LOS ANGELES ( Gang Member gets Life in Prison for Killing L.A County Deputy )

A gang member pleaded guilty to murder Tuesday in the fatal shooting of an L.A. County sheriff's deputy in 2008 and was sentenced to life in prison without the possibility of parole.
Carlos Velasquez, 28, pleaded guilty to murder and one count of possession of a firearm by a convicted felon in the Aug. 2, 2008, slaying of Dep. Juan Abel Escalante, right. The plea was accepted by Superior Court Judge Ronald S. Coen.
Velasquez was originally charged with capital murder and could have faced the death penalty. He admitted he killed the deputy as he was leaving his parents' Cypress Park home to head to work at the Men's Central Jail.
Escalante was shot in the back of the head as he reached into his car to adjust a child’s car seat.
Deputy Dist. Attys. Phillip Stirling and John Colello say Velasquez wrongly believed he was killing a gang rival and shot the deputy numerous times.
After a joint investigation by the LAPD and the sheriff's department, Velasquez was arrested in December 2008. Three alleged members of the Cypress Park gang, Jose Renteria, Armando Albarran, and Roberto Salazar have also been charged in the killing and their trials are pending.

Escalante had been a member of the sheriff's department for 2½ years and had served in the Army Reserve. He worked at the Men's Central Jail guarding some of the county's most dangerous inmates.He and his family had been living with his parents while waiting to move into a new Pomona home.
The suspects are alleged members or associates of the notorious Avenues gang, which has long feuded with the Cypress Park gang, whose territory includes the northeast Los Angeles neighborhood where Escalante lived.
The Avenues is among the most powerful gangs in the city and retains strong ties to the Mexican mafia, known as the Eme, which is a dominant force in California prisons.
The Cypress Park neighborhood where Escalante grew up had experienced a lull in gang violence in recent years until rival groups began feuding in 2007. The violence led to a raid mostly targeting the Avenues gang by police and federal agents, who stormed an area around Drew Street, about a mile north of where Escalante was killed.

DOWNEY ( SHOOTING 4 people shot ) Business area -3 people fatally wounded

Downey police are investigating a shooting at a business in an industrial neighborhood Wednesday morning.
Authorities did not provide many details, noting that it remains an "active scene." KABC 7 reported that four people were shot. NBC 4 is reporting that there may be three people fatally wounded.

Dean Wright, owner of House of Wright next door, said many police are gathered outside the business, United States Fire Protection Services.
He did not hear gunfire, but was told that a woman was fatally wounded and another was injured.
“It’s just unbelieveable," Wright said. "It’s just horrible.”

EDIT   UPDATE
At least three people are dead and two others have been wounded in shootings in Downey, according to Downey Fire Department Capt. Robert Hohn.
The events surrounding the shooting are unclear, but authorities are working two active crime scenes on Cleta Avenue. One is a home and the other is a business. It is unclear whether the two incidents are related.

CALIFORNIA (Surfer Killed by shark ) Vandenberg Air Force Base

VANDENBERG AIR FORCE BASE, Calif. — A surfer was killed Tuesday by a shark off a beach at coastal Vandenberg Air Force Base after a summer of shark sightings along California's central coast, authorities said.

Francisco Javier Solorio Jr., 39, of Orcutt was killed in the attack off Surf Beach in Lompoc, the Santa Barbara County Sheriff's Department said.

He was bitten by the shark in his upper torso.

 

Solorio "had a friend who he was surfing with who saw the shark bite or hit the man," said sheriff's Sgt. Mark A. Williams. "His friend ended up swimming over and pulling him from the water where he received first aid."

The friend started first aid while another surfer called for help, but Solorio was pronounced dead by paramedics at the scene.

The Air Force said Solorio was not affiliated with the base, which allows public access to some of its beaches.

The type of shark involved and other details were under investigation.

It was the latest shark attack fatality at Surf Beach, about 150 miles northwest of Los Angeles.

In October 2010, Lucas Ransom, a 19-year-old student at the University of California, Santa Barbara, died when a shark nearly severed his leg as he body-boarded.

Hundreds of miles south near the coast of San Diego, a 15-foot great white shark is believed to have killed triathlete David Martin in 2008.

There were no shark warning signs posted Tuesday at Surf Beach, said Lt. Erik Raney, adding that beaches don't typically post such notices unless the location had a recent shark sighting.

"We've had shark sightings up and down the Santa Barbara coastline pretty frequently recently," said Raney, adding that the sightings are well-publicized. Last month, warning signs were posted at Santa Barbara Harbor, about 65 miles southeast of Surf Beach, after a 14-foot great white shark was spotted by a surfer.

In July, a man escaped injury near Santa Cruz after being thrown from his kayak by a great white shark that bit through the vessel. An almost identical incident occurred off the coast of Cambria in May.

Death by shark attack is rare. An average of 65 shark attacks occur each year around the world that typically result in two or three deaths, according to the Pew Environment Group.

17 yr old BOY ARRESTED ( COLORADO Murder CASE ) Jessica Ridgeway

Austin Reed Sigg, left, a student at Arapahoe Community College who was arrested and charged with the murder of Jessica Ridgeway, right. (Courtesy Westminster Police Department)

 

By CHRISTINA NG (@ChristinaNg27)

Oct. 24, 2012

 

A community college student has been arrested for the abduction, murder and dismemberment of 10-year-old Jessica Ridgeway, Colorado police said today.
Austin Reed Sigg, 17, was arrested and charged with two counts of first degree murder and kidnapping. Sigg is a student at Arapahoe Community College, according to his arrest report.
"Law enforcement received the major break in the Jessica Ridgeway investigation they have been hoping for," the Westminster Police said today. "Late Tuesday evening police received a call that led them to a home near the Ketner Lake Open Space."
After Sigg was contacted in relation to Ridgeway's case, he was handcuffed and taken to the Westminster Police Department for interviewing and booking. He was "cooperative," according to the police report.

ORANGE County ( 2 Marines ARRESTED for BB Gun shooting spree ) Camp Pendleton

Two 20-year-old Camp Pendleton Marines were arrested this weekend on suspicion of a short but far-reaching BB-gun shooting spree across four south Orange County cities, an Orange County sheriff’s spokesman said Tuesday.

Store and car windows were shot out during the spree, which ran late Saturday night to early Sunday morning, Orange County Sheriff’s spokesman Jim Amormino said. At least 31 victims were identified.

Amormino named the two Marines as Joseph Nahale of Fremont, and Jesse Ivie of Gresham, Ore. The two men were booked in jail on suspicion of shooting into a vehicle and felony vandalism.

He said officials turned the two men over to Marine base officials and plan to ask the Orange County District Attorney’s Office to file charges.

 

According to Amormino, at least one victim was a night-shift worker who was resting in her car in Dana Point just before midnight Saturday when she heard gunshots and saw glass flying inside her car.

He said the woman popped up to find her rear and passenger windows blown out and spotted a red Ford Explorer driving away, Amormino said.

A short time later in Laguna Beach, several cars and the storefront windows of seven businesses along Coast Highway were shot out.

One person in Newport Beach and three more in San Clemente also reported destroyed windows and damage.

“We believe all of this happened in a very short time frame,” Amormino said.

Not long after the reports of damage started rolling in, a patrol deputy spotted a red Ford Explorer with two Marines inside, the spokesman said.

A search of the sport-utility vehicle turned up two high-powered BB guns, which the two Marines said they had bought hours earlier at a Walmart, Amormino said.

SAN DIEGO Poway ( Suitcase MURDER suspect busted in Rosarito )

SAN DIEGO — A man suspected in the death of a Riverside County woman whose body was found inside a suitcase at a Poway hotel has been arrested.

Joseph Dorsey / Riverside County Sheriff's Department

Joseph David Dorsey, 28, was taken into custody Tuesday afternoon by Mexican law enforcement near Rosarito, Mexico, Riverside County District Attorney spokesman John Hall said.

Dorsey was wanted in connection with the death of Christine Stewart, 47, who worked as a behavioral health specialist at a drug rehabilitation facility in Hemet, Hall said. Authorities said the two were dating.

Stewart was reported missing from her Canyon Lake apartment Aug. 6. Her body was found two days later at the Best Western Country Inn on Poway Road.

Dorsey had checked into the hotel but did not check out leaving property, including a large, rolling suitcase, behind, Hall said.

The luggage was 3 feet long and 18 inches wide and deep. Stewart’s 5 feet 2 inch body was found stuffed inside.

Investigators said evidence found in Dorsey’s apartment led them to believe that Stewart was killed in Riverside County, Hall said.

Dorsey, who is on parole for attempted burglary, has a criminal record that includes assault with a deadly weapon and battery on a peace officer.

He has been charged with one count of murder as well as allegations of a strike prior and two prison priors, Hall said.

Dorsey is being processed for extradition back to the U.S. where he will be booked and prosecuted, the spokesman said.

TUCSON Az ( BABY girl Found in duffle bag in good health ) See the angels picture

An infant girl, who was in good condition, was placed in a duffle bag and left at a northside apartment complex Saturday night.
Police responded about 8 p.m. to an apartment complex in the 200 block of East Prince Road after a 911 call about the abandoned infant, said Sgt. Maria Hawke, a Tucson Police Department spokeswoman, on Monday.
Investigators learned that the newborn — about four to six days old — was left outside of the manager’s apartment, Hawke said.

The manager reported that someone rang the doorbell, and when the manager opened the door, the “duffle bag was found with the baby inside of it,” said Hawke.
Tucson Fire Department paramedics took the baby to a hospital for evaluation, and the baby appeared to be in good health, said Hawke.
The infant is now in the custody of Child Protective Services.
Police do not know the identity of the mother, but “would like to conduct a check of her welfare to ensure that she is not in need of medical attention or other services,” Hawke said.
Anyone with information about the mother’s identity or whereabouts is asked to call 911 or 88-CRIME, Hawke said.
Police would like to remind the public that newborns can be anonymously handed off to health care workers at all Tucson-area hospitals, Tucson Fire Department stations and Casa de los Niños.