Posted by Frank Girardot at 8:59 AM | Permalink | Comments (1)

Melissa Pamer reports that the Los Angeles County Sheriff's Homicide Bureau has released the sketches of two men wanted in connection with a Jan. 14 drive-by shooting in Monrovia in which two men might have been slightly injured.

Here's the sketches at left.

I imagine folks in Monrovia have some questions for officials about certain elements of the story.

Here are my questions and observations:

1. Why is homicide releasing sketches of figures wanted in what is likely to be charged as an assault at best? It's my understanding that homicide detectives only investigate actual homicides.

2. When it comes to the Sammantha Salas slaying, why does homicide Lt. Dan Rosenberg say he's not ready ask for a reward from Supervisor Mike Antonovich's office? Antonovich's flack Tony Bell has said repeatedly that he's talked to detectives about that. Can we infer that these two might be wanted in the Salas case as well? What's the story here?

3. Officials that Pamer talked to said crime tips have decreased as media attention has waned in Monrovia.  It almost sounds as if the media is being blamed for a lack of interest in the community. Truth be told, Monrovia seems to have several pretty active community forums among them FCBLOG, City Hall, North Primrose and Frazgo on MetBlogs. Additionally we've had a section of our Web site exclusively devoted to the shootings.

4. Early on in the investigation, authorities blamed the rising tensions in the community on recently released parolees. Do these composite drawings match the mug shots of actual parolees reportedly released into the community?

Posted by Frank Girardot at 3:26 PM | Permalink | Comments (1)

Chuck Hubbs, who was the night city editor at the Los Angeles Herald-Examiner when I was a copy boy there, always had me running weekend casualty counts.

Every Friday and Saturday, just when I'd be getting ready to leave, he would exhort in his unmistakably deep voice. "Check those wires kid. See how many bodies have piled up."

I'd rip pieces of printer paper from machines that spit out copy from the Metro Wire and City News services and run them back to Chuck so that he could compile a daily body count for an inside page.

Some weekends were slow with one or two slayings. Others seemed quite busy; with eight, 10, even 15 killings.

I wonder how many of those even got solved?

This past weekend undoubtedly would have qualified as a slow one. And yet, it could have been quite deadly.

Young men were injured in shootings in Whittier and Pico Rivera.

A few other teens might have taken bullets in Baldwin Park. But somehow they were luckier than Jose Perez, 16. The Baldwin Park High student was shot to death talking to a friend outside a home in the 5000 block of Maine Avenue Saturday night.

By my count, Perez is the second student from that high school to succumb to gun violence this school year. That seems awfully high.

In November, Baldwin Park High student Luis Estrada, 14, and his father Pedro were gunned down by four attackers in front of their home in the 4000 block of Downing Avenue.

Three teens, all former Baldwin Park students, have been arrested in the case, officials said. A fourth remains at large. Gang rivalry apparently motivated the incident.

As they did in the Estrada case, school administrators promised Monday to provide grief counseling to anyone who needed it at Baldwin Park High School.

"The school will of course do something for the students who need the services," said Lynne Kennedy, associate superintendent for student achievement in the Baldwin Park district.
Although there is absolutely no indication that Perez had gang ties, it's pretty clear his attackers used gang tactics. Witnesses said the men drove slowly north on Maine Avenue. They flipped a U-turn, drove up to Perez and opened fire.

Because Perez had only just enrolled at Baldwin Park, and was killed on a Saturday night far away from campus, Kennedy claimed the slaying reflects more on the community at large than on the high school.

"You have to expect these things," she said. "There's crime in the city and there's going to be fall over to students who attend the school."

Kennedy also claimed that there is no gang problem at Baldwin Park High School, even as she pointed to the city's tenacious problem with three notorious groups.

This morning (as I do most mornings) I know I'll drive along Puente Avenue past Baldwin Park High on my way to work.

I'll watch the kids pass and wonder who is going to college? Who is going to Iraq? Or Afghanistan? Who is going to get married, settle down in town and raise another generation of students?

I'll have another question on my mind this morning though: Who will be the next name in my casualty count?

Posted by Frank Girardot at 2:13 PM | Permalink | Comments (8)

Posted by Frank Girardot at 11:09 AM | Permalink | Comments (20)

Due to some technical issues, Thursday's column was much shorter in print and online than I had originally written it. (In other words I wrote long and space was short). You probably notice in reading it that it's pretty much a follow up to Sam Quinones excellent piece in yesterday's LAT.

I've heard that Quinones attended every day of trial and was able to score some interviews that I couldn't get. Most notably no one from the Azusa PD returned calls Wednesday to discuss Ralph Flores, Azusa 13 or the impact and aftermath of the spree of hate crimes that plagued Azusa between 1998 and 2004.

Complete column after the jump...

Continue reading "Thursday's column" »

Posted by Frank Girardot at 10:06 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)

The one-man Azusa crime wave known as Ralph  "Swifty" Flores, 26, received the death penalty Tuesday, as Tribune night guy Brian Day reported:

Deputy District Attorney Michele Hanisee, who prosecuted the case along with Deputy District Attorney Ian Phan, said Flores deserves to be put to death, "Because he smirks when he plans to kill people, he laughs when he does it, and he brags about it afterward. That's what the evidence showed."

She added that Flores has shown no compunction for his crimes, as he demonstrated by assaulting a sheriff's deputy before the trial began and ordering a "hit" on a deputy during the jury selection process.

Flores sat silently and motionless as the verdict was read, Hanisee said. He showed no reaction at all, she added.

Defense attorney Pierpont M. Laidley said he believes negative feeling toward gang members in general caused jurors to overlook problems in the prosecutions case. "That's why I feel my guy was lynched," he said.

Los Angeles Times' EME expert Sam Quinones extensively covered the trial and put some context in his story about the significance of the sentence and the effect of Flores' crime wave on Azusa politics. Quinones also notes the connection between Azusa 13 and Jacques Padilla, an Azusa emero who's been in the news lately. Here's a snippet from the Times:

For Azusa, the case marks the end to a violent chapter in which a handful of gang members called the "trigger clique" terrorized the town with a series of shootings, killings, robberies and hate crimes targeting blacks.

Their rampage lasted from 1999 to 2004.

Besides Flores, seven other Azusa 13 gang members were convicted of the crimes and sentenced to lengthy prison terms -- five of them in one 2004 trial.

"It was a violent time for the city," said Sgt. Mike Bertelsen, Azusa's gang expert. "We were having a murder a month at the end of 2002."

What brought this violent period to an end "was a combination of citizens, the clergy, City Council and police all working together," said City Manager Francis Delach. "I think that had a big impact."

Azusa's experience shows how a few gang members following directives from the Mexican Mafia prison gang can become a public policy issue, scaring residents while taxing the budget and police resources of an otherwise peaceful town.

 

 

 

 

Continue reading "Swifty justice" »

Posted by Frank Girardot at 10:52 AM | Permalink | Comments (11)

This comes from the FBI who are continuing to search for Emigado Preciado. You might remember that a Whittier billboard featuring a picture of preciado was defaced with gang graffiti in recent months. Basicaly, the FBI is upping their reward to $200,000. Here's an excerpt from their press release:

The reward for information leading to the arrest of fugitive from Los Angeles, Emigdio Preciado, wanted for a brutal attack on two Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Deputies during a routine traffic stop, has been increased to $200,000, announced Salvador Hernandez, Assistant Director in Charge of the FBI in Los Angeles.

Preciado’s photograph is also being advertised on billboards throughout Los Angeles, courtesy of billboard space provided by Clearchannel, in an effort to draw attention to the reward. Emigdio Preciado, Jr., a.k.a. “Junior,” “Trigger,” “Spooky,” and “Snyper,” the alleged triggerman in the September 5, 2000 attack in Whittier, California, was the 485th person to be placed on the FBI’s historic list when he was added in March 2007.

 On the date of the attack, Deputies Michael Schaap and David Timberlake were on patrol in Whittier, California, in a marked Sheriff’s patrol car when they saw a 1979 Chevrolet van traveling toward them. As the van approached, the deputies noticed the van’s headlights were not functioning properly and proceeded to stop the driver of the vehicle. When the van came to an abrupt stop, the deputies came under immediate attack from a burst of automatic gunfire.

The gunman, one of four occupants traveling in the vehicle, appeared from an open door in the van, according to Sheriff’s detectives. Preciado, an American citizen, was identified as the alleged shooter.

The FBI's wanted poster is here.

Posted by Frank Girardot at 9:19 AM | Permalink | Comments (2)

A Los Angeles jury found that Ralph Flores killed four people between 1999 and 2004. Prosecutors said he was a member of one of Southern California's most violent gangs.

Judge Kathleen Kennedy ( you may remember her from the O.J. Simpson preliminary hearing) heard the case and will continue to preside over future hearings.

The tattoo where Flores' mustache should be reads "AZUSA."

As for the convictions, one killing carried a hate crime enhancement, another invoved the torture death of a suspected female informant.

Here's the full story. The penalty phase in Flores' trial begins Monday. he could be sentenced to death.

Posted by Frank Girardot at 5:53 PM | Permalink | Comments (4)

The feds are rounding up Puente 13 members in connection with a methamphetamine distribution ring, according to the FBI.

Already arrested are:

John Antonio Dacosta, 28, Steven Mark Mancha, 34, Ernest George Mancha, 34, and Lenny Robert Casas, 18, all of Whittier; Lorraine Christina Lopez, 34, Josue Deloen, 26, Rene Valdez, 39, Rafael Munoz Gonzalez, 38,
Steven Burgan, 25, Noel Gonzalez, 56, Noel Gonzalez III, 35, Michael Anthony Ortega, 35, Henry Collao, 20, and Joventino Garcia III, 18, all of La Puente; Andy Villa, 27, of Glendora; Hoia Thanh Nguyen, 32, of El Monte; Wayne Arthur Goik, 59, of West Covina; and Antonio Torres, 20, of Phoenix, who was arrested
in Arizona.

From the wire services and an FBI Press Release:

Last December, the Sheriff’s Department created a task force along with the U.S. Attorney’s
Office, DEA and the U.S. Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms and Explosives, to
investigate the drug and firearms trafficking operations of Puente 13, prosecutors
said.

Puente 13 distributed large quantities of methamphetamine, a portion of which was produced
locally in clandestine laboratories, prosecutors said.

Puente 13 members also allegedly sold cocaine, marijuana and oxycodine in Los Angeles,
Seattle, Arizona, Alaska and North Carolina.

Authorities executed 35 federal search warrants, which yielded one pound of suspected
methamphetamine, 20 pounds of marijuana and 16 firearms, prosecutors said.

“Today’s arrests will severely disrupt firearms and methamphetamine trafficking operations
in the San Gabriel Valley,” said DEA Special Agent Timothy Landrum in a
statement.

Posted by Frank Girardot at 5:26 PM | Permalink | Comments (7)

PASADENA - Seven suspected gang members were arrested in the city in the last week for the stabbing and beating of three people at a city gas station.

The people were fueling up their car at a gas station near the intersection of Lake Avenue and Washington Blvd. around 2:30 a.m. on February 10 when the suspects surrounded them and attacked, said Lt. Alex Uribe of the Pasadena Police.

The men arrested are Julio Hernandez, 23, Gustavo Menzo, 18, Edgar Sentero, 19, Michael Martin Solis, 19, Robert Julio Arnaud, 19, Jose Antonio Garcia, 24, and Wilbur Dominguez, 19.

Uribe said that he believed the suspects are members of the Pasadena Latin Kings gang.

Six of the suspects were arrested on February 28, when Pasadena police detectives and SWAT team members served search warrants at three Pasadena locations and one in Duarte, police said.

The victims survived the attack, said Uribe. The suspects were charged with assault with a deadly weapon, he said

Posted by Frank Girardot at 11:03 AM | Permalink | Comments (6)

This comes from Laura Eimiller at the FBI's Los Angeles press office:

The second annual International Chiefs of Police Summit on Transnational Gangs will be held this week over a three-day period at the Universal Hilton Hotel in Hollywood, California.

The summit will conclude on Wednesday, March 5th.

Law enforcement officials at the local, state and federal level from Los Angeles and international cities directly impacted by the criminal activity of transnational gangs will attend the three-day summit, and will be joined by international Chiefs of Police from the nations of El Salvador, Honduras, Guatemala, Belize, Mexico, Canada, Nicaragua and Spain, where MS-13 criminal activity and organized crime trends of other Central American gangs has increased.

The Summit is being hosted by the following agencies:

FBI and the National Gang Task Force

United States Department of Justice

Drug Enforcement Agency

Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives

United States Marshals Service

U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement

United States Department of State

Los Angeles Sheriff’s Department

Los Angeles Police Department

Los Angeles City Attorney’s Office

The United States Attorney’s Office/U.S. Department of Justice

The Los Angeles District Attorney’s Office and the Los Angeles Mayor’s Office will also participate in the summit.

Posted by Frank Girardot at 12:10 PM | Permalink | Comments (1)

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.

Posted by Frank Girardot at 8:53 AM | Permalink | Comments (1)

Here is some more information about the "person of interest" in Eileen's murder.

 From the story:

POMONA - A parolee gang member relative of the husband of a Covina woman who was found murdered in her van on Saturday has been named a "person of interest" in the case by Pomona Police.

Police said Joseph Orta, 34 has not been officially named as a suspect in the murder of 22-year-old Eileen Ponce-Orta, who was found fatally stabbed in the neck on Saturday.

Orta, a former gang member out of Azusa, was convicted for the 2001 attempted murder of his step-father, according to family members of the victim.

Other notes from reporters Brian Day and Dan Abendschein:

Posted by Tania Chatila at 4:45 PM | Permalink | Comments (6)

Once a month, the Hispanic Outreach Taskforce gets together with the police chief in Whittier to discuss topics of interest to the community at large.

The meeting is a brown bag deal. There are sandwiches, sodas and a lot of conversation.
Topic A last week was a gang injunction the police are beginning to enforce against Whittier Varrio Locos, near Uptown.

Police Chief David Singer said officers are still in the process of notifying 40 gang members that they can’t do certain things in their neighborhood anymore. Among those things: carrying weapons, loitering, throwing gang signs and tagging.

Montebello has a similar ordinance on the books and officials claim that since it was enacted in 2004, there has been a marked decrease in gang crime.

In the wake of recent violence in Monrovia and Duarte, Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Capt. David Shaw of the sheriff’s Temple Station, which patrols unincorporated areas of the community, suggested a gang injunction was being explored as a possible way to get gang members off the streets. No action has yet been taken.

While the injunctions in Montebello and Whittier are relatively new, the tool has been in law enforcement’s toolbox since the mid-1990s.

For example, Norwalk used one with great success against a particularly violent Latino gang. Pasadena hoped to duplicate the effort and enjoined the Pasadena Denver Lanes Blood gang.

The move essentially flowed from a community reaction to the Halloween Homicides. On Oct. 31, 1993, Edgar “Eddie” Evans, Reginald Crawford and Stephen Coates were gunned down as they walked home from a friend’s Halloween party.

Herbert “Monster” McClain, Lorenzo Newborn and Karl Holmes, all members of the Denver Lanes gang, were convicted of murder and ultimately sentenced to death.

Enforcement of the order against PDL was fairly effective, and the neighborhood around Summit Avenue became safer for a while.

Nearly a year later, city officials and the District Attorney’s Office came close to taking similar action against the Villa Boys and Krazy Boys Latino gangs.

But when Bernard Melekian took over as chief in 1996, he derided the injunctions and chose to fight gangs with a mantra of “community policing” that was popular at the time. The injunctions faded away from lack of enforcement and Pasadena’s gangs went back to being Pasadena’s gangs.

A few years later, Melekian defended the decision to Daniel Sharfstein, a one-time reporter here, who was writing a piece for a publication called The American Prospect.

The chief, now interim city manager, called injunctions “an intellectual substitute for responsible public policy.”
My guess is that officials in Montebello, Whittier and Monrovia know best what they are up against. They also know what makes “responsible public policy” in their communities.

If a gang injunction works in Monrovia, my guess is there won’t be too many law-abiding taxpayers who will complain.

Posted by Frank Girardot at 8:34 AM | Permalink | Comments (26)

Fred Ortega's piece on the history and influence of La Eme is now online. Here's an excerpt from the bottom of the story:  The SGVN's online look at gangs is here.

The (Lola) Llantada case is only the latest example of the influence that the Eme wields in the San Gabriel Valley.

In April 2006, four men were arrested in Pomona in connection with an attempted Mexican Mafia contract killing. Their trial is scheduled for this year.

Last November, reputed Emero Frank "Frankie B" Buelna, 61, was shot to death in a Pomona sports bar. Buelna was reputed to have broad power within the Mexican Mafia, and officials are still investigating the motive behind his killing. The perpetrators are still at large.

And in December, reputed Eme member Eulalio "Lalo" Martinez, 46, was charged with ordering the killing of former gang member Donald "Pato" Schubert in Rosemead in 1998. In that case, prosecutors allege that Martinez runs the Lomas Rosemead street gang from Pelican Bay State Prison, where he has been incarcerated for the past 15 years.

La Eme's deep roots in the San Gabriel Valley became clearly evident to Steinwand, the sheriff's homicide investigator, when he moved to the Industry Station from the South Central Los Angeles area early in his career.

"Over there in South Central when there were orders from the Eme to stop drive-bys, guys would go out and do five of them in one night just to spite them," said Steinwand, who has been a detective for 18 years. "But they have a lot more control on this side of the 710 (Freeway).

"When I came to work at the Industry Station, it was amazing," he added. "When the Eme said something, (the gangs) listened."

 

Some of this information surfaced during the investigation of Robert Whitehead's killing. Whitehead was killed after confronting taggers near his parents home. Among those suspected in the case was Paul "Malo" Salazar, a graduate of Bishop Amat High School in La Puente, who was also a suspected member of Puente Trece.

Salazar was killed at his home during a get-together in July.

Interesting side note, Whitehead's brother is a Monrovia police officer. 

Posted by Frank Girardot at 8:48 AM | Permalink | Comments (20)

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:

Posted by Frank Girardot at 6:51 PM | Permalink | Comments (14)

Posted by Frank Girardot at 10:37 AM | Permalink | Comments (11)

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.

Posted by Frank Girardot at 12:13 PM | Permalink | Comments (24)

Some interesting notes that we will be developing throughout the day:

1. There some belief that Jose Garcia, the convicted killer of Deputy David March apparently lived in the apartment complex where Sammantha Salas was shot. It makes sense as it is only a short drive between there and the spot on Live Oak where March was murdered.

2. Who owns the apartment complex? What is their relationship with local authorities?

3. According to Rob Hammond, meetings between Monrovia officials, Duarte officials, police and sheriff's department and the school districts took place yesterday. What happened?

4. The condition of Sammantha Salas friend who was also shot Saturday night.

5. Your continued thoughts on the state of affairs and the ongoing racially motivated gang war in Monrovia.

By the Way I plan to keep this at the top of the page today so that commenting here will be easy for new readers

Posted by Frank Girardot at 8:40 PM | Permalink | Comments (41)

Posted by Frank Girardot at 5:00 PM | Permalink | Comments (3)

The suspected killer of a Diamond Bar man was captured last week when the City Council decided to pour extra funds into a homicide investigation.

Not only did detectives end up nabbing Jae Yi, 24, and his girlfriend, Jennifer Pasasouk, 23, both of Rancho Cucamonga, they also put 18 suspected burglars behind bars in connection with 22 burglaries.

Not a bad day's work.

Many of those arrested were part of a ring targeting Indians and Asians, officials said.

Yi and Pasasouk are facing a variety of charges stemming from the murder of Panalal Shah, who died during the burglary of his home Dec. 4

As for the rest of the group, none has been charged with burglary - yet. Most were picked up on violations ranging from outstanding warrants to probation and parole violations.

Even so, state Justice Department Assistant Chief Jerry Hunter's description of the ring was the most telling.

"There are killers and ruthless burglars who terrorized the San Gabriel Valley for months," Hunter said.

Perhaps it's time for Monrovia and Duarte to pull a page from the Diamond Bar playbook.

Monrovia and Duarte have been faced with a form of terrorism themselves - and not just over recent weeks. Commenters on the Crime Scene Blog say racial tension and gang violence have been routine in area neighborhoods for years.

Even Monrovia Chief of Police Roger Johnson recognizes the problem.

"It's not something that's new," Johnson said last week. "It's something that's continuing for the foreseeable future until we're able to bring under control the gang violence that's occurring in this particular neighborhood."

But the bangers aren't targeting each other this time. The gangs have turned on innocents who happen to be the wrong color.

One of those victims was Sanders "Pete" Rollins, 64, who was killed yards from the front door of his home on Sherman Avenue.

To its credit, the Monrovia Police Department coordinates an anti-gang task force with deputies from Duarte. But clearly, there is either no money to run the suppression full time or not enough personnel to staff the project, which is known as DAMAGE - Duarte and Monrovia Anti Gang Enforcement.

And, Johnson said his department has been providing additional patrols to the neighborhood.

But clearly, it was more than patrols and well-established units that solved Shah's murder.

After they secured the overtime money from the Diamond Bar City Council, detectives and patrol deputies worked across jurisdictional lines to crack the case.

They worked their informant network and known fences, and identified most of the known second-story men from Corona to Hacienda Heights.

After that, detectives got warrants and recovered stolen property ranging from passports to savings bonds.

In Monrovia on Monday, no one was available at the police station to talk about the Rollins investigation. It's not clear if they've employed any of the same techniques.

There was also no one on hand to address the ongoing spate of racial violence that claimed the life of one black man, Rollins, and severely wounded a black teen earlier the same weekend.

Why?

"Off for the holiday," according to one

dispatcher.

Posted by Frank Girardot at 10:32 AM | Permalink | Comments (14)

Industry sheriffs deputies and transit police raided a Long Beach apartment early Thursday and arrested what they described as "one of Southern California's most prolific taggers:" Carlos "Krisis" Perez, 23, of Long Beach.

Perez, a suspected member of the East Side Longos sureno gang is being held in a county lockup in lieu of $100,000, sheriff's Deputy Brian Sanford said.

Krisis was targeted for arrest after tagging a soundwall on the 60 Freeway near Wilson High School, Sanford said.

Part of the investigation involved locating Krisis' MySpace page then monitoring the IP address of its owner (probably with MySpace's permission). Then tracking down the IP.

There's no court date set for Krisis yet.

Posted by Frank Girardot at 2:37 PM | Permalink | Comments (16)

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A father and son were shot to death near their Baldwin Park home Wednesday night, officials said.

Here's the CBS 2 version from overnight.

Here's the early SGVN  version.

The shooting in the 4000 block of Downing remains under investigation.

Posted by Frank Girardot at 6:41 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)

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Victim in last week's shooting has been identified as Osorio Reyes, 26, of La Puente. Police had to notify family in Mexico before releasing his identity.

Posted by Frank Girardot at 9:08 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

It turns out that Pasadena police characterized a murder as "gang-related" when in fact it may not have been.
You can bet that jumping to an early conclusion about the nature of the murder of Jamal Tims has made it less likely the case will be solved anytime soon.
Most homicide investigators believe tat murders are solved int he 24-hours immediately after they occur.
Here's an excerpt from the story by Molly R. Okeon:

PASADENA - Police now believe that the murder of a 28-year-old Pasadena man late last month was not gang-related but person in nature, though officials could not elaborate due to the ongoing nature of the investigation. Jamal Lewis Tims was shot to death around 6:30 a.m. Sept. 28 in the 500 block of North Mentor Avenue. "It appears to be personal," said Pasadena police spokeswoman Janet Pope Givens. She said while no suspects have been arrested, detectives are "working on active leads." Tims' shooting death was the second of two that occurred in the last week of September in the city's northwest section.

Posted by Frank Girardot at 1:40 PM | Permalink | Comments (2)

Jennifer McLain is set to report on a suicide that followed a gun battle Tuesday in Bolen. Apparently police responding to a domestic dispute instead encountered a gang member with a gun. Shots were exchanged. The gang member missed cops and the cops missed the gang banger, according to officials.
Somehow the gang banger slipped into a back room of the house and committed suicide before cops could reach him.
We'll have more as it develops.

Posted by Frank Girardot at 11:26 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)

Jennifer McLain is reporting that one of the wounded in the La Puente shooting has died. We'll keep updating this through the afternoon.

Posted by Frank Girardot at 2:29 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

Since putting together a follow up story on the stabbing death of Chris Boo K. Lee, I have received several emails and phone calls from friends and family of Lee's who want to share their memories of Lee.
Here's a sampling from one letter sent Wednesday evening: (I'm keeping the writer anonymous and have edited this slightly)

Hello Frank, regarding your article today about Chris, it is good to know that your doing your job and made those names public. It is unfortunate to hear that the gangmembers that were arrested ... were released for a reason I do not know yet. I am a very close friend of Chris and I can personally tell you that Chris was not a gangmember. ... The last 7 years i have known him he has always been a good student, helpful to his family, and a very loyal friend.

yeah paul used to be my best friend till he became stupid

Posted by Frank Girardot at 9:47 AM | Permalink | Comments (1)

Whittier Daily News reporter Ruby Gonzales put together a nice piece on the rise of the Brown Authority gang in Pico Rivera, which ran in Sunday's paper. The competitor put together a piece of their own that ran today with a look at Brown Authority; it's rise from humble origins, the gangs' ongoing power struggle with Pico Vieja; and ties to the community at large in Pico Rivera.

Posted by Frank Girardot at 10:51 AM | Permalink | Comments (2)