A man working with a cardboard shredder in Lincoln Heights died this morning after he became entangled in the equipment, authorities said.
The circumstances surrounding the incident, which occurred shortly before 8 a.m., were not known, said Devin Gales, a spokesman for the Los Angeles Fire Department. The victim's name and age were not disclosed.
Firefighters declared the man dead when they arrived at the scene in the 3900 block of North Mission Road, Gales said. The Los Angeles Police Department is investigating.
Three shootings in less than two hours this morning left one person dead and four wounded across Los Angeles.
The first shooting, in a parking lot near Sierra Vista and North Western avenues in East Hollywood, occurred about 1 a.m. Los Angeles Police Department Officer Rosario Herrera said an unidentified man, about 25 years old, was found with gunshot wounds and pronounced dead.
The second shooting, about 10 minutes later, was near West Slauson and 3rd avenues in Hyde Park. Herrera said a man shot two men as they were getting into a car after the three had engaged in an argument. Both victims, in their 20s, were listed in stable condition at a hospital, Herrera said.
The third incident, at about 2:30 a.m., was a drive-by shooting of two pedestrians near North Virgil and Burns avenues in East Hollywood, about two blocks from Los Angeles City College. Both men, who have not been identified, were listed in stable condition, Herrera said.
A Los Angeles County sheriff's deputy shot and wounded a man Saturday night in East Los Angeles, the third deputy-involved shooting of the weekend.
Authorities said the suspect pointed a .40-caliber semiautomatic handgun at the deputy after a chase that ended about 9:30 p.m. Saturday in the 1000 block of South Townsend Avenue. The deputy shot the man in the chest.
The man, who has not been identified, was taken to a hospital, according to a news release from the Sheriff's Department. He's listed in stable condition and will be charged with assault with a deadly weapon on a peace officer, authorities said.
The two other shootings occurred Friday night.
Authorities said deputies were called to the 11200 block of Berendo Avenue in unincorporated Athens at 8:45 p.m. Friday after someone reported that a man with a gun had threatened her and their child.
Deputies saw a man matching the description driving about a block west of Imperial Highway and Vermont Avenue. The man fled after officers stopped his vehicle, and officers shot him multiple times after they "saw what they believed to be a weapon in the suspect's hand," authorities said. A weapon was found inside the man's car. He was declared dead at the scene.
Relatives and local civil rights leaders identified the deceased man as Woodrow Player Jr., 22, and said he had been affiliated with the East Coast Crips, served time in prison on a drug charge and was on parole when he was shot. Player's wife, 24-year-old Tyisha Player, said he was acquitted of a murder charge last year and had begun to turn his life around, including attending church and studying for his GED.
The civil rights leaders called for a federal investigation of the shooting. One witness, 35-year-old Shendall Duncan of Athens, said she saw deputies shoot Player three times in the back. Player attempted to keep running and was shot again, Duncan said.
Steve Whitmore, spokesman for the Sheriff's Department, promised a thorough review of the shooting and said "the suspect reached for his waistband and turned toward deputies."
"They, thinking they were going to be shot at, fired," Whitmore said.
About two hours after Player's shooting, a sheriff's deputy shot at a man near the intersection of East Florence and Compton Avenues. According to a news release from the Sheriff's Department, deputies stopped a vehicle for suspected traffic violations about 10:40 p.m. Friday and detained three occupants "when a fourth occupant, the front passenger, produced a small-caliber handgun."
A deputy shot once at the man and missed him. The man, identified as 23-year-old Maynor Guerra, ran away and tossed the gun before he was arrested, authorities said.
Last Sunday, 16-year-old Avery Cody Jr. was shot and killed by a sheriff's deputy who had stopped and questioned him in Compton. Authorities said Cody had a loaded handgun when he was shot, but an attorney for Cody's family said the teen did not brandish a weapon and posed "no threat" to deputies or anyone else.
-- Ari B. Bloomekatz
Photo: Family and friends join in a prayer led by Eddie Jones of the LA Civil
Rights Assn. across the street where Woodrow Player Jr., 22, was killed
the night before near the corner of Berendo and Imperial Highway. Credit: Robert Gauthier / Los Angeles Times
The Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Department has opened an investigation into the death of a man who was found burned to death in an East L.A. alley, authorities said today.
Detectives were called to the 5000 block of Whittier Boulevard near Clela Avenue about 9:10 p.m. Thursday to investigate the man’s death, said Deputy Aura Sierra.
Further details were not available. Anyone with information is asked to call sheriff's homicide detectives at (323) 890-5500.
-- Ruben Vives
Photo: A gate casts a shadow on the area in East L.A. where a man's burned body was found. Credit: Francine Orr / Los Angeles Times
Seven people, including three children, were injured early this morning in a fire at a Lincoln Heights apartment building, officials said.
The fire was reported about 3:15 a.m. at a fourplex in the 2800 block of Manitou Avenue, said Devin Gales, spokesman for the Los Angeles Fire Department. Firefighters arrived to find the two-story building “well-involved” with fire, including visible flames and smoke, Gales said.
More than 100 firefighters battled the flames, and they put the fire out shortly before 4 a.m., Gales said.
The seven injured people suffered minor burns and smoke inhalation and were taken to area hospitals. Fifteen others were displaced by the fire, Gales said.
The cause of the blaze is still under investigation, Gales said.
Across the street from the Los Angeles County coroner's office in Boyle Heights, scores of journalists -- some hailing from Britain, Germany, Colombia and Japan -- clustered on the edge of a sidewalk next to a gas station. Part of the crowd spilled into the street, forcing the police to block off a lane of traffic.
A handful of Michael Jackson fans and some employees of nearby County USC Medical Center gathered across the street in front of a makeshift shrine, where three fans holding up today's Times, a freshly made Jackson T-shirt and a "Honk if you love Michael Jackson" sign stood watch over a wreath of flowers next to the media gathering spot.
Jenna Loa, 19, an East L.A. college student who lives nearby, held a sign made out of the top of a white box a florist up the street gave her. The florist also gave her a pink carnation and a printed photo of Jackson.
After she saw the gathering of media today, Loa said to herself: "I'm going to go show my love. His life was so controversial. It's only when a person's gone you remember the essence of the music. That's why I'm here -- for the music."
[Updated at 11:50 a.m.: Police have placed barriers on Hollywood Boulevard to control the scores of fans who have gathered around Michael Jackson's star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame. The foot traffic is being funneled between the barriers, allowing people to catch a glimpse of the pop singer's star in the sidewalk as they walk past.
At one point this morning people were pushing and shoving their way through the thick crowd gathered around the star, and some fans had gotten into shouting matches with photographers and cameramen.]
The Los Angeles Police Department is trying to control large crowds in Hollywood and at the county coroner's office as people mourn Michael Jackson.
At least 200 people are crowded around Jackson's star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame, and officials are considering placing a barricade around it because pedestrians are having trouble walking on the sidewalk. Hollywood Boulevard will remain open for cars.
The LAPD is also dealing with a flood of reporters and photographers at the Coroner's office, where officials are performing an autopsy on Jackson this morning.
Hundreds of fans are gathering this morning at Michael Jackson's star on Hollywood Boulevard and at the Jackson family home in Encino to mourn the death of the King of Pop.
Today at 9 a.m., flowers will be placed at Jackson's star by the Hollywood Chamber of Commerce.
At 6 a.m., about a half-dozen fans sat outside the Encino house, where the planter out front was filled with dozens of bouquets of roses, daisies and sunflowers. Handmade posters were taped to a brick wall. Many read: "We love you Michael."
Envelopes and cards addressed to the family were placed among the flowers, and small candles on the ground were shaped into an M and J.
The scene was played out throughout the night in various locations throughout Los Angeles. Over at the Ronald Reagan UCLA Medical Center in Westwood, where Jackson was first taken after he went into cardiac arrest, a few hundred people sang and held signs Thursday night. Among them was Zai Bryant of Inglewood.
"I came because no one around me felt my pain," said Bryant, a customer service representative who lives in Inglewood. "I said, 'You know what -- those people at UCLA, they feel my pain. I need to be among fans who know what I'm going through.'"
It was a family affair for others. Henry Barravino, 46, took his teenage daughter, Lemyza, and his 13-year-old son, Ivan, all of whom grew up on Michael Jackson music.
"It's an honor to say goodbye," Henry said. "I grew up with his music."
In Encino on Thursday night, Wilbert "Chico" Ross, Diana Ross' brother, said that when the Jacksons first moved to Los Angeles, they lived with his family for about a month because they didn't have any other place to go.
[Updated at 9:35 a.m.: A previous version of this post misidentified Wilbert Ross as Diana Ross' son.]
"I'm a Motown brat," Ross said. "We were all family."
He stopped by the Jackson residence to pay his respects but left his identification in the car, so he couldn't get through the gate. Ross said Jackson's death is like losing a brother.
"I cried when I first heard," he said. "I'm still crying."
He said he has many memories of Jackson, with whom he grew up.
"We were little kids together," he said.
Aside from playing sports, such as baseball and basketball, with the Jackson crew, he said they'd all have sleepovers. Ross, who is three years older than Jackson, said he would pick him up from school, since he got out earlier than Jackson.
"I'm probably his oldest friend," he said.
Ross said Jackson had a gentle spirit.
"I'm just sad," he said. "It's a sad day for America."
He said Jackson was unfairly persecuted by some, and Ross said he never believed the claims of misdeeds.
"As you get older, you realize your friends. ... They die, they leave you."
-- Nicole Santa Cruz in Encino and Carla Hall in Westwood
Back in February, the world's media converged on Whittier hoping to get a glimpse of octuplets mother Nadya Suleman and her 14 children.
The press moved on when Suleman took a home in nearby La Habra. But the legacy of "Octomom" lives on at the Gold Mine VW Auto Parts building along Pickering Avenue in Whittier.
There, drivers can’t help but chuckle at a display owners Ralph and Diva Chase have set up. Mounted on the wall of the building is half a grabber-blue 1969 Volkswagen Beetle. Inside, a black-hair mannequin -- respectfully named Teri, not Nadya -- is sitting with her legs crossed and is surrounded by babies. A box of diapers sits on the bug’s roof.
Ralph Chase said his 22-year-old niece, Jenna White, put the display together, meant as a tribute to Suleman and her mark on Whittier. “She’s Teri’s stylist,” he joked.
They sometimes change Teri's clothes to freshen her look, and some people have come by to donate clothes for the display.
Chase said that the display had slowed traffic and that a few customers had inquired about the installation. He said he had not heard from the Sulemans.
This is not the only piece of Octomom art. "Octomom: The Musical" is supposed to debut soon. The show include a scenes between Octomom and her doctor, in which she ponders during a moment of weakness, "I need the man, and not the seed."
-- Ruben Vives in Whittier
Photo credits: top, Ruben Vives / Los Angeles Times; bottom, NBC News
Members of the San Gabriel Valley Arson Explosives Task Force have seized more than half a ton of illegal fireworks from a residential neighborhood in Boyle Heights, averting a potentially explosive and deadly situation, authorities said.
“Given the amount of fireworks in the residence, and the densely populated area ... we could have had a detonation of all that material, and it would have destroyed a good portion of the block, or several houses,” said Alhambra Fire Department Assistant Chief John Kabala.
The investigation originated after arson investigators from the Alhambra Fire Department found dangerous fireworks and unlawful explosives being advertised for sale on Craigslist, Kabala said. The department conducts regular checks of the free classified advertising site, Kabala said.
During the search of the site, an individual selling the contraband began corresponding with investigators, and arrangements were made for the exchange of the illegal product for money, Kabala said. Investigators subsequently met with a man and woman at a designated location at 9 a.m. Thursday and arrested them after they conducted the illegal sale.
About 100 pounds of illegal fireworks were recovered from the trunk of a compact vehicle, Kabala said. Investigators then obtained search warrants for locations in South Los Angeles, Boyle Heights and Lincoln Heights.
At the South L.A. location, a small amount of illegal fireworks were retrieved from the bedroom of one of the suspects, Kabala said. But a search of the Boyle Heights address in the 550 block of South Mathews Street and directly opposite a middle school and high school, turned up a huge cache of illegal fireworks.
“It was stored all over the house ... In the living room, the hallway, in cabinets,” Kabala said.
Worried about what could happen to heedless pedestrians and motorists once the trains come, MTA officials organized a news conference Monday to stress safety before the Metro Gold Line Eastside Extension opens for business.
Just around the corner, Ricardo and Rosa Solis worried more about grabbing a breakfast of pozole as they strolled casually over the railroad tracks on 1st Street.
It was a whole lot faster than walking to the intersection, Ricardo Solis, 37, said. What he didn’t know was that since May, law enforcement had issued more than 400 citations that could cost hundreds of dollars each.
“Hijole!” he exclaimed. “And I saw a police officer too. That could have been a lot of money.”
For the first time in half a century, light rail is returning to Boyle Heights and East L.A. The Gold Line is expected to carry commuters later this summer.
But already, MTA and law enforcement officials are seeing some bad habits that need to be broken. Jaywalking across the tracks is common, and cars are crossing intersections when they’re supposed to be stopping.
A group of Lakers fans took their excitement to the streets Thursday
night and began rocking vehicles as they tried to pass through an
intersection in East Los Angeles. Two people were arrested before the crowd broke up.
The group comprised of mostly area residents gathered at Whittier and
Atlantic boulevards after the Lakers' 99-91 victory over the
Orlando Magic in Orlando, a sheriff's sergeant at the East Los
Angeles station said. Video showed a large group of people rocking a sport utility vehicle
that had stopped at the intersection as well as several other vehicles
passing through.
A suspect who allegedly shot and killed two teenage boys during an argument in Highland Park three months ago has been taken into custody, the Los Angeles Police Department said today.
Alejandro Garcia, 16, and Carlos Hernandez, 15, were gunned down the afternoon of March 13 in the 6100 block of North Figueroa Street. The boys were walking home when they were confronted by a group of gang members, police said. An argument broke out and the two boys were shot, authorities said. They were pronounced dead at local hospitals.
City Councilman Ed Reyes, whose district includes the area, and police officials will release the name of the suspect and further details this afternoon. A $75,000 reward was offered by the City Council in April for information leading to the arrest and conviction of the suspects.
Carne asada tacos will soon be returning to a Los Angeles street corner near you, thanks to a legal team that included students from the UCLA law school's clinical program.
A Los Angeles County Superior Court commissioner has nixed a city law that cracked down on taco trucks and other food coaches. The ordinance, approved by the City Council in 2006, forced operators to stay on the go: Trucks were prohibited from parking in the same spot in a residential neighborhood for more than a half-hour, or in a commercial area for more than an hour.
Commissioner Barry D. Kohn on Friday ruled that the city overstepped its legal authority. Catering trucks are regulated by the state, although local governments have the authority to impose additional regulations to protect public safety or health. Kohn found that the city ordinance was not based on either.
The legal challenge was filed by Francisco Gonzalez, who has operated a catering truck in East Los Angeles for more than a dozen years and specializes in carne asada. He received a $150 ticket in December for violating the ordinance.
A few months before that, a judge in August overturned a controversial ordinance passed by Los Angeles County supervisors that made it a misdemeanor in unincorporated parts of the county to park a taco truck in one spot for more than an hour.
Five members of a burglary crew believed to be responsible for breaking into mall jewelry stores across five states were captured in Southern California, officials said.
Los Angeles Police Department detectives have been investigating the case for four months and were able to help Montebello police arrest some of the burglars in the act, officials said.
The crew’s method of operation was to hit shopping malls during off hours and burglarize predetermined jewelry businesses, police said.
Montebello police on Tuesday surrounded the Montebello Town Center and arrested three of the alleged crew members. As a result of those arrests, LAPD detectives then served several search warrants and arrested two additional suspects and additional items of evidence, according to investigators.
All five suspects are in the custody of the LAPD on suspicion of burglary and conspiracy to commit burglary.
A group of Los Angeles Unified School District teachers and community activists who are fasting to protest proposed layoffs will be joined today in a daylong solidarity fast by about 100 faculty and staff members from Lincoln High School in Lincoln Heights.
The Hungry for a Better Education group is protesting the district's plan to lay off thousands of teachers. They are demanding the district use federal stimulus money to avoid budget cuts that will include layoffs and class-size increases.
The hunger strike is in its 14th day, during which time some have had to break their fast for health reasons while others have joined the effort. Only two people have fasted for the entire two-week period. Others have fasted in solidarity for short periods of time.
About 15 members of the group camped out Monday night in front of Lincoln High School after they held a potluck dinner for the community.
-- Raja Abdulrahim
Top photo: Lincoln High School art teacher Sean Leys, who occasionally needs a wheelchair to get to class because of fatigue from fasting for 14 days, joins about 100 fellow faculty members protesting proposed teacher layoffs. Credit: Allen J. Schaben / Los Angeles Times
Lower photo: Lincoln High School math teacher Nora King breaks down a tent near the school. Members of the group Hungry for a Better Education camped out in front of the school as part of a protest of proposed teacher layoffs. Credit: Allen J. Schaben / Los Angeles Times
Gramercy Park, a neighborhood in South Los Angeles east of Inglewood, might not seems to have a lot in common with ritzy Bel-Air. But The Times' Mapping L.A. project found that the communities lead the city of Los Angeles in the number of U.S. armed forces veterans living there. Here's the full Top 10 list:
The percentage of veterans measures the portion of adult population that once served in the armed forces.
Two eastbound lanes of 10 Freeway in Alhambra are closed for the weekend through Monday morning, the California Highway Patrol said today.
Caltrans advised motorists to expect delays and avoid the eastbound section of the San Bernardino Freeway between Atlantic Boulevard and Garfield Avenue. The carpool lane and an adjacent lane are expected to remain closed until Monday at noon.
The lanes are closed as Caltrans workers repave the 10 Freeway in the San Gabriel Valley in both directions between Boyle Heights and Baldwin Park. Work is expected to continue through 2011.
Repaving work will also close the 710 Freeway in both directions between the 91 and 405 freeways beginning Sunday night at 11 through Monday morning at 5.
When The Times relaunched Mapping L.A. this week, we asked readers to tell us what specific neighborhoods meant to them, to share an area's landmarks and hidden treasures and to let us know about the good and the bad aspects of where they live now.
Most of my family lived in Boyle Heights when I was born in 1937. My grandparents on both sides immigrated to the U.S. from Ukraine, Germany and Romania, fleeing widespread pogroms against Jews between 1890 and 1910. Settling briefly in New York, Chicago and St. Louis, they came to Los Angeles and the growing Jewish community in Boyle Heights during the years around World War I. Until World War II, Boyle Heights was L.A.'s largest Jewish community. My parents' families knew each other and both attended Roosevelt High. Mom graduated two years after Dad and, through the charity of a successful cousin, became the first in my close extended family to graduate from college (UCLA in 1932, and worked as a teacher at Roosevelt High until after the war).
Authorities are searching for a gunman who shot and wounded a motorist early this morning on the eastbound 60 Freeway in East L.A..
The shooting occurred between Indiana Street and Downey Road when a driver of a black two-door Mitsubishi Eclipse pulled up next to the victim and fired two shots, shattering the driver's passenger window and grazing his right arm, said Sgt. Keith Wall of the Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Department.
“He’s going to be fine,” Wall said of the driver, who exited the freeway a mile later and notified police about 3:10 a.m.
Officers with the Los Angeles Police Department and the California Highway Patrol initially responded. The investigation, however, is being handled by the Sheriff’s Department.
Anyone with information is asked to call the East Los Angeles sheriff’s station at (323) 264-4151.
Help is in the mail for many Los Angeles County homeowners frustrated by the housing slump.
The Los Angeles County assessor’s office this morning announced that it has finished an automatic review of assessments for 473,000 homes purchased between July 1, 2003 and June 30, 2008 -- which account for about 28% of homes countywide.
County officials reduced assessments on about 70% of properties reviewed. Homeowners getting a break should soon get a letter in the mail. The average property tax savings is $1,400 for owners of single family homes and $1,100 for condominium owners, county officials said.
Those receiving reductions included owners of 256,000 single family homes and 77,000 condo owners. The average reduction in value was $126,000 for single family homes; $96,000 for condos.
The reduction in assessments means a loss of $440 million in tax revenue, a 1% drop county officials anticipated in last month’s proposed budget, said Assessor Rick Auerbach.
Smokers beware: In addition to being banned from bars, beaches, bus stops, restaurants and government buildings, you are about to get booted from county parks and golf courses.
Los Angeles County Supervisor Zev Yaroslavsky wants to ban smoking at the county’s 144 parks and 17 golf courses in “an effort to safeguard the public from potential exposure to secondhand smoke.”
On Tuesday, the supervisor plans to ask county officials to draft a law enacting the ban and return to the board for a vote within three months.
Public Health Director Dr. Jonathan Fielding and Parks and Recreation Director Russ Guiney endorsed the ban, with one exception sure to please the Hollywood crowd: Actors will still be allowed to smoke in the parks, as long as they are being filmed.
County officials estimate the ban will cost about $49,000, mostly to post signs in the parks advertising the new law.
A battle of the Eastsides has been taking place in this city of blurry boundaries, a grudge match to reclaim a title some say a hipper crowd has stolen from the Chicano heart of Los Angeles. Some people east of the L.A. River are telling those also using the Eastside name -- Echo Park, Silver Lake, Los Feliz and downtown -- that they're fed up. ...
The protest is no mere issue of semantics. It's a threat to their community's identity, the Eastsiders said. They argue that the term "Eastside" is synonymous, in California and beyond, with the Chicano movement; home to working-class immigrants and the city's first Latino mayor in more than a century.
It's the Eastside of social justice battles in the 1960s, Spanglish and taco trucks. In pop culture, it's the Eastside of Los Lobos and Cheech Marin's parody song "Born in East L.A." It's Mariachi Plaza, Garfield High School and El Tepeyac Cafe. And the longtime, indisputable dividing line between east and west, the original Eastsiders said, remains the Los Angeles River.
Three couples took turns entering the tiny antechamber of the L.A. County Registrar Recorder's office in East L.A. just before 2 p.m.
County officials had let them cut ahead, expecting them to leave after being turned down for marriage licenses.
But half an hour later, they refused to leave, leaving clerks frustrated and people outside bemused and befuddled as protesters chanted slogans.
Deputies tried to cajole the couples to leave, saying people were waiting in line and that children could be startled by the protest.
"Well, I think we might have to stay here until the law is changed," Jeanne Cordova, 60, told a clerk after she and Lynn Ballen, 48, were denied licenses.
"We've been together 20 years," Cordova said in the cramped office. She and Ballen live in Altadena.
"Give them their licenses!" protesters cried outside.
The KTLA Traffic Blog provides regular updates of the Southern California traffic situation during the morning drive. This feed is live from 4 to 10 a.m. Monday through Friday.
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