Photo by Gustavo Castillo [Public domain], via Wikimedia Commons

Flavio Hernandez Marquez of Anaheim also faces sentencing enhancement allegations for attempted premeditated murder and inflicting great bodily injury.

Marquez was accused of stabbing a 32-year-old man in the 1100 block of West Ball Road, and two minutes later a 30-year-old woman in the 1200 block of South Walnut Street about 8 p.m. Thursday, according to Anaheim police Sgt. Daron Wyatt.

The victims were in critical condition when they were taken to an area hospital, Wyatt said.

The stabbings were narcotics related, Wyatt said.

Marquez was charged with attempted murder in July 2003, but those charges were dropped when he pleaded guilty a year later to assault with a firearm. He was sentenced to 10 years in prison.

Marquez pleaded guilty May 7, 2015 to carrying a dirk or dagger, according to court records. He was sentenced to two years in prison.

–City News Service

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Ashton Colby Sachs

A former college student pleaded guilty Tuesday to killing his parents and also shooting his 8-year-old brother, who was left paralyzed, in San Juan Capistrano about 2 1/2 years ago.

Ashton Colby Sachs, now 22, was 19 when he killed Bradford Hans Sachs, 57, and Andra Resa Sachs, 54, who were found dead about 2 a.m. Feb. 9, 2014, inside their home in the 32000 block of Peppertree Bend.

The defendant also shot his 8-year-old brother, Landon, and fired at — but missed, his 17-year-old sister, Alexis, authorities said.

Sachs, who pleaded guilty to two counts each of murder and attempted murder, is scheduled to be sentenced on Oct. 14 to life in prison without the possibility of parole. Prosecutors decided against seeking the death penalty.

Two of the murdered couple’s daughters were in the residence at the time of the shootings, but they were unable to identify the killer that night, according to Senior Deputy District Attorney Ebrahim Baytieh, who filed the case against Sachs.

The parents’ business background complicated the investigation, according to Justin Montano, the primary detective on the case. The couple — who were divorced but still lived under the same roof — had extensive real estate holdings, and investigators early on looked into whether their deaths were related to their business dealings, he said.

Phone records, witness statements and other evidence ultimately pointed to their son,  Baytieh said.

Sachs, wearing a yarmulke and orange jail jumpsuit, sat next to his court-appointed investigator, Alfredo Rasch, during today’s hearing. Sachs had won the right to defend himself before he decided to plead guilty today in a move that caught prosecutors by surprise.

Orange County Superior Court Judge Gregg Prickett methodically went through the legal admonitions with Sachs to make sure he understood what he was doing. Each time, Sachs would reply, “Yes, your honor.”

“You understand that if you plead guilty to these charges, you will never be released from prison?” Prickett asked Sachs.

“Yes, I do, your honor,” he replied.

Sachs also admitted special circumstance allegations of multiple murders and sentence-enhancing allegations of the personal use of a firearm causing death, personal use of a gun causing bodily injury and causing paralysis.

–City News Service 

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Daniel Wozniak.

A judge Wednesday cast aside bickering legal briefs by a prosecutor and defense attorney and refused another delay in the sentencing of a community theater actor who’s expected to be ordered to death row for killing two friends.

Daniel Patrick Wozniak on Friday will face Orange County Superior Court Judge John Conley, who will decide whether to go along with a jury’s recommendation to sentence the defendant to death for murdering 26-year-old Samuel Eliezer Herr and 23-year-old Julie Kibuishi.

Wozniak’s attorney, Scott Sanders, sought another delay — this time three weeks — so he could respond to criticism from Senior Deputy District Attorney Matt Murphy, who argued in a motion that there’s no reason to delay Friday’s sentencing of the 32-year-old defendant.

Murphy’s motion was a response to Sanders’ request for a new trial, which was filed Sept. 2 but subsequently sealed. Conley unsealed it today after going over what parts should be redacted because Sanders’ motion contains information about confidential informants.

Tempers flared at today’s hearing, particularly between Sanders and Conley over the requested rescheduling of the sentencing. Conley brushed aside Sanders’ arguments that the Orange County District Attorney’s Office can’t be trusted to turn over evidence as legally required based on issues he has raised in the prosecution of Wozniak and his other client, Scott Dekraai, the worst mass killer in the county’s history.

Sanders argued that he should be allowed to refute Murphy’s allegations that he has cried foul against prosecutors in virtually every case he’s been assigned.

“I don’t think it’s important,” Conley said. “I think the bickering between you two has clouded your judgment… I’m interested in Mr. Wozniak’s case only.”

The judge added, “Both of you, for your own egos, want to set the record straight and I’m not going to delay the sentencing for that.”

Sanders complained that many of Murphy’s “claims” lacked “any foundation,” and that if the roles were reversed, the judge would grant a delay so Murphy could respond.

“I think there’s relevance to the fact that he’s doing this without proper investigation,” Sanders said. “He cannot be trusted… He’s too upset. He wants this win so bad he’ll do anything.”

Conley replied, “I’m interested in legal arguments, not whether you like Mr. Murphy.”

The judge said Sanders’ complaints were “penny ante stuff.”

Sanders questioned why Conley did not admonish Murphy for filing a brief full of allegations days before the sentencing.

“That’s penny-ante stuff? I don’t think so,” Sanders said. “Why is the court not saying to him, ‘Why did you do this on the eve of sentencing?”‘

Murphy argued that he took two weeks to respond to Sanders’ 754-page motion for a new trial, so the defense attorney has had ample time to respond to his motion.

“He says he can’t respond? This is an eight-page (continuance motion), so that is his response,” Murphy said. “And he has two more days to respond.”

Murphy said the dueling in legal briefs could go on indefinitely, but at some point it should end.

“The family has waited six years,” Murphy said of the victims’ relatives.

Conley invited Sanders to file a brief responding to Murphy’s allegations, but he emphasized he wouldn’t give any of the back-and-forth any “weight” in his judgment on Friday anyway.

“I can see you’re emotionally invested in this,” Conley said to Sanders. “(You think) your career is at stake, your legacy in the public eye, and you have to justify yourself, but I don’t care.”

Conley also accused Sanders of complaining about Murphy’s tactics when the defense attorney has done the same. Sanders denied that his arguments are personal.

Herr’s father said he hopes there isn’t another delay on Friday as servicemen who fought alongside his son in Afghanistan are planning to fly in to California for the hearing.

“These guys fought and got wounded with Sam and now they’re going to be here facing his murderer and Julie’s murderer,” Steve Herr said.

Wozniak was convicted in December of the killings, and jurors recommended capital punishment in January.

Wozniak was deep in debt in May 2010, facing eviction and without money for his pending wedding, when he concocted a plan to kill his neighbor, Herr, and throw police off the trail by making it look like Herr murdered and raped Kibuishi, Murphy argued at trial.

Wozniak, who grew up in Long Beach, further tried to confound investigators by dismembering his first victim and dumping the body parts in the El Dorado Nature Center in Long Beach, Murphy said.

—City News Service

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Photo via Pixabay

A Montebello man pleaded guilty Thursday to murdering his wife and stuffing her body in the trunk of a car before disappearing with four of their children in 2014.

Daniel Diego Perez, 45, was immediately sentenced to 15 years to life in state prison following his guilty plea to second-degree murder.

He was sentenced to an additional seven years and four months behind bars for his guilty plea to two counts of child abuse for endangering two of his sons — who were then 6 and 8 — during a standoff in San Diego County following a pursuit.

His wife Erica’s body was found in the trunk of a car that was parked near the family’s home, and a statewide Amber Alert was issued for her husband and their children that ended less than a week later with a freeway standoff in the Santee area.

At a December 2015 hearing in which Perez was ordered to stand trial, Deputy Medical Examiner Paul Gliniecki testified that the cause of the 39-year- old woman’s Dec. 5, 2014, death was probable asphyxia due to manual strangulation.

Gliniecki said Erica Perez also suffered multiple traumatic injuries, and that he believed she had been beaten before being strangled.

Four of the couple’s children — then ranging in age from 6 to 11 — were in the car as their father was being pursued by 15 police cars with their lights flashing on Dec. 11, 2014, according to Deputy District Attorney Miji Vellakkatel.

“He lied to the kids. He knew Erica was dead because he killed her,” the prosecutor told the judge last December.

Perez’s 2014 Toyota Camry was located by police in El Cajon as a result of a LoJack tracking device on the sedan, but he refused to pull over. He eventually stopped in the middle of the eastbound state Route 52 connector road to southbound state Route 67, and two of the children ran toward officers positioned behind the Camry.

Perez remained in the car for about an hour with the other two children before the three got out of the car and police tackled Perez and took him into custody.

The four boys were later reunited with relatives, police said.

The Perez family had not been seen since Dec. 5, and relatives had reported them missing.

–City News Service 

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Photo via Pixabay

A man who pleaded no contest in connection with a 14- year-old girl’s shooting death at a party in Lancaster in 2010 was sentenced Friday to 11 years in state prison.

Aaron Eugene Wallace, 26, of Lancaster, pleaded no contest to voluntary manslaughter for the Sept. 5, 2010, killing of Dominique Peatry, who was gunned down at a party near Nugent Street and Sixth Street East.

Six other Antelope Valley residents — who were between 13 and 26 — were wounded in the shooting, authorities said.

Authorities believe that Wallace was shooting in the air, but don’t believe he was the person who shot into the crowd and struck the teenager, according to Deputy District Attorney Jonathan Chung.

After Wallace was arrested in March 2011, authorities said they were still searching for another suspect.

No one else has been charged in connection with the crime, the prosecutor said.

–City News Service

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An 18-year-old attempted murder suspect was in custody Saturday following a SWAT raid on a Buena Park home.

Detectives from the Buena Park Police Department served a warrant at 8 p.m. Friday at a residence in the 6300 block of Crescent Avenue, police said.

A possibly armed suspect in an attempted homicide investigation was believed to be inside so the department’s SWAT team was deployed, according to Sgt. Mike Lovchik, and the Orange County Sheriff’s Department’s SWAT team also assisted with a helicopter.

Police located and arrested the suspect, Andrew Jungin Rah, of Cypress, following a brief standoff, Lovchik said. Several others were detained and police arrested an additional male on an unrelated outstanding arrest warrant but his identity was not immediately available, he added.

Rah was arrested on suspicion of attempted homicide and was transported to Orange County Jail where he is being held on $1 million bail, according to Lovchik.

— City News Service

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George Stroumboulopoulos at the premier of Score A Hockey Musical TIFF2010. Photo by Mark Dunne [CC BY-SA 2.0 (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/2.0)], via Wikimedia Commons

The coroner’s office would not confirm the victim’s identity because next of kin had not been notified, said coroner’s Lt. David Smith.

Canadian actor Hong was in a number of films. He played a drug dealer in “Tied Up” in 2004, a student in “Golf Cart Driving School” in 2004 and was a “barfly” in this year’s “Perception,” according to the website IMDb. Local officials said he was 41, but IMDb listed his birth as Feb. 27, 1980, making him 36.

The victim was found at 2:17 a.m. Friday as officers investigated a reported burglary in the 6700 block of Milner Road, said Los Angeles police Officer Drake Madison of the department’s Media Relations Division.

The deceased appeared to be the victim of a homicide, said LAPD Lt. Chris Ramirez. A possible cause of death was not released by the coroner’s office.

Police said a man wearing a black jacket was seen “fleeing” the area, Madison said. That man was described as black, about 5-feet-8 inches tall with a thin build and short black hair, according to Madison.

“Many of you have seen the reports of a homicide, which occurred early this morning in the home I rent in Los Angeles,” Stroumboulopoulos wrote in a statement Friday. “I only have a few details but it seems like it was the result of a break-in. The victim was a dear friend of mine, who was staying at my place while I was away. I am heartbroken.”

The broadcaster said he was “writing this from a plane en route to Los Angeles from New York, so I can be with my friends there, who are also devastated. There’s so much to say but I’m at a loss for words so just love your people. I will have more to say when we know more about what happened.”

Stroumboulopoulos hosted the CBC TV talk show “George Stroumboulopoulos Tonight” from 2014 to this year.

—City News Service

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A 17-year-old girl remained missing Sunday, a day after a young girl called Fullerton police to report the deaths of two parents and another man.

The girl, Katlynn Goodwill Yost, is not considered to be a suspect in the multiple deaths, police said today.

“To my knowledge, she is not a suspect. They (detectives) do want to talk to her,” according to a Fullerton Police Department watch commander.

The young sisters were found unharmed in the small house on Gilbert Street after the shooting call came out at 8:21 a.m. Saturday.

Also inside, the bodies of two men and a woman. Their names have not been released by the coroner or police, but TV stations quoted neighbors as saying the child’s mother, Jennifer Yost, and stepfather, Chris Yost, were dead. At about 8:21 a.m. Saturday, police dispatch received a call from a child “indicating that her parents had died,” said Fullerton police Sgt. Jon Radus.

Officers responding to a home in the 400 block of South Gilbert Street found two men and a woman inside a residence. They also located two children inside the home unharmed, he said.

Detectives determined the 17-year-old daughter, Katlynn, also lived in the home and police spent the day looking for her, Radus said.

“We are asking for the public’s help in locating Katlynn, who is now described as a missing/at risk person,” he said.

Katlynn is white and about 5 feet-6 inches tall, Radus said.

“This is obviously a tragic event. The Fullerton Police Department has committed all its resources to identifying who is responsible for committing this act,” he said. “This incident is being investigated as a multiple homicide.”

Fullerton police detectives asked anyone with any information regarding the deaths or the whereabouts of the girl to call them at (714) 738-5361.

–City News Service

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A 26-year-old man accused of stabbing his mother in their Boyle Heights home was ordered Monday to stand trial on an attempted murder charge.

Angel Hernandez, who is being held on more than $1 million bail, is scheduled to be arraigned Oct. 13.

The stabbing occurred about 12:10 a.m. Feb. 22 in the 3700 block of Lee Street, where the victim lived with her son.

“The mother was upset with her son for an incident that occurred earlier in the day,” according to a statement issued by the Los Angeles Police Department when Hernandez was arrested.

“Hernandez’s sister heard the mother pleading with her son that what he was doing wasn’t necessary and to just leave. Hernandez’s sister then heard what sounded like Hernandez physically assaulting their mother. Looking through a kitchen window, she saw her brother retrieve a large kitchen knife.”

When officers arrived at the home, they found the mother with multiple stab wounds to her neck, arms and legs, but her son was nowhere to be found.

Hernandez was arrested three days later in El Sereno by the lead detective on the case, who interviewed Hernandez’ mother at the hospital. The detective was on his way back to the station after the interview when he spotted Hernandez walking in the area and called for back-up, police said.

–City News Service 

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Photo via Pixabay

A man described by authorities as a founding member of a Montebello-based gang’s “killer squad” has been convicted of two counts of first-degree murder in the execution-style killings of rival gang members.

Jimmy Valenzuela, 31, was found guilty of killing 22-year-old Joe Anthony Alvarado, who was shot to death in his car on Dec. 22, 2007, and Jimmy Jimenez, 29, who was fatally shot on July 24, 2010. Both were gunned down in Montebello.

Valenzuela is set to be sentenced on Jan. 11. Prosecutors earlier decided not to pursue the death penalty.

Valenzuela was arrested in 2012 as a result of a joint investigation by the Montebello Police Department, the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives, the U.S. Attorney’s Office and the Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Department and District Attorney’s Office.

At least 37 other gang members were charged as part of the effort, which sought to close dozens of unsolved gang homicides.

Authorities said Valenzuela, who was convicted Monday, was a key member of the gang’s “killer squad,” responsible for enforcing the gang’s territory and eliminating its enemies.

–City News Service

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via OnSceneTV

Police Wednesday confirmed the arrests of two women in the shooting death of an employee during a robbery at a North Hollywood liquor store.

Mohammed Kalam, 61, of North Hollywood, was gunned down about 11:50 p.m. Saturday during a robbery of the Liquor Mart at Sherman Way and Bellaire Avenue.

Rosa Barrientos, 21, of Los Angeles and Maria Inzunza, 25, of Hollywood were arrested Tuesday and booked on suspicion of murder, according to Los Angeles Police Department Detective Steve Castro.

Officers were dispatched to the liquor store in response to robbery and assault with a deadly weapon calls, according to Sgt. Tom Holder of the LAPD’s North Hollywood station.

“It appears that it was a robbery — and something that had occurred during the robbery … caused the victim to be shot,” he said.

Customers and neighboring business operators said Kalam, a native of Bangladesh, had worked the late shift at the liquor store for many years.

Both women, who were arrested in Hollywood, were being held at the Van Nuys jail in lieu of $2 million bail, according to the sheriff’s department.

Detectives plan to submit their case to the district attorney’s office on Thursday, according to Officer Jenny Houser of the LAPD’s Media Relations Section.

A check of the sheriff’s online inmate database turned up records of six arrests for Inzunza, four for alleged felonies, dating back to October 2014.

Her most recent arrest was on Sept. 16 for allegedly being in possession of a controlled substance for sale. Inzunza’s bail was set at $30,000 in that case and she was released on Sept. 20, according to the sheriff’s department.

–City News Service 

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Photo via Pixabay

A 44-year-old man was convicted Thursday of attempted murder for repeatedly stabbing his estranged wife with a hunting knife and shooting her with a BB gun, leaving her near death as he ran away from a Santa Ana office complex.

Juan Carlos Guadarrama, who is scheduled to be sentenced Oct. 13, faces up to 13 years and eight months in prison. Jurors deliberated for about a day before finding him guilty of attempted murder with a sentencing enhancement for premeditation and deliberation.

Jurors also found true sentencing enhancement allegations for causing great bodily injury in a domestic violence incident and personally using a deadly weapon, and convicted him of a felony count of criminal threats.

Guadarrama arranged to meet the victim in the 1200 block of East Dyer Road on Sept. 20, 2014. Before she could get out of her car, he stabbed her in the chest, neck and back repeatedly, Deputy District Attorney Caroline Smith said.

The victim also sustained defensive wounds to her hands that required surgery, along with  multiple fractures to her vertebrae and ribs, and “the pellet had to be removed from her neck,” the prosecutor said.

The woman’s shouts for help drew onlookers, prompting the defendant to run away. Guadarrama left behind the knife and the pellet gun as he hopped a wall, along with his shoes, and stripped off a bloodied shirt as he fled, Smith said.

The defendant was at large until Sept. 23 of that year. He had asked a neighbor for a ride to Tijuana, but when she did not cooperate, he began to threaten her, so she called police, Smith said.

Investigators instructed the neighbor to send a text message telling Guadarrama to meet her, “and the cops nabbed the defendant,” Smith said.

Guadarrama’s attorney, Jeremy Dolnick, argued the attack was not premeditated and said it was a cause of attempted voluntary manslaughter because it was done in the heat of passion.

The couple “started out with a beautiful relationship” and the defendant “was sort of living this dream” as “the guy who set up a soccer league for kids and adults and was a neighborhood role model,” the attorney said.

Then, in February 2014, his client’s nephew was “brutally murdered,” and “things take a turn,” Dolnick said, telling jurors that Guadarrama started drinking heavily and skipping regular hygiene to the extent that his wife would stay with others because his body odor was too offensive.

When his father died, he found out that he wasn’t his biological dad, the attorney said.

“This cycle of depression keeps going on and on,” Dolnick said.

Guadarrama then became convinced, falsely, that his wife was having an affair with her sister, Dolnick said. After awhile, the accusations took a toll on the relationship and she kicked the defendant out, he said.

A psychological expert testified that Guadarrama suffered from a “delusional disorder” that led him to believe “something that is not real,” Dolnick said. The defendant also was suffering from depressive disorder and alcohol abuse, his attorney said.

–City News Service 

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via OnSceneTV

Two women were charged Thursday with capital murder for the shooting death of a liquor store clerk during a robbery in North Hollywood.

Rosa Manuela Barrientos, 23, of Los Angeles, and Maria Michelle Inzunza, 25, of Hollywood, are accused in the killing late Saturday of Mohammed Kalam, 61, of North Hollywood at the Liquor Mart at Sherman Way and Bellaire Avenue.

The murder charge includes the special circumstance allegation of murder during the commission of a robbery. Prosecutors will decide later whether to seek the death penalty against the two, who are also charged with second-degree robbery.

The criminal complaint alleges that Barrientos intentionally discharged a handgun during the crime and that she has a 2015 conviction for second-degree robbery.

The two women were arrested Tuesday in Hollywood and were scheduled to be arraigned this afternoon at the Van Nuys courthouse.

Customers and neighboring business operators said Kalam, a native of Bangladesh, had worked the late shift at the liquor store for many years.

–City News Service 

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A state appeals court panel Thursday upheld the second- degree murder conviction of a woman who claimed she accidentally shot her husband while handling a gun in their Whittier-area home nearly a decade ago.

Linda Doreen Gwozdz contended that a Norwalk judge committed prejudicial error when he refused to allow jurors to hear about statements she made to a Los Angeles County sheriff’s detective who was among the law enforcement officers who responded to her 911 call following the April 26, 2007, shooting death of her husband.

But a three-justice panel from California’s 2nd District Court of Appeal found that Linda Doreen Gwozdz “failed to take the necessary steps to preserve this issue for appellate review.”

“On the basis of the record before us, we cannot say that the trial court acted arbitrarily, capriciously or in a patently absurd manner by sustaining the people’s hearsay objection to testimony by (sheriff’s) Detective Bruce Goldowski about Gwozdz’s statements to him at the house. Accordingly, we uphold the trial court’s decision,” the justices found in a 13-page ruling.

The appellate court panel ruled that Gwozdz “makes a reasonable case that her statements to Goldowski may have been admissible as spontaneous declarations,” but that the defense had failed to make an “offer of proof” asking the judge to further hear the defense’s contention that the evidence was admissible. The prosecution then could have argued that Gwozdz’s statements to the detective were “not excited utterances, but calculated self-serving testimonials,” the panel noted.

The justices declined to review the defense’s claim that Gwozdz received ineffective assistance from her trial attorney.

The appellate court justices upheld her conviction without prejudice to any rights Gwozdz may have involving a petition for writ of habeas corpus, in which she could challenge her imprisonment.

Gwozdz was convicted in January 2015 of second-degree murder by the second jury to hear the case against her. The first jury to hear the case deadlocked on the murder charge.

Gwozdz, known at the time of the shooting as Linda Duffey, insisted the gun went off accidentally while she was handling her husband’s .38-caliber revolver in their home in the 15800 block of Sharon Hill Drive.

Patrick Duffey, 50, was shot twice in the top of the head, according to Deputy District Attorney Robert Villa.

Just before being sentenced in April 2015 to 40 years to life in prison, Gwozdz said, “This was a horrible accident, and I’ve been aware of everyone’s pain from day one.”

The couple’s two sons also spoke on behalf of their mother, with Thomas Duffey describing his mother as a person who scoops crickets up and takes them outside and “won’t even kill a spider.”

“I believe she’s innocent,” he said then.

Her new husband, Lawrence Gwozdz, told Superior Court Judge John A. Torribio that he met his wife through a dating website in 2008 and made an “immediate” connection with “a wonderful Christian human being.”

“She openly shared the story of this tragic accident and I do mean accident,” Lawrence Gwozdz said of his wife. “She spoke of her husband to me lovingly … as her best friend … There is absolutely no way that this was purposeful … I assert that the jury made a huge mistake with this verdict.”

Los Angeles County sheriff’s detectives investigated the case for five years, during which the defendant moved to Mississippi and married Gwozdz. She was charged with murder in May 2012, brought back to Los Angeles and has remained jailed since then.

After the sentencing, the prosecutor said the motive for the shooting was unclear.

“Two shots is not an accident,” Villa said. “All I needed to see was the way he was laying on the couch and two holes in his head.”

Outside court, Patrick Duffey’s sister, Kathy Hunt, said, “I think I’m 100 percent sure she did it. I have no qualms or no questions about that. I don’t know why she did it and that will probably bother me for a long time.”

She said of the guilty verdict, “It was a real bittersweet feeling. I really felt good about it, but I felt sad about it at the same time. I was really hoping that that’s what they would say and was happy they said it, but on the other hand, it was final.”

–City News Service 

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Gardena Police Department logo patch.

Police originally thought the bloody body found on a Gardena sidewalk had something to do with a vehicle accident.

But then evidence they found around the death scene led them to believe that was not true as they tried to solve what turned out to be more of a mystery.

The 49-year-old man was pronounced dead after being found unresponsive and bleeding on the sidewalk in Gardena, police said.

Officers along with Los Angeles city and county firefighters responded about 5:30 a.m. Thursday to the 14900 block of Vermont Avenue to investigate a report of a man down on the sidewalk, according to Gardena police Lt. Steve Pendergast.

Paramedics and police officers found the man, later identified as Robert Mello of Gardena, and pronounced him dead at the scene, Pendergast said.

“Early reports to the police department indicated that this incident may have been related to a traffic collision,” Pendergast said. “However, based on the evidence at the scene, that does not appear to be the case.”

Anyone with information about the death was urged to call Gardena Police Department Detective Octavio Saldana at (310) 217-9625 or (310) 217-9607.

–City News Service

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Photo by John Schreiber.

Opening statements are scheduled Friday in the murder trial of an 18-year-old woman who is among four young people charged in the beating death of a USC graduate student from China who was attacked near the campus on his way home from a study session.

The Los Angeles Superior Court panel will hear the case against Alejandra Guerrero, who is charged along with three other people with murder in connection with the July 24, 2014, attack on Xinran Ji. The murder charge includes a special circumstance allegation that the 24-year-old electrical engineering student was murdered during an attempted robbery.

Guerrero — who was 16 at the time and is being prosecuted as an adult — is also charged with one count each of robbery, attempted robbery and assault with a deadly weapon for an alleged attack on a woman and a man at Dockweiler State Beach less than two hours later.

“The defendant maintains that she is absolutely innocent of the charges in question and has entered a plea of not guilty to the charges, and it is the prosecution’s burden to prove her guilty beyond a reasonable doubt. You should be advised that this is not a death penalty matter,” the judge said at the start of the jury selection process Tuesday.

Guerrero’s co-defendants — Jonathan Del Carmen, 21, Andrew Garcia, 20, and Alberto Ochoa, 19 — are awaiting trial separately in connection with Ji’s killing. Garcia and Ochoa are also charged with robbery, attempted robbery and assault with a deadly weapon involving the alleged attack at Dockweiler Beach.

Prosecutors have opted not to seek the death penalty against Del Carmen and Garcia. Guerrero and Ochoa could not face the death penalty because they were both under 18 at the time of the crime.

Ji was attacked about 12:45 a.m. after walking a woman home from a study group that wrapped up about 12:30 that morning. He managed to make it back to his fourth-floor apartment, where he was found lifeless in his bed by one of his roommates, who called 911 after he failed to respond when she called out his name.

He died from severe cranial cerebral trauma.

Ochoa and Garcia were taken into custody while walking by the Hyperion Treatment Plant after the man they allegedly attempted to rob summoned a patrol car at nearby Dockweiler State Beach. Del Carmen and Guerrero were arrested later that day.

—City News Service

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Photo via Pixabay

A Carson man accused of shooting his 18-year-old son in the midst of a fight was acquitted of a murder charge Tuesday.

Jurors deliberated for one day before finding Anderson Edward Lyiscott, 53, not guilty of murder.

Lyiscott had been held on $1 million bail since his arrest Feb. 20. He and his son, Giovanni, got into an argument that day at their home, prompting the young man to lock himself inside his room, according to Deputy District Attorney R.J. Dreiling.

Dreiling said Lyiscott armed himself with a gun, fired at the door handle to his son’s bedroom room and entered the room, where the two got involved in a struggle.

Lyiscott’s gun discharged during the fight and his son was shot in the chest, according to the prosecutor. The victim was pronounced dead at a hospital.

Giovanni’s brother told the Daily Breeze in February that his father never would never have intentionally hurt his son.

“(Giovanni) was a good guy and my dad was a good guy,” Taron Lyiscott told the newspaper. “He loved him. I know my dad, and my dad worshipped Giovanni.”

–City News Service 

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Tough news conference in Lancaster as officials confirm sheriff sergeant death. Via #LASD Twitter Page. Executive Officer Neal Tyler saddened to announce the passing of @LANLASD Sgt. Steve Owen.

A sheriff’s sergeant responding to a residential burglary call was shot and fatally wounded Wednesday near an apartment complex in Lancaster, and a parolee was taken into custody about 90 minutes later and hospitalized with a gunshot wound.

Sgt. Steve Owen, 53, was gunned down about 12:30 p.m. in the 3200 block of West Avenue J-7 and died at a hospital, according to the Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Department.

Owen, a married father of two grown children, was a 29-year department veteran who had been promoted to sergeant five years ago. In 2014, he received a Meritorious Conduct Medal, along with five of his Lancaster Station colleagues, for their roles in a pursuit and standoff situation involving a series of armed gang members.

Lancaster Mayor R. Rex Parris told the Los Angeles Times that Owen, who had worked in the Antelope Valley for years, had been shot in the face.

A deputy who was injured — but not shot — apparently when the suspect tried to commandeer the fallen sergeant’s patrol car, was also taken to a hospital, according to the sheriff’s department. The deputy’s name was not released.

Sheriff’s SWAT deputies were involved in the search for the suspect, who sustained a gunshot wound to the upper body and was taken by ambulance to a hospital. His name was not immediately released.

No other suspects were being sought, according to the sheriff’s department.

“We were fortunate in being able to find his wife, who is an Arson- Explosives (Detail) detective in our department, and get her to the hospital … before Steve succumbed,” sheriff’s Executive Officer Neal Tyler told reporters.

Owen’s son and daughter, as well his mother, were also at his bedside, Tyler said.

“The tragedy of a deputy sheriff such as Sergeant Steve Owen making the ultimate sacrifice has a massive impact on the whole law enforcement family,” according to a statement from Sheriff Jim McDonnell, who was cutting short a trip to Hawaii because of the death.

“We all mourn together and our hearts go out especially to Steve’s immediate family Tania (his wife), his two adult sons Brandon and Chad, a stepdaughter Shannon and his mother Millie.”

Capt. Steven Katz of the Sheriff’s Homicide Bureau said Owen responded shortly after noon to a residential burglary call.

“While they were containing that location, gunfire was heard from the rear of the location where the burglary was occurring and emergency radio traffic was immediately dispatched,” Katz said.

“The deputy at the front of the apartment complex ran … in the direction of that gunfire, where he found Sgt. Owen suffering from a gunshot wound. The suspect fled from that area and the deputy gave chase on foot.”

The suspect then ran to the front of the location and attempted to commandeer the sergeant’s patrol car, prompting a deputy to open fire, Katz said.

“The suspect placed that car into reverse and rammed the second radio car at the location,” Katz said. “A second deputy-involved-shooting occurred at that time. The suspect fled from that vehicle on foot.”

It’s unclear if Owen was able to fire any shots at the suspect, Katz said.

A large cordon was established to contain the suspect, who entered another home where two teen children were inside, Katz said.

The teens “were ultimately able to inform law enforcement of the presence of the suspect at that location.” the captain said, adding that a firearm was recovered.

During the suspect search, officials at Antelope Valley College — which is a few blocks south of the shooting scene — advised students and staff to “shelter in place” and several area schools, including Lancaster High School, were placed on lockdown.

County Supervisor Mike Antonovich called Owen “an outstanding law enforcement professional who I had the opportunity to know and work with.”

“He was a husband and father who was respected by his colleagues and engaged in his community. He was senselessly murdered while responding to a call for help,” Antonovich said. “His loss leaves a significant void for all who knew him.”

Owen’s community involvement included youth activities, Tyler said.

The Association for Los Angeles Deputy Sheriffs issued a statement saying its members will be grieving the loss of their well-respected colleague.

“Los Angeles County deputy sheriffs put their lives at risk every time the put on the uniform,” according to the union. “This horrible tragedy is another reminder of the dangers and sacrifice law enforcement personnel face protecting the county’s citizens and businesses.”

Parris, who went to the hospital to keep vigil with the lawman’s family, issued a statement late this afternoon saying he was “completely outraged by the cowardly act which took place today.”

“Antelope Valley hero, Sergeant Steve Owen, represents the epitome of excellence in law enforcement,” Parris wrote. “Sergeant Owen has served our community for more than 20 years, earning such honors as the Meritorious Conduct Medal, which speaks to his dedication to fulfilling his duties in making the Antelope Valley a safer place.”

Shunnon Thomas, president of the Antelope Valley branch of the NAACP, also offered condolences to Owens’ family.

“It is a great loss for the department and the people of the Antelope Valley,” he said.

Gov. Jerry Brown also sent his condolences and said flags in the state Capitol would be flown at half-staff.

“A courageous and decorated hero risked his life for the last time today,” said Los Angeles Mayor Eric Garcetti.

A vigil was held for Owen tonight at the Lancaster Station.

Katz called it “a very dark day” for the sheriff’s department.

“We’re all suffering right now,” he said while noting that Owen was involved in the sheriff’s mounted enforcement unit, worked as a deputy sheriff and was a field supervisor.

“It doesn’t get worse than this, folks,” he said.

–City News Service 

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A 24-year-old man accused of fatally stabbing his mother in her Saugus home was charged Wednesday with murder.

Jesse Lucatero pleaded not guilty and remains in custody in lieu of $2 million bail.

He is due back in a San Fernando courtroom on Oct. 20, when a date is scheduled to be set for a hearing to determine if there is enough evidence to require him to stand trial for the death of Maria Acevedo.

The stabbing was reported about 12:50 p.m. Monday in the 19500 block of Castille Lane.

Lucatero’s father found the 56-year-old victim’s body, and she was pronounced dead at the scene.

Lucatero, who was said by authorities to have mental issues, was taken to the sheriff’s Santa Clarita Station for questioning and later booked, according to Deputy Crystal Hernandez.

Sheriff’s deputies had been called to the home before, according to broadcast reports.

If convicted of the murder charge and a knife allegation, Lucatero could face up to 26 years to life in state prison, according to the Los Angeles County District Attorney’s Office.

–City News Service 

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An unidentified man initially called a “person of interest” in the Aug. 6 shooting deaths in Long Beach of a 26-year-old woman and her 4-year-old daughter is now considered the suspect in the killings, police announced Wednesday.

Detectives changed the man’s status after using surveillance video to track him from the shooting scene at East Ninth Street and Locust Avenue, where Carina Mancera and her daughter, Jennabel Anaya, were fatally wounded outside their home, according to the Long Beach Police Department.

Carina Mancera, 26, and her daughter, Jennabel Anaya. via Long Beach Police Department Facebook page.

The young girl’s father survived the 10:20 p.m. attack.

The suspect, whose image was captured by surveillance cameras in a store and on a train, was described as a heavyset black man in his 20s or 30s, of medium height and weighing between 220 and 250 pounds, according to Long Beach police Chief Robert Luna.

In the first surveillance video, the man is seen at a convenience store near the scene of the 10:20 p.m. shooting.

The other footage was taken on a Metro Blue Line train which goes between downtown Los Angeles and downtown Long Beach.

The man, with luggage in tow, boarded the train at Fifth Street and Long Beach Boulevard a short time after leaving the convenience store, Luna said. He rode the train to Los Angeles and exited at the San Pedro station, at Washington Boulevard and San Pedro Street, Luna said.

Investigators have spoken to people who were on the train with the man, including some who talked to him and said he made some statements about planning to leave the state, according to Long Beach police Lt. Lloyd Cox.

Cox would not elaborate on exactly what led investigators to zero in on the man, who appeared to be pacing and sweating in the footage.

Luis Anaya told investigators that a man walked up to his longtime girlfriend and their daughter and suddenly — without provocation– opened fired, then ran off. He said he did not recognize the man, nor did anyone else in the neighborhood, according to police.

The gunman also fired at Anaya, but missed, according to Cox.

The Long Beach Police Department’s Homicide Detail asked anyone who is able to identify the suspect or knows of his whereabouts to call them at (562) 570-7244.

A $40,000 reward has been offered for information leading to his arrest and conviction.

–City News Service 

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