Author: City News Service

VAN NUYS – A 31-year-old man was shot dead Saturday during a possibly gang-related shooting at a gas station in Van Nuys, authorities said. The victim was identified as Rene Hernandez of Panorama City, the Los Angeles Police Department’s Media Relations Division reported. Officers dispatched at 1:20 a.m. to a report of a shooting in the 7200 block of Woodman Avenue, near Sherman Way, found Hernandez in a parking lot suffering from gunshot wounds. Arriving paramedics pronounced him dead at the scene. Police said Hernandez had gone to a gas station, where he was approached by a suspect who fired…

LOS ANGELES – A former dean at East Los Angeles College in Monterey Park pleaded no contest Friday in a criminal case in which he was charged with overbilling the school by more than $1,500 for trips he took. Paul De La Cerda, 47, was sentenced to two years probation and ordered to pay $1,580 in restitution as a result of his plea to a felony count of grand theft by an employee, attorneys said. De La Cerda’s attorney, David Diamond, said the defense will ask that the charge be reduced from a felony to a misdemeanor and expunged in…

LOS ANGELES – A Los Angeles judge Friday set an Oct. 10 trial date for disgraced former film producer Harvey Weinstein, who is facing sex- related charges involving five women. Weinstein, 70, wearing brown jail clothes, appeared in court in a wheelchair for the scheduling hearing. He is facing 11 felony charges. His trial will begin with jurors being summoned to Los Angeles Superior Court to fill out questionnaires gauging their familiarity with the case and ability to serve. The trial, including the jury selection process, is expected to take about eight weeks. Los Angeles County prosecutors initially charged Weinstein…

LANCASTER, Calif. – Authorities Friday identified a man who died when his motorcycle crashed into a telephone pole in Lancaster. Willie Jones, 28, of Lancaster, died at the scene, the Los Angeles County coroner’s office reported. The crash was reported about 10:15 p.m. Thursday in the 45500 block of Division Street, according to the Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Department. The circumstances of the crash were under investigation.

PARAMOUNT – A man was found stabbed to death Friday in Paramount. Deputies were sent to the area of the Los Angeles River between Somerset Boulevard and San Jose Avenue about 5:30 a.m. Friday after receiving a call that a vehicle had hit a pedestrian, the Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Department reported. “Upon arriving, deputies discovered a male … in his 30s suffering from apparent stab wounds,” a sheriff’s department statement said. “At this time, it is unknown what led to the incident. There is no suspect or suspect vehicle description at this time.” The man was pronounced dead at…

NORTH HILLS – A man who was killed in a car-to-car shooting in North Hills was identified Friday, and the investigation was continuing into the crime. The shooting occurred about 5:20 p.m. Thursday at Roscoe Boulevard and Haskell Avenue, according to the Los Angeles Police Department. Armando Ruano, 41, of Los Angeles, died at the scene, the Los Angeles County coroner’s office reported. Investigators learned that Ruano was sitting in his vehicle when a black Dodge Charger drove up and several shots were fired into Ruano’s vehicle, LAPD Officer Norma Eisenman told City News Service. No suspect information was available.…

LOS ANGELES – A former Transportation Security Administration officer is expected to plead guilty Friday to smuggling what he believed was methamphetamine through Los Angeles International Airport in exchange for $8,000. Michael Williams, 39, of Hawthorne, has agreed to enter his plea to one federal count of attempting to distribute methamphetamine, which carries a sentence of up to 20 years in federal prison, prosecutors said. The defendant was arrested in 2020 after authorities conducted undercover operations involving Williams, whom they suspected of helping smuggle narcotics past security checkpoints at LAX. During the investigation, Williams allegedly met with a drug source…

LANCASTER – A man in his 20s was killed in Lancaster after his motorcycle crashed into a telephone pole, police said Friday. Deputies from the Lancaster Sheriff’s Station responded at approximately 10:15 p.m. Thursday to the 45500 block of Division Street where they located the victim after the crash, said Sgt. Lee Schriever. Schriever said the man was pronounced dead at the scene. No one else was injured in the crash and the cause of the crash is under investigation.

NORTH HILLS – A car-to-car shooting left one man dead in North Hills, police said Friday. Los Angeles Police Department officers were called at 5:20 p.m. Thursday to Roscoe Boulevard and Haskell Avenue where they learned a man was sitting in a vehicle when a black Dodge Charger drove up to him and fired several shots into the car, said authorities. The Dodge Charger sped away from the scene and no suspect information was immediately available. The victim was pronounced dead at the scene, Eisenman said.

COMPTON – Authorities Thursday announced a $10,000 reward for information leading to the arrest and conviction of a man suspected of fatally shooting a 14-year-old boy in Compton. Eduardo Sanchez, 29, is wanted for the murder of Ivan Villareal, who was found on Aug. 10, 2021, suffering from a gunshot wound to the chest inside a camper in the 4200 block of East San Luis Street, according to the Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Department. The department did not explain why Sanchez was suspected of the murder. Sanchez is 6 feet tall and weighs 175 pounds, with brown hair and brown…

LOS ANGELES – An 18-year-old man pleaded not guilty Thursday to attempted murder and other counts for allegedly firing with a so-called “ghost gun” at two Los Angeles police officers in a patrol vehicle. Anthony Lamont Hill is charged with two counts each of attempted murder of a peace officer in the performance of their duties and assault with a semi-automatic firearm on a peace officer in the performance of their duties, along with one count of carrying an unregistered firearm in public, according to the Los Angeles County District Attorney’s Office. Two officers in a marked patrol vehicle tried…

SOUTH GATE – Authorities Thursday identified a man who was killed in an apparent gang-related shooting in the unincorporated Florence-Firestone area near South Gate that left two other people wounded. The shooting was reported about 6:35 p.m. Tuesday at a liquor store in the 1700 block of Firestone Boulevard, near the Metro A (Blue) Line, according to Deputy Tracy Koerner of the Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Department. Jason Edwards, 37, of Los Angeles, died in the store’s parking lot, according to the Los Angeles County coroner’s office and the sheriff’s department. Two other shooting victims, a man in his 40s…

By STEVEN HERBERT An initiative to provide additional funding for arts and music education in public schools has qualified for the November ballot, Secretary of State Shirley N. Weber announced. What backers have dubbed “The Arts and Music in Schools — Funding Guarantee Accountability Act” would annually allocate an amount equaling 1% of the required state and local funding for public schools to additional funding for arts and music education in all kindergarten through 12th grade public schools, including charter schools. It would not increase taxes. The measure would allocate a greater proportion of the funds to schools serving more…

LOS ANGELES – The school year may be coming to an end, but Los Angeles County health officials reported more increases in COVID-19 cases among students and staff Thursday, noting that the highest infection rate in the county is among teens aged 12 to 17. With a new infection rate of 762 per 100,000, the 12-to-17 age group has seen a doubling in its rate of contracting the virus over the past month. The rate among children aged 5 to 11 has jumped by 96% over that same time period. Health officials noted that most children will experience only mild…

EAST LOS ANGELES – A 14-year-old boy was reported missing Wednesday after last being seen in East Los Angeles. Andrew Miguel Barocio was last seen at approximately 2 p.m. in the 900 block of North Rowan Avenue, said Deputy Brenda Serna of the Sheriff’s Information Bureau. Andrew is Latino, 5 feet, 7 inches tall, weighs 145 pounds, has brown hair and brown eyes. He was last seen wearing a white shirt and blue pants and has no history of running away from home. Anyone with information about Andrew or his whereabouts was asked to call the  East Los Angeles Sheriff’s Station…