Monrovia: February 2008 Archives

Somehow sheriff's deputies were able to determine that a man who said he was shot in Duarte was actually shot in Altadena.

Last night we reported another Duarte shooting. The victim had taken himself to an area hospital and we were going to fill in the gaps.

TUrns out it didn't happen in Duarte at all or Arcadia or Monrovia. The shooting took place several miles away in Altadena.

Injured was a Latino man. Sheriff's detectives said the shooting was gang related.

Police report a man was shot in the Monrovia Arcadia Duarte area Tuesday night. Very little is currently known. The man was described as a male hispanic. He apparently drove himself to the hospital after being shot.

The wounds were described as "non-life" threatening. This story is developing it's unclear where the shooting occurred. Police are at an undisclosed location searching for evidence.

We will update this as soon as we have more information from the Temple City sheriff's station.

This occurred Friday night in Duarte. I've heard that residents of the area have seen a significant amount of police activity last night and today.

Brian Day wrote the story:

This is video of the taping of Behind the Headlines with Ralph Walker. The show, which airs on cable television, was a wide-ranging discussion of the ongoing violence in Monrovia. If you plan to watch, set aside an hour. It's long but interesting.

It’s easy to blame music for the troubles many communities like Monrovia are facing.
“After all,” some might say, “look what they’re singing about nowadays. It’s all about violence and prison.”
Truth be told though, pointing at music isn’t that simple.
Can you guess which of the following are lyrics from a rap song?

A.) Well I feel like snappin’
Pistol in your face
I'm gonna let some graveyard
Lord be your resting place.”

B.) The warden led the prisoner
Down the hallway to his doom
I stood up to say goodbye like all the rest.”
 

C.) “I’m on my way to Chino, rollin on the grey goose
Shackled from head to toe."

If you guessed C, you probably don’t listen to love songs on KOST. It’s from Snoop Dogg’s “Murder was the Case.”
In case you are wondering, choice A is a set of Muddy Waters lyrics from “I Can’t be Satisfied,” which was published in 1946.
County star Merle Haggard is responsible for the second set of lyrics. They’re from “Sing me Back Home,” recorded in 1969.

So much for that theory.

One Monrovia teen is suggesting her friends wear white Tuesday as a way to promote peace. The quote on a MySpace page devoted to the cause says this: "save our YOUth support the fight for peace in the 626 "

Here's another excerpt from the MySpace page, which can be found here:

As you all know we have been through quite alot these past few weeks.The Monrovia/Duarte gang shootings have left four dead and many injured. We have all been affected by this issue believe it or not, wether you live in Monrovia, Daurte, Arcadia, Pasadena or any other neighboring cities throught the 626 / SGV area ,youve probably head about the shooting. And now, finally farther cities have been informed about our issues.Many of us have lost friends and family memebers.Today I went to visit my probation officer & she asked me what I do with my spare time,(since I only attend two days of school) and I simply replied "nothing really, just wasting time away with friends".She told me "Wasting time,I bet your friends who were killed by the shootings would be very upset to hear you are "wasting time" ".And then issued me 40 hours of community service.So I came here and thought about how I could do a service to my community.Then this idea came to mind.My community is suffering,my peers are dying & our youth is doing alot of "wasting".I got as many of my friends together & told them to spread the word. WE the youth are going to stand strong for each other.

Over at Metroblogging LA, Monrovia resident Frazgo is doing a heck of a job blogging his experiences during the past week. His posts on the subject (and a few more on other topics) can be found here.

My personal favorite of his posts is this one.

LA Opinion, the Spanish language newspaper has been covering the recent events in Monrovia. I found and translated two articles that may be of interest.

They are here and here.

Additionally, I uncovered a report from Monrovia City Manager Scott Ochoa outlining some history and again giving the city's take on the ongoing situation.

A funeral Mass for Sammantha Salas is underway in Alhambra this morning. Salas mother and father are in attendence as are several hundred mourners who've come to pay their respects. The church is surrounded by Alhambra police and Sheriff's deputies as well as detectives.

One week ago today Salas was gunned down outside an apartment on Peck Road in a section of Monrovia that has seen an uptick in gang violence targeting innocent teens.

Following the service Sammantha will be buried in East Los Angeles.