2 Big Woodland Hills Police Events, 0 Related Nixle Alerts. LAPD Dropping The Ball?
I’d like to point out that in the past week, there have been 2 big police incidents in Woodland Hills that I know of. The first being the May 5th bomb threat at the Rite Aid (Topanga & Ventura) and the second being yesterday’s Best Buy shooting (Owensmouth & Victory). Both incidents resulted in massive police presence, street closures, helicopters, etc.
Now, the LAPD has a much touted system called Nixle that is from what I understand designed to be used to notify the public in these situations – in real time. It should be pointed out that in both incidents LAPD failed to use the system. However, during the same interval the system has been used to high-five about past crimes being solved, one about a purse snatching and the other about a burglar being apprehended (Canoga Park).
During a recent e-mail with LAPD Topanga Area SLO Brent Rygh he himself brought up to me that this was a known issue that he would be working on. Why isn’t the Nixle system being used for breaking police activity that the public should be informed about as it is happening as it has been in the past?
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Detailed Daily News Article From Yesterday’s Best Buy Shooting
I find it cool that Daily News linked to my blog in the right hand media/reference bar on this article. General consensus seems to be he fired at officers and they shot him. Article mentions bullet holes visible in the walls of the Best Buy, but I drove by today and didn’t see them – however I wasn’t really looking. I did take some pictures, which I will review later. I have previous pictures of the external facade of the Best Buy and there are defects in the tile that appear to be bullet damage that were already there weeks ago.
CANOGA PARK — A man who fled to the San Fernando Valley Monday after allegedly killing his estranged wife in Long Beach was shot and killed by LAPD officers outside Best Buy, sending customers and employees scurrying for cover inside the giant electronics store.
The 11 a.m. shooting in front of the Canoga Park electronics store ended a manhunt that began three hours earlier in Long Beach, where the the suspect allegedly shot his wife in the head in a parking lot after abducting her from a nearby apartment.
The couple’s 2-year-old son was found in the apartment with a family member.
Police said the suspect, identified as Donovan Morris and in his 30s, drove to Woodland Hills to meet with an uncle. The uncle phoned authorities after Morris told him he had “killed his family,” said LAPD Lt. Dave Storaker.
Morris then left the Woodland Hills home in the 6600 block of Glade Avenue and made his way to the Best Buy at Victory Boulevard and Owensmouth Avenue.
It is unclear why Morris went to the store or what exactly happened when he got there. Some reports said Morris held a gun to his head, while witnesses at the scene said he engaged police in a brief firefight in front of the entrance to the store.
Shopper Tim Coyle, 33, of Winnetka said he was in the store getting his daughter’s laptop fixed when he heard police shouting outside.
“All of a sudden they (police) yelled `Shut the doors! Shut the doors!’ Then I hear gunshots,” Coyle said, adding a number of customers dove to the floor.
Coyle, who described himself as a gun aficionado, said he heard multiple gunshots from the suspect’s weapon as well as shots from police officers.
He said the customers were taken into a security room inside the building for safety.
Multiple shell casings and a handgun could be seen on the ground where the suspect’s body had lain and bullet holes peppered a wall of the building. The busy stretch of Victory boulevard was roped off to drivers and pedestrians for nearly three hours as officers scoured the crime scene.
Please visit the Daily News site to read the rest of this article.
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Violence Clearly On Rise In Los Angeles, And Spilling Into Valley
Yesterday was the biggest day ever, as far as I can tell, for the Hills of Woodland site, with over 1,200 visitors and almost 50 new Facebook “likes” for the site’s FB page. At least something good comes from this time of madness; people actually pay attention to what’s going on around them.
What’s also interesting, I feel, is all of the comments on this site and our Facebook page from people who lived here and left saying, “Wow this place has gone to ****.” I don’t think that is true, but it does seem that some people are becoming increasingly desperate and violence is the result.
That being said, there was a good recap of an excruciatingly violent week in Los Angeles on the LA Times’ site today.
Homicide Report: 20 killings last week in L.A. County, 3 in Long Beach
Coroner’s officials reported 20 killings between May 4 and early Monday, bringing the year-to-date total to 242, according to data collected for the Times’ Homicide Report database.
The total was more than double the previous week and included several shootings that left two or more people dead. At least 19 involved guns. The cause of death in the most recent case, involving an unidentified Latino believed to be 25 to 30, was not immediately available.
At least four homicides were tied to family issues. Authorities said Diane Newlander, 73, was shot to death by her husband in Beverly Hills in an apparent murder-suicide.
Three members of one family in Hawaiian Gardens, a father, daughter and son, were gunned down in their home by the daughter’s ex-boyfriend. Joseph Mercado, 26, was charged Monday with three counts of murder in Los Angeles Superior Court. Authorities allege he went room by room targeting the mother of his child and her family. Mercado was shot and wounded by a sheriff’s deputy as he left the home about 4 a.m. May 6.
The city of Long Beach experienced three homicides over the week, all possibly gang-related, according to police. The three killings do not including the shooting death Monday of a woman on Ocean Boulevard in what authorities called a family dispute.
Lee Kinikini, 25, was shot to death Tuesday, May 4, in the 700 block of Harding Street, according to Los Angeles County coroner’s records.
Officers responded to reports of gunfire shortly before 5 p.m. and discovered Kinikini’s body with gunshot wounds to his upper body. He was pronounced dead at the scene.
The preliminary investigation found that Kinikini was standing in a driveway when he was approached by an unknown suspect and shot several times, police said. The assailant was last seen fleeing south down a nearby alley on foot.
Joshua Gaither, 30, died Wednesday, May 5, in the 2100 block of Martin Luther King Jr. Avenue, coroner’s officials said.
Police found Gaither on the sidewalk suffering from multiple gunshot wounds to the upper and lower body in the early morning hours. He was pronounced dead at the scene, police said.
And Mauricio Sotelo, 20, was shot to death Thursday, May 6, on the corner of 14th Street and Cedar Avenue, according to the coroner’s office.
Police responded to a shooting call about 1:11 a.m and found Sotelo suffering from a gunshot wound to his torso. Sotelo was taken to a hospital, where he later died, police said.
Investigators have neither a suspect nor a motive in the case.
The Times’ Homicide Report provides an interactive map and database of all homicides in Los Angeles County reported by the coroner since Jan. 1, 2007.
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