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Daily Local & Regional NewsWatch
LA Police Protective League

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Los Angeles
Police Protective League
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the union that represents the
rank and file LAPD officers

  Daily Local & Regional NewsWatch

Daily News Digest
from LA Police Protective League

August 7, 2019
Law Enforcement News

Two Temecula Residents Face Murder Charges In Fatal Shooting Of LAPD Officer Juan Diaz
Los Angeles Police Chief Michel Moore announced charges Tuesday against three out-of-town gang members accused of fatally shooting an off-duty Los Angeles police officer at a taco stand during a 90-minute crime spree in northeast Los Angeles last month. The three — two men and a woman — were identified as Francisco Talamantes, 23; Cristian Facundo, 20; and Ashlynn Smith, 18. All three are residents of Temecula and were being held without bail since their arrest on Friday. Facundo fired the fatal shot that killed Officer Juan Diaz, Moore said. Talamantes and Facundo face charges including murder with special circumstances and other counts. That would make them eligible for the death penalty if convicted. Smith faces charges including shooting into an inhabited vehicle and accessory to murder. “This is an ongoing investigation and prosecution,” Moore said. “This was part of a larger crime spree.” Friday's arrests ended a six-day manhunt for the suspects. The department would not release photos of the suspects because investigators are still gathering evidence and interviewing people, Moore said.
Los Angeles Times

Pedestrian In Critical Condition Following Hit-And-Run In South LA
A pedestrian is in critical condition following a hit-and-run in South Los Angeles Tuesday night. The accident happened shortly after 9 p.m. at the intersection of Martin Luther King Jr. Boulevard and Woodlawn Avenue. According to police, the victim was a 15-year-old boy who was riding a bicycle when he was dragged 1,000 feet down the road to an intersection. The boy's mother was notified and was at the hospital with her son, according to police. Police said they were looking for a 2007 or 2008 dark blue or green Honda Accord with tinted windows with front-end damage. Anyone with information is asked to call police. There is currently a $25,000 reward for information leading to the arrest and conviction of the driver.
CBS 2

Shooting In Harvard Heights Injures 2 People

LAPD is investigating a shooting in the Harvard Heights area of Los Angeles Tuesday afternoon. Two people were rushed to the hospital in an unknown condition, according to the Los Angeles police. Authorities say the victims were inside a vehicle at the time of the shooting. The shooting was reported at about 2:48 p.m. in the area of Normandie Avenue and Olympic Boulevard. Authorities are investigating reports of this incident being a car-to-car shooting in which the victims were able to drive a short distance before coming to a complete stop. A description of the suspect was not immediately known, but investigators say a white Porsche was seen leaving the scene. Police did not release additional details. SkyFOX aerial images show a large crime scene. Normandie between Olympic Boulevard and 12th Street is closed fort the investigation. The public is asked to avoid the area.
FOX 11

LA County Sheriff's Department Says Public Plays Important Role In Stopping Active Shooters
After a weekend that saw two mass shootings in Ohio and Texas, the Los Angeles County Sheriff's Department wants people to know there are measures you can take to protect yourself and family. "Unfortunately, this can easily happen anywhere in Los Angeles County at any time," Sheriff Alex Villanueva said. The department held a briefing to discuss what the public can do during active shooter situations and department response systems in place. While there are no current active threats, in the coming weeks, sheriff department personnel are charged with reviewing and discussing the recent shootings and applying any lessons learned. "We are constantly improving and changing our protocols based on current tactics being employed by the bad guys, and we learn from every single active shooter event, such as the ones recently happened in Ohio, as well as in Texas," said Sgt. Mike Harding. Officials say the public plays an important role in the fight against active shooters. "For example, the shooter at El Paso, he was seen walking through a parking lot carrying a rifle and wearing hearing protection," Harding said. "That should be a red flag to anyone that should have watched it to realize that something is wrong with this picture."
ABC 7

3 Men Sentenced In East Compton Gang Shooting That Wounded 4-Year-Old Boy
Three men were sentenced Tuesday in connection with wounding a 4-year-old boy in a 2017 East Compton shooting, officials announced. Luis Julian Beltran Perez, 24 was sentenced to 120 years to life in prison, while Edgar Manuel Rosas, 26 and Salvador Sanchez, 21, were both sentenced to 30 years to life, according to the Los Angeles County District Attorney's Office. The three men, who were described as gang members, were also ordered to pay $4,097 to the California Victim Compensation Board. The defendants were convicted last November of two counts of attempted murder and three counts of shooting at an occupied vehicle in connection with the June 7, 2017 shooting. The jury also found true the allegations of use of a firearm and that the shooting was committed for the benefit of a criminal street gang.
KTLA 5

Ex-Wells Fargo Manager Pleads Guilty To Aiding $14 Million Identity Theft Scheme
The former manager of a Wells Fargo branch in Glendale accused of unfreezing suspicious accounts tied to a $14 million scheme to defraud the Internal Revenue Service pleaded guilty on Monday, August 5. Hakop Zakaryan, 34, of Glendale, admitted to one count of felony bank fraud as part of a plea agreement with prosecutors, officials from the U.S. Attorney's office said in a statement. He was accused of lying to his company's loss prevention department in order to give clients suspected of fraud access to their accounts, which had been flagged for suspicious activity. The defendant allegedly knew that those bank customers were using phony identities, and was paid thousands of dollars in cash to lift restrictions on their accounts, officials said. In one instance, fraudsters managed to withdraw $29,453 from a suspicious account after Zakaryan was paid $3,000 to help unfreeze it. The accounts were opened using fake Armenian passports, and part of a scheme to launder about $14 million in federal tax returns that were fraudulently obtained from the IRS, prosecutors said.
Los Angeles Daily News

FBI: California Gunman Had List Of Possible Targets
The FBI has opened a domestic terrorism investigation into the mass shooting at a California food festival after it discovered a “target list” compiled by the gunman whose relatives apologized Tuesday and said they were “horrified” by his actions. The FBI disclosure came during a funeral mass for Keyla Salazar, a 13-year-old middle schooler who was one of three people killed on July 28 by gunman Santino William Legan during the Gilroy Garlic Festival. Thirteen others were injured. It was the first of three mass shootings within a week that killed a total of 34 people in Gilroy, Dayton, Ohio, and El Paso, Texas. The attacks have prompted widespread calls for gun reform and heightened mental health care. The FBI has opened domestic terrorism cases in two of the attacks. In Gilroy, the FBI cited the 19-year-old Legan's list of targets that included religious institutions, courthouses, federal buildings and both major political parties in the U.S. Authorities say the gunman in Texas posted a racist, anti-Hispanic screed online. The FBI has not said if it is considering the Ohio case to be domestic terrorism, even though the shooter expressed a desire to commit a mass shooting.
Associated Press

Public Safety News

L.A. County Confirms 16th Local Measles Case; Union Station Travelers May Have Been Exposed
Public health officials are investigating what effect, if any, a person with measles who traveled through Union Station in late July had on the community. The person, who authorities said doesn't live in Los Angeles County, came through Union Station at Bay No. 8 of the Patsaouras Transit Plaza on July 23 between 12:15 and 2:15 p.m. Other people could have been exposed to the virus, but there is no known risk related to measles currently at the location, according to a Los Angeles Department of Public Health statement released Tuesday. There have been 16 cases of measles in Los Angeles County residents in 2019, in addition to nine non-resident cases that traveled through the county. The majority of cases were people who weren't immunized or did not know if they had ever been immunized. The July case is not connected to outbreaks reported earlier this year, health officials said.
KTLA 5

Local Government News

Latest Sepulveda Basin Encampment Cleanup To Be First Of More To Come, Says Councilwoman
An effort is underway to clear away homeless encampments throughout the 4-mile-wide Sepulveda Basin and to enforce existing laws that restrict staying past sunset in the areas of the park under the city's control, according to Councilwoman Nury Martinez. Martinez, whose district includes most of the Sepulveda Basin area, said Tuesday that an encampment cleanup that began this week is part of a larger effort that her office has been coordinating over the past several months to address the persistence of homeless encampments at the basin, which authorities say was not built for or intended for human habitation. The councilwoman first announced the effort in a statement last week, after a fire broke out in a large homeless encampment in the northwest portion of the Sepulveda Basin. The fire happened just before a planned cleanup in the same general area that launched Monday and is expected to last a week or less. While there were no casualties from the fire, Martinez said in an interview with the Los Angeles Daily News that “we'd be having a very different conversation had someone gotten hurt in last week's fire.”
Los Angeles Daily News
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About the LAPPL Formed in 1923, the Los Angeles Police Protective League (LAPPL) represents the more than 9,900 dedicated and professional sworn members of the Los Angeles Police Department. The LAPPL serves to advance the interests of LAPD officers through legislative and legal advocacy, political action and education. The LAPPL can be found on the Web at:

www.LAPD.com


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