an unidentified Mexican boy[5] and brothers Lewis and Nelson Winslow (aged 12 and 10, respectively).[11] The brothers had been reported missing from Pomona on May 16, 1928.[12] However, it was believed Northcott may have had as many as 20 victims.[13] The jury heard that he kidnapped, molested, tortured, killed, and dismembered these and other boys throughout 1928. On February 13, 1929, Judge Freeman sentenced Northcott to be hanged.[14] The sentence was carried out on October 2, 1930.

While death sentences are still handed out in California, the average time from conviction to execution is about 16 years. Thus today’s Crime Scene poll, Do you think Northcott would be executed for similar crimes today?

 

 

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Thursday’s column (the Her-Ex conspiracy)

The lobby of a newspaper can be a powerful attractant to people who believe their story should be told.

Over the years I’ve heard tales of lost gold mines, crooked probate courts, scheming landlords, high-level CIA/FBI conspiracies and heart-wrenching stories detailing the cost of drug abuse, rape and murder.

It’s the stuff that used to make talk radio appealing.

That was back in the time before hosts stopped taking calls and simply turned to using their three hours of radio time to rant and spew ala Limbaugh, Hannity, Kobylt and Chiampou.

That said, very few of the tales I have heard ever made their way into print.

I could probably list a dozen reasons for that: lack of space; lack of time; lack of verifiable sourcing. But it doesn’t stop the tide of storytellers who believe that newspapers are their last resort.

In recent weeks, I’ve been visited several times by a woman who thinks she has one of those stories. She brought me a ream of paperwork that includes bank statements, court records and handwritten notes. She asked that I hold onto them because she feared possessing the documents would cause her harm.

I’m not sure why she feels that way, the documents that aren’t public record are indecipherable.

The woman, who identified herself as Marilyn Ross, has been back two or three times, and little-by-little more of her story has emerged.

In the mid-1990s Ross turned her son in for murder. She said the act brought her scorn and ridicule in the community. Nonetheless she said she appeared on the “Rolonda Show” and discussed the case.

“He was a Crip, and I did the right thing,” Ross recalled.

Since then, she’s bounced from home to home, primarily in Los Angeles, but now she’s living on the streets of West Covina.

I asked where.

“There’s a church with grove behind it, so I stay there,” she said. “Or I go to the Starbucks at Eastland.”

That’s probably the whole story. I’ll never know. And doubtless there are many men and women living through similar tough times on streets throughout the San Gabriel Valley.

Sometimes they just need someone to listen.

The first time I encountered this was when I worked at The Los Angeles Herald-Examiner in the late 1980s.

One gloomy Saturday morning in June a security guard at the back door called up to the city room. He asked Chuck Hubbs, the editor, if someone could come downstairs to speak to a guy with a story idea.

As the copy boy, I was low man on the totem pole.

I made my way down, and standing in the alleyway was a 6-foot, 7-inch bald monster of a man clutching a ream of ledger paper stuffed into a binder with a bunch of other stuff piled on top.

His gripe was the government conspiracy out to ruin his life.

The CIA had planted a bug in his brain back in the 1960s. Every move was monitored.

After about 20 minutes, I excused myself and called upstairs.

“Chuck, what should I do?”

“Is he wearing a foil hat?” Chuck responded.

“Nope.”

“Tell him we’re part of the same conspiracy and get back to work.”

I’ve never seen a big man move so fast.

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Wrestling legend suspected in homicide

Verne Gagne, the man who brought the nation Hulk Hogan and Jesse “The Body” Ventura, is suspected of fatally injuring his roomate at a board and care facility for Alzheimer’s patients in Minnesota.

Here’s the story:

Minnesota wrestling legend Verne Gagne is under investigation in the death of a fellow resident at a Bloomington care facility, a local television station is reporting.

Police said Gagne, 82, threw his roommate, Helmut R. Gutmann, 97, to the floor on Jan. 26, breaking his leg and injuring his head, according to KMSP-TV. Gutmann was treated for his injuries, but was later rehospitalized, the station said. He died Saturday.

The men lived at Friendship Village, a care facility for people with Alzheimer’s disease and dementia. Both had Alzheimer’s-related dementia, KMSP-TV said.

Speaking of professional wrestling, Ray Renati, a Northern California blogger suggests that Mickey Rourke should get the best actor nod for his role in the Wrestler. Here’s a portion of his take:

Once every ten years or so a movie comes along that seems to transcend the art form. From the first moments we realize that we are not just watching a film but that we have been given the rare gift of peering into a person’s soul. In “The Wrestler” you quickly realize that for the next two hours you’re going to be given a raw, unprotected, and brutally honest performance from a man who has suffered and has chosen, as a true artist, to reveal that suffering to the world. I can think of few other examples of this in film. Al Pacino in the first two “Godfather” movies comes to mind. Judy Garland in “The Wizard of Oz” perhaps is another example, all be it a strange and surprising one.

 

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Spector jury visits Alhambra

ALHAMBRA – As jurors visit the home of Phil Spector, streets around his home will be affected, police said.

The street Spector’s home is on in the 1700 block of Grand View Drive will be blocked off to keep crowds at bay, police said.

Also, no parking signs will be posted from on Grand View Drive from Norwood Place to Parkview Drive, police said.

This is the second time a jury has visited the Alhambra mansion where Lana Clarkson died. Spector is on trial, for the second time, for the murder of Clarkson.

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211 suspect nabbed at bus stop after dye pack explodes

Ruby Gonzales spun a pretty funny tale about a hapless bank robbery suspect who was captured after a dye pack exploded. Here’s the top:

WHITTIER – A man with a tan purse robbed a bank this morning but failed to make a clean getaway.

He left the loot and his getaway cab when a dye pack exploded, staining the cash, the taxi and him. He got rid of his red-stained jacket and tried to blend in by waiting at a bus stop.

But the bus was on a layover, Whittier Police said. And the man had been at the stop 20 minutes when he was caught by an officer who spotted him and the purse.

Robert Michael Varela, 22, of Los Angeles was arrested on suspicion of bank robbery.

Whittier Police spokesman Officer Mike Dekowski said the stolen money was recovered as well as the jacket the suspect discarded. He said officers found a BB gun that resembles a handgun in the purse.

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