shooting: August 2008 Archives

Willene Garcia, whose son Albert wsa shot and killed in Montebello on June 21, heard today that a juveniule suspected of involvement in the slaying has been arrested. Here's a letter from Willene:

Earlier today I received a phone call from the Chief advising the arrest of one suspect.  I was told a follow-up call would be placed to me later on today.
 
I'm very happy that they caught this guy. I'm curious to find out who he is and what he looks like.  I cannot wait to see him face to face.  I want him to know exactly what he has taken from me and my family.  Albert's brother Dominic cries himself to sleep almost every night, and so do I.  Dominic started school this week and it was rough.  Usually Albert would give him a Pep-talk before starting school and he wasn't there this time to do that. 
 
The thing I miss most about Albert is how loving he was.  He would tell me he loved me all the time and give me a big hug.  When I was sick he would be the one to take care of me.  He was like the little man of the house.

Montebello police Chief Dan Weast called to say that officers have made an arrest in the double homicide that shocked the city over summer.

Twelve-year-old Albert Anthony Garcia and his father Juan were gunned down at a graduation party on June 21. Two others were injured in the shooting. Several weeks ago I wrote a column criticizing the Montebello PD for a lack of progress in the case.

Looks like they've proved me wrong.

Robert Hong pieced together a powerful account of Jennifer Avina-Ortega's last moments. The woman was shot to death Tuesday night standing at a pay phone in the 1800 block of East Villa. Police are releasing very few details about the case, implying they are close to catching the killer or killers here's an excerpt:

Shot in the back and bleeding profusely, Avina-Ortega crawled on the pavement and screamed out in Spanish in the moments before she died, witnesses said.

"Ayudenme!" - "Help me!" Avina-Ortega screamed. "No me quiero morir!" - "I don't want to die!"

Seconds after the gunfire, a witness, who declined to give her name, said she saw a car speed out of the parking lot adjacent the barbershop and a small market that is part of the same building.

Then a second vehicle drove past slowly, its headlights off. The windows were rolled down and it appeared the occupants were looking at Avina-Ortega as she lay on the sidewalk.

The car turned right on Villa, then drove through a red light at Allen Avenue and kept going, witnesses said.

According to Pasadena police that's the name of the city's second homicide victim in 2008.

Avina-Ortega, 20, was shot to death in the 1800 block of East Villa street, officials said.

Police who found her were responding to reports of gunfire and heard the plaintive wail of a woman crying out for help. She died before midnight at Huntington Memorial Hospital, police said.

Family and friends of Avina-Ortega Wednesday gathered near where she fell. A memorial was erected and theories about here death were bandied about. Police said they have no witnesses and no motive for the shooting.

Here's the photo caption:

Berlin Ortega writes a message on a memorial poster for her sister
Jennifer Ortega, "I Love You Jenny", in the parking lot of Linda Rosa
Market in the 1800 block of Villa Street in Pasadena, Wednesday,
August 20, 2008.  Jennifer Ortega was shot to death at about 10 p.m.
on Tuesday night in the parking lot of Linda Rosa Market. (SGVN/Staff
Photo by Walt Mancini/SXCity)

 

We've posted a story about a young Pasadena woman who was shot to death in the 1800 block of East Villa Avenue in Pasadena Tuesday night.

The woman's name was not released. She was taken from the scene of the shooting to Huntington Memorial Hospital where she was pronounced dead.

It is Pasadena's second homicide in 2008.

Osman Villalobos, 18, was stabbed to death at 1388 Iowa Ave. in Pasadena on Sunday, June 16. Villalobos had been stabbed during an argument with another man over a girlfriend. Police later arrested Pasqual Diaz, 22, on suspicion of murder. 

From reporter Nathan McIntire:

MONROVIA - A reward for information leading to the arrest and conviction of the person responsible for killing Sammantha Salas has been increased to $20,000, Los Angeles County Supervisor Michael D. Antonovich announced Tuesday.

Salas, 16, was fatally shot on Peck Road near Longdon Avenue in the unincorporated area of Monrovia on January 26.

The two suspects in the slaying are described as African-Americans in their late 20's wearing dark-colored bandanas or hooded sweatshirts. The suspects are believed to be members of the Du Roc Crips gang.

A summary of some items we've been covering over the weekend:

1. EL MONTE -- Homicide detectives are investigating the mysterious death of a man whose body was found on the property of an office building Sunday.
2. ROSEMEAD -- The man who died in a fiery crash at the end of a police chase Saturday was driving an SUV that belonged to a woman found shot to death at her Gardena business.
3. LA PUENTE -- A man allegedly shot and wounded two of his roommates during an argument at their house Saturday.
4. SOUTH EL MONTE -- Officials have released the name of a man found who was fatally shot in his car last week.
5. NORWALK -- A man was shot and wounded in the parking lot of a convenience store Sunday.
6. SONORA -- The Montrose Search and Rescue Team rescued a 34-year-old man Sunday after he spent two nights at the bottom of an abandoned mine shaft.

This is a press release from Supervisor Gloria Molina's office. It came just two days after an emotional hearing before the Supes about the deaths of Good Samaritans who try to stop graffiti vandals throughout the county:

Los Angeles County Supervisor Gloria Molina will join Lieutenant Gil Carrillo of the Sheriff's Department Homicide Division to publicize a $25,000 reward for anyone with information leading to the arrest and conviction of the person(s) responsible for the death of Luis Sandoval, a 71-year-old East Los Angeles resident who was shot in the abdomen after witnessing two males spray-painting graffiti on the side of a business located at the corner of East Olympic Boulevard and South Hicks Avenue. 

Mr. Sandoval had been riding his bicycle home and lived just four houses away from the scene of the crime.  Though the shooting took place on February 25, 2007, Mr. Sandoval died approximately four months later on June 13, 2007.  Authorities have since confirmed that his death was due directly to the injuries he sustained as a result of the shooting and are now asking for the public's help to solve this homicide--the third graffiti-related killing to occur in the First District.  (Robert Whitehead of Valinda was shot and killed in March 2006 while trying to stop graffiti taggers from spray-painting his neighbor's garage; Maria Hicks of Pico Rivera was shot and killed in August 2007 while trying to stop graffiti taggers from spray-painting a wall in her neighborhood.) 

Surviving relatives of Luis Sandoval will be available at tomorrow's press conference for interviews and pictures of the crime scene will be on display.
 
"Luis Sandoval was a hard-working, retired steel worker with a large family whose only transgression was being at the wrong place at the wrong time," Molina said.  "The anguish his death has caused his family is indescribable--and it is particularly painful to the community since it is the third graffiti-related homicide to take place in the First Supervisorial District.  It is my sincere hope that this $25,000 reward compels someone to bring information forward that will help us catch the people responsible for Luis Sandoval's murder."

The Board of Supervisors is about to extend the time limit on the $10,000 reward offered for information leading to the arrest and conviction of two men suspected of killing Sammantha Salas in January.

Salas was gunned down in a section of Monrovia known as "No Man's Land." Police believe her killing was the result of a series of escalating gang violence attacks between black and Latino gangs that took on racial overtones.

The reward vote takes place Tuesday.

***

Sheriff's homicide Lt. Dan Rosenberg said Monday that all five juveniles suspected of taking part in the robbery that killed Covina Hills resident Michelle Chien at her home earlier this year will be tried as adults. One suspect, Victor Maurtua, 19, a member of the El Monte Flores gang remains at large in the case.

"This is a pretty vicious case," Rosenberg said. "And it was random basically. These were local kids. One individual orchestrated the whole things and the others followed along."

***

Rosenberg also has a crew working alongside LAPD detectives in hopes that they can solve the slaying of Los Angeles County Sheriff's Deputy Juan Escalante, 27. 

The deputy was slain outside his home two weeks ago, as he left for work at Men's Central Jail.

According to the Los Angeles Times:

A U.S. Army reservist, Escalante had worked for the Sheriff's Department for 2 1/2 years. He was assigned to the "high power" unit, where dangerous inmates -- many of them violent gang members -- are housed in single-man cells. Investigators said this week that the shot that killed Escalante was fired from behind him and that he may not have seen his killer or killers.

Ropsenberg said deputies and officers are working alongside and getting along.

"We're working real well together," he said. "We still don't have a motive, but we're looking at everything."