An accomplished Caltech astrophysicist with more than four decades of research contributions in galactic astronomy and the study of distant planets was fatally shot in a rural area of Antelope Valley on Monday morning. A suspect in the shooting has been charged with murder.
Deputies responded to a 911 call for assault with a deadly weapon in the unincorporated community of Llano at 6:10 a.m. and found a man suffering from a gunshot wound on the front porch of a home, according to the L.A. County Sheriff’s Department. Paramedics pronounced him dead at the scene.
The victim was later identified as Carl Grillmair, 67, according to the L.A. County medical examiner. His death was ruled a homicide caused by a gunshot wound to the torso.
While investigating the shooting, deputies arrested a suspect in a carjacking that took place nearby, according to the Sheriff’s Department.
That suspect was later identified as Freddy Snyder, 29. He was charged Wednesday with the murder of Grillmair and carjacking. He was also charged with first degree burglary related to a Dec. 28 incident, according to court records.
He is currently being held in lieu of $2 million. It is unclear what relation, if any, Snyder had with Grillmair.
A spokesperson for Caltech confirmed that Grillmair was employed as a research scientist at the university.
He worked at the university’s Infrared Processing and Analysis Center, known as IPAC, which partners with NASA, the U.S. National Science Foundation and researchers around the world to advance the exploration of the universe.
His work has focused on uncovering the structure of the Milky Way and identifying faint stellar streams and substructures that make up the galactic halo surrounding our spiral galaxy, and helping reshape our understanding of how galaxies evolve, according to his website.
He has been awarded substantial observation time as a principal investigator on the Hubble Space Telescope and the Spitzer Space Telescope, and his research has earned him numerous accolades including a NASA Exceptional Scientific Achievement Medal.
His hobbies included cycling, hiking, helicopter skiing, general aviation with a specific interest in sailplanes and ultralights, waste reduction and clean energy and large dogs, according to his website.
LOS ANGELES — An Antelope Valley man has been convicted of fatally shooting a marijuana dealer during a planned robbery in Inglewood four years ago.
Leandrew Raglin, 22, of Lancaster was found guilty Friday in downtown Los Angeles of four federal counts, including conspiracy to interfere with commerce by robbery and brandishing a firearm in a crime of violence resulting in death, constituting murder, according to the U.S. Attorney’s Office.
Evidence presented at an eight-day trial showed Raglin and co-defendants Mateo Paul, 23, of Long Beach and Iysis Elanore Smith, 22, of Inglewood agreed to rob the dealer at gunpoint. The trio planned a ruse to lure the dealer via social media to a meeting, where they intended to ambush him and steal his stash, the jury heard.
On March 15, 2021, Smith approached the vehicle occupied by the victim. Federal prosecutors said that while Smith distracted the dealer, Paul and Raglin parked behind the victim’s vehicle. Raglin then exited the vehicle Paul was driving, approached the passenger side of the victim’s car and opened fire, repeatedly wounding the person in the passenger seat, federal prosecutors said.
Raglin then walked around to the other side of the vehicle and opened fire, fatally wounding the dealer in the driver’s seat, evidence showed. The 26-year-old man who died was identified in court papers only as “A.B.”
U.S. District Judge Fernando L. Aenlle-Rocha scheduled a March 13 sentencing hearing, at which time Raglin will face between 10 years and life imprisonment, according to the U.S. Attorney’s Office.
Paul pleaded guilty in February to interference with commerce by robbery and brandishing and discharging a firearm in furtherance of a crime of violence. He is scheduled to be sentenced in L.A. federal court on Sept. 26.
Smith pleaded guilty to felony robbery charges. Both Paul and Smith face potential life sentences, prosecutors said.
A gunman sprayed a Metrolink train with bullets late Wednesday night at a Palmdale station, leaving two people hospitalized and a passenger car pocked with holes.
The shooting occurred near the platform where the northbound Antelope Valley Line train 229 was departing for Lancaster. Authorities said two people outside the train were hit as bullets also struck the passenger car.
The train’s passengers reported the gunfire, said Scott Johnson.
One of the shooting victims was wounded in a hip and the other in a calf, said Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Sgt. Michael Stowers. Their injuries were not life-threatening, he said. Emergency responders took them to a hospital for treatment.
Some media outlets said a woman injured her head while dodging gunfire, but Stowers was unable to confirm those reports.
Authorities had no information on what led to the incident or the identity of the shooter as detectives continued their investigation.
The train experienced a nearly one-hour delay as L.A. County sheriff’s deputies conducted the investigation. Metrolink has removed the bullet-damaged passenger car from service.
No other Metrolink services were affected.
When asked about safety concerns among passengers who take the Antelope Valley Line, Scott said, “Los Angeles County sheriff’s deputies and armed security officers regularly ride Antelope Valley Line trains to provide safety and security.”
The Los Angeles County Board of Supervisors is seeking to add kennels to the Palmdale Animal Care Center and make them more accessible to visitors following a Times investigation into rising dog euthanasia rates in the Antelope Valley.
At a meeting of the board Tuesday, Supervisors Kathryn Barger, whose district includes Palmdale and Lancaster, and Hilda Solis brought forward a motion asking that the county’s Department of Animal Care and Control look into building temporary kennels and search for other facilities that could be used to house more dogs.
The urgent motion received unanimous approval.
“Right now, during this crisis in our animal care centers, we must find creative ways to do better, especially up in the Antelope Valley,” Barger said at the meeting. “It is clear that there are many issues here and there is a need for urgent and effective improvements.”
Supervisors also directed staff to review department policies and practices after The Times identified inconsistencies in outreach to rescue organizations about dogs that are most at risk of euthanasia.
A spokesperson for the Department of Animal Care and Control said officials were unavailable Tuesday afternoon to provide a comment.
The Palmdale shelter, which opened in 2016, was meant to relieve overcrowding at the nearby Lancaster shelter and reduce the number of dogs being euthanized there.
But together, the Palmdale and Lancaster shelters’ dog euthanasia rates have nearly doubled in recent years — from about 15% in 2018 to 28% through this August. And they’re on track this year to kill dogs at nearly twice the average rate of the other five county-run facilities, The Times found.
More recent statistics released by the department on the Antelope Valley sites show similar rates. From July through October, the Palmdale shelter euthanized 352 of 1,388 dogs impounded, or 25%. In Lancaster, 470 of 1,500 dogs impounded during that time, or 31%, were put down. Cats are euthanized at even higher rates.
In September, the supervisors requested that the department look into expanding the Palmdale facility, saying its limited housing capacity was inadequate to serve the region.
The Palmdale shelter has 68 dog kennels, but through August this year had taken in more dogs than larger shelters, including Baldwin Park, which has more than 190 dogkennels, and Downey, which has 180.
Barger and Solis’ motion Tuesday said it could cost more than $25 million to expand the Palmdale shelter. The motion requested more cost-effective, short-term solutions to house more dogs, and addressed the shelter’s accessibility problems as well.
In Palmdale, for example, most dogs are kept in an area that the public can visit only with a staff or volunteer escort. People wanting information about dogs available for adoption can view a corkboard pinned with the animals’ photos, but those are often dark or of poor quality. Some dogs in Baldwin Park also require an escort to be seen.
The board requested recommendations Tuesday for allowing visitors to view and access all adoptable dogs in Palmdale and Baldwin Park without an escort.
The Times also reported on cases when the shelters failed to follow department guidelines to enlist help from rescue groups before putting a dog down. In other cases, dogs were euthanized within days of being featured at adoption events or on social media, which some rescuers and volunteers said did not give the public enough time to adopt them.
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1.Bubblegum, left, and Heartful were both euthanized days after an adoption event.(Los Angeles County Department of Animal Care and Control)
In one example, Pie, a tan Siberian Husky, was euthanized at the Palmdale shelter in March, three days after being featured at an adoption event at an Ashley furniture store. Bubblegum and Heartful, two white-and-brown pit bulls who attended the same event, were euthanized a day after that. The reason listed for all three was that they were unable to be placed in a home.
Solis referenced the case of Bowie, a 4-month-old terrier at the Baldwin Park shelter who was put down without any rescue requests, sparking outrage from many rescue groups and the public.
“We have consistently been hearing and reading reports that not only the rates of euthanasia have gone up, but mistakes have also been made leading to unnecessary deaths of potential pets,” Solis said.
On Tuesday, county Supervisor Hilda Solis invoked the memory of Bowie, a 4-month-old terrier who was reportedly put down at the Baldwin Park shelter despite a rescue group’s interest in saving him.
(Los Angeles County Animal Care and Control)
Supervisor Holly Mitchell asked for ideas on how the county could help prevent owners from relinquishing their pets.
“I really would hope that we could be a little more proactive in figuring out what we can do to support our department in proactively asking people, you know, ‘What do you need?’” Mitchell said, adding that people may need food vouchers or help with veterinary expenses.
Marcia Mayeda, director of the county’s Department of Animal Care and Control, said in a June report to the board that severe staffing shortages were hampering efforts to provide basic animal care and bring down euthanasia numbers.
The Palmdale and Lancaster shelters, she said, would need more than triple the number of staff in the next five years to reduce euthanasia.
In Tuesday’s motion, the supervisors requested that animal control and human resources officials evaluate vacant positions at the Antelope Valley shelters and come up with strategies to hire qualified candidates.
The Antelope Valley is facing a hard freeze warning for the early morning hours on Monday, with temperatures expected to plunge below freezing overnight, according to the National Weather Service.
The temperatures could damage outdoor plumbing and harm crops and unprotected pets or livestock in the Antelope Valley, including the areas of Palmdale, Lancaster and Lake Los Angeles, the weather service warned. It recommended that outdoor pipes be wrapped, drained or allowed to drip slowly and that in-ground sprinkler systems be drained and any above-ground pipes covered to protect them from freezing.
Lancaster had a low of 22 degrees Fahrenheit early Sunday morning, said David Gomberg, a meteorologist with the National Weather Service in Oxnard. The Antelope Valley is facing chillier temperatures than the rest of the region because it is more protected from wind at night, causing “radiational cooling,” Gomberg said. “Areas that are more wind sheltered get exceptionally cold.”
“Most other areas of Southern California see at least a little bit of wind, which modifies the temperature,” Gomberg explained, with temperatures in most valley areas in the 40s and the Los Angeles coast and basin in the low to mid 50s, “not too unusual for this time of year.”
Some areas, including the Santa Clarita Valley, Calabasas, Agoura Hills and the Malibu coast, were under a wind advisory Sunday, with gusts of up to 45 miles per hour expected. The National Weather Service warned that the high winds could make driving difficult and blow down tree limbs, potentially leading to power outages.
A 20% chance of rain — mostly intermittent showers — is forecast for the Los Angeles County region beginning Wednesday and continuing through Friday, according to the NWS. Temperatures will range from the low 40s to high 60s.
Freezing temperatures are again expected across the Antelope Valley early Thursday, the fourth morning in a row with weather officials warning of the potential for dangerously cold weather.
Since Monday, the Antelope Valley has been under a freeze warning during the early morning hours, said Joe Sirard, a National Weather Service meteorologist based in Oxnard.
“This will be the fourth night in a row of subfreezing temperatures out there.”
Sirard said the freezes were slightly early in the season, but not entirely unprecedented.
Low temperatures are forecast at 30 degrees from 3 a.m. to 8 a.m. Thursday. The freeze warning is also in effect for the Salinas Valley in coastal Central California.
“There’s always a chance that pipes could freeze if people don’t prepare,” Sirard said. He said sensitive vegetation could also be at risk in the cold, and the official alert noted that “extended exposure to cold can cause hypothermia for animals and people.”
It wasn’t immediately clear how shelters in the area were preparing, if at all, for another morning of frigid temperatures.
The Los Angeles Homeless Service Authority has a winter shelter program that began Wednesday, but the two participating shelters located in the Antelope Valley — one in Lancaster and one in Palmdale — were not scheduled to not be open until later this week or next month.
