Authorities Thursday sought additional potential sexual assault victims tied to a 68-year-old pastor of a Compton church charged with committing lewd acts upon a minor.
Quintilo Sagrero was the pastor at the Templo Pentecostal El Camino Church in the 1500 block of East Alondra Boulevard, near Long Beach Boulevard.
He was taken into custody on Nov. 6 and held on $200,000 bail, according to the Sheriff’s Information Bureau.
Sagrero has been charged by the Los Angeles County District Attorney’s Office with two counts of committing lewd acts upon a child, authorities said.
“Based on the nature of the offenses, detectives believe there may be additional unidentified victims and are seeking the public’s help in identifying any additional victims,” the sheriff’s department said in a statement.
Anyone with information regarding the alleged assault or victims wanting to come forward was urged to call Special Victims Bureau Sgt. Oscar Lopez at 562-946-7013. Tipsters who prefer to remain anonymous can call CrimeStoppers at 800-222-8477 or visit lacrimestoppers.org.
A man was fatally shot in a drive-by shooting Saturday night as he and his mother were leaving a home in Compton, the Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Department said.
The shooting occurred around 9:15 p.m. as the victim and his mother were exiting the home in the 800 block of South Chester Avenue, authorities said. One or more occupants of a white sedan traveling southbound opened fire on the victim before speeding away.
Deputies who responded were directed to a local hospital where the man had been taken by a family member and later died, authorities said.
The sheriff’s department has not identified the victim or determined a motive for the crime.
No arrests have been made, and there was no additional information about a suspect or suspects in the case.
Anyone with information is asked to telephone the sheriff’s department at (323) 890-5500.
Larry Allen was an enormous man with unsurpassed talent and a ferocious demeanor on the football field. In 14 NFL seasons — 12 with the Dallas Cowboys, two with the San Francisco 49ers — he was a six-time All-Pro and 11-time Pro Bowl offensive lineman.
“I hear people say Larry was the best offensive lineman in the game, and that’s just not right,” Cowboys teammate and fellow Hall of Famer Michael Irvin once said. “Larry was the best player in the league, and it wasn’t even close.”
Yet Allen, who died suddenly Sunday at age 52 while on vacation with his family in Mexico, had fears rooted in his upbringing in Compton. At age 9, he was stabbed 12 times in the head and shoulder while defending his younger brother, Von, from an older boy whose mother had given him a knife.
After enduring painful stitching of the wounds, Allen became so frightened of needles that he even refused Novocain before his dentist filled a cavity. As for the kid with the knife, though, Allen found him three months after the stabbing.
“My mother said, ‘I’m not raising any punks, so she made me fight this guy,’ ” Allen said during his Hall of Fame induction speech in 2013. “She said, ‘You will fight him until you win.’ First day I lost. Second day I lost. The third day I finally won. That was one of the most valuable lessons I learned in my life, never to back down from anybody.”
Allen’s mother, Vera, was his guiding force.
“We would hear the gunfire outside our house, we would automatically roll out of the bed, lay on the floor until the shooting stopped, then get back in bed and go to sleep,” she told The Times in 1994. “After a while, we got pretty good at that.”
She moved with her two sons to Northern California a few years later. Allen attended four high schools and didn’t play football until his junior year, when the family returned to Southern California and he enrolled at Compton Centennial.
A year later Allen again bolted because of gang activity and drug dealing near his family’s home, playing his senior year at Vintage High in Napa while staying with the family of a friend, Steve Hagland. Allen didn’t graduate and drifted to tiny Butte Junior College in Chico, where he dominated on the field but didn’t earn the grades to transfer to a Division I program.
He moved back to his mom’s house in Compton, played pickup basketball and worked odd jobs. Football became an afterthought until Frank Scalercio, an assistant coach at Division II Sonoma State, tracked him down and hauled him back to Northern California.
While trying to convince Sonoma head coach Tim Walsh that Allen was worth recruiting, Scalercio repeated a rumor he’d heard that the lineman could dunk a basketball. Walsh rolled his eyes when Allen — all 325 pounds of him — arrived on campus.
“I was bragging about this kid for months, and would always include the fact he could dunk,” Scalercio told Star magazine. “So here we were, the basketball team is in the gym, a few football players, just all watching him. And he throws down this two-handed slam like none of us had ever seen. The ball was just bouncing on the floor for like 10 seconds and no one said a word. I have never heard silence like that in my life.”
Two years later, Allen wasn’t quiet when he got a call from Cowboys owner Jerry Jones on NFL draft day.
Jones: “Son, would you like to be a Cowboy?”
Allen: “Yes, sir!”
The kid from Compton who’d bounced around four high schools, a junior college and a Division II program was a second-round pick of the reigning Super Bowl champions.
“I ran out of my apartment and jumped into the swimming pool with all my clothes on,” Allen said.
Soon thereafter, he bought Vera a house in Sacramento.
“Everything she gave and did for my brother and me, that was the one gift I was able to give to her,” Allen said. “She did everything for my brother and me. My life could’ve ended up much differently.”
Yet sadly, his life ended prematurely. Allen left his wife, Janelle, daughters Jayla and Loriana and son Larry III.
“Larry, known for his great athleticism and incredible strength, was one of the most respected, accomplished offensive linemen to ever play in the NFL,” the Cowboys said in a statement. “His versatility and dependability were also signature parts of his career. Through that, he continued to serve as inspiration for many other players, defining what it meant to be a great teammate, competitor and winner.
“The Jones family and the Cowboys extend their deepest condolences, thoughts and prayers to the Allen family and grieve along with the many other friends and Cowboys teammates that also loved Larry.”
Just received the heartbreaking news of the passing of our beloved teammate Larry Allen. He was a HOF offensive lineman that dominated opponents regardless of the position played. Off the field, he was a gentle giant that loved his family. Rest in Peace LA💔🙏🏼
Allen’s exploits on the field are legendary. He excelled at guard and at tackle, ran a 4.8-second 40-yard dash and was astonishing in the weight room — even though he famously didn’t enjoy lifting.
Social media sites Monday were filled with tributes to Allen that included his most memorable feats, such as the time he bench-pressed 700 pounds — 300 pounds more than any teammate — and withstood Rocket Ismail falling on Allen’s chest in jubilation.
And the time he chased down New Orleans Saints linebacker Darion Conner 50 yards downfield following an interception.
Allen apparently also was responsible for opponents contracting a unique malady.
“Players will watch him on film during the week and then pull up with some mysterious injury or flu or something,” New York Giants All-Pro defensive end Michael Strahan said. “We call that catching ‘Allen-itis.’ ”
Allen, who was called for holding only 13 times in 14 seasons, helped the Cowboys win Super Bowl XXX after the 1995 season in a 27-17 win over the Pittsburgh Steelers. Six years after he retired in 2007, he rattled off the names of many teammates, coaches and family members during his Hall of Fame induction speech in Canton, Ohio.
“My goal was simple, to earn a seven-letter word called respect,” he said. “The respect of my teammates, opponents and the NFL. Today, my mission is complete. I also played hard, whistle to whistle, to make my opponents submit. And today, I’m submitting to you. I just can’t wait to see my buddies.
“I’ve been blessed to play the game I love. And remember this, it has never been about me, Larry Allen, but the many, many people that helped me out.”
A pursuit ended in a standoff in Compton on Friday after police responded to a kidnapping that was later determined to have not happened.
The Long Beach Police Department said a woman near Artesia Boulevard and Myrtle Avenue told reporters shortly before 4 p.m. that she had been kidnapped by a man in a vehicle. Officers located a man matching the description given and tried to detain the individual.
Refusing to comply, the man evaded officers and instigated a pursuit. The chase finally came to an end after officers performed a PIT maneuver on the vehicle while it was on the westbound 91 freeway in Compton.
According to Long Beach police, “As officers continued to investigate the kidnapping, the facts revealed that the crime of kidnapping had not occurred.”
Authorities did not release the name of the driver involved in the chase.
One person has died in a dog attack at a Compton residence.
The report was received at about 7 a.m. from a residence at East Saunders Street and North Thorson Avenue.
Video showed several dogs in the yard of the home. A body was located inside a fenced kennel at the rear of the house.
Details about the attack and the victim’s identity were not immediately available. Ambulances were at the scene, but it was not immediately clear whether anyone was transported.
Eric Darnell Wright Jr. remembers his father driving down Muriel Avenue in Compton for Thanksgiving dinner.
It was there that his now 86-year old grandmother, Katie Wright, would prepare large meals for all her kin, including her son Eric Lynn Wright — better known as the late N.W.A rapper Eazy-E.
“It wasn’t no entertainment,” Eric Darnell Wright, the rapper’s son who goes by Lil Eazy-E, recalled. Only family existed in these moments. “It was just kind of like the hip-hop world was out of it.”
Erica Wright, the artist’s oldest daughter, never really cared for the rapper Eazy-E. “I cared about Eric,” she said of her father.
The siblings said they were heartbroken they weren’t able to spend enough of those moments with their dad, who died in 1995 at the age of 31.
Decades after Wright and N.W.A helped put the city on the map with the chart-topping single “Boyz N the Hood,” Eazy-E was celebratedWednesday with an honor befitting someone who loved to cruise down the avenues of his famous and sometimes infamous hometown.
Compton officially renamed Towne Center Drive as “Eazy Street.”
“It’s about time,” a man in the crowd yelled as officials raised the lime green sign for the public to see.
Family, friends and community leaders pose with the new Eazy St. sign during Wednesday’s ceremony.
(Michael Blackshire/Los Angeles Times)
The happy disruption and ceremony featuring lowriders, musical performances and original gangsters in a Best Buy parking lot perfectly encapsulated Wright’s rugged personality, his loved ones said on stage.
Eazy-E’s graphic lyrics from old albums blared from the stage where former N.W.A member DJ Yella exchanged greetings with Wright’s loved ones. Members of Bone Thugs-N-Harmony showed up for the event to pay respects to Wright, who appeared on their track “Foe tha Love of $” the year he died.
Black hats embroidered with “Compton” in bold white letters poked above the hundreds of attendees who danced in the crowd.
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1.An attendee at Wednesday’s ceremony shows his N.W.A tattoo.2.Another attendee wears a ‘We Want Eazy’ chain.3.A woman named Bee shows her Eazy-E tattoo while wearing an N.W.A T-shirt.4.MC Benyad, a member of the group Blood of Abraham that recorded for Eazy-E’s Ruthless Records label, signs N.W.A’s second album for a fan.(Michael Blackshire/Los Angeles Times)
With fellow N.W.A members Dr. Dre, Ice Cube, DJ Yella, MC Ren and Arabian Prince, Wright brought notoriety to Compton with the group’s West Coast rap albums.
Before the fame, Wright was a high school dropout who dealt drugs for a living.
Two album releases — N.W.A’s “Straight Outta Compton” and Wright’s solo project “Eazy-Duz-It” — were considered the opening of a new era for hip-hop, a genre and industry that had primarily been lyrically defined and commercially dominated by East Coast acts until that point.
Both albums were released under Wright’s label, Ruthless Records, which he co-founded with manager Jerry Heller.
With iconic music videos showing Eazy-E and his group parading through the streets, Wright, a Compton native, quickly rose to the status of American pop culture icon.
Alonzo Williams — one of Wright’s earliest collaborators — owned Compton’s Eve After Dark nightclub, which helped launch acts including Dr. Dre and Eazy-E. He now heads the Compton Entertainment Chamber of Commerce that organized the event and spearheaded the naming of Eazy Street.
“Always putting in work,” a member of the crowd yelled in recognition of Williams during the event.
Wright went to Williams for advice when setting up Ruthless Records. Williams introduced Wright to a graphic designer and later Heller.
DJ Yella, who performed with Eazy-E in N.W.A, speaks to friends and fans during a ceremony honoring the late rapper.
(Michael Blackshire/Los Angeles Times)
“Eazy was one of the realest cats that I ran into back in the day,” Williams said after a cruise down Eazy Street. “I got a lot of respect for him because no matter how much money he made he stayed true to himself.”
Even after Wright found fame, Williams said, the rapper would often visit him at his garage, where N.W.A. recorded their first songs.
Actually, Wright never wanted to be a rapper, Williams added. But he fell into a character — a crazy 5-foot-4 trash talker — that he created and enjoyed acting out while out on the streets.
Williams remembers asking how long Wright intended to “play the role.”
“As long as they’re buying tickets,” Wright replied, according to Williams.
“The character on stage was one thing, but I knew the man,” Williams said. “He was a fun-loving father.”
“I’m glad to be a part of his entrance into the music game. I’m glad to be part of his legacy,” Williams added.
Gerald “Bop” Payton echoed the sentiment in the parking lot with recording artist Rondevu — who was on the first Ruthless Records album with Eazy-E before he became famous for “Boyz N the Hood,”
Payton, a childhood friend who first met Wright at the age of 10, claimed there are five versions of “Boyz N the Hood,” He’s on one, though it has never been released, he said.
Payton said he was there to witness Eazy-E’s meteoric rise to the top of hip-hop and was at the side of Wright’s hospital bed in 1995. The artist died just days after he announced he had been diagnosed with AIDS.
Kathie Wright and Eric Darnell Wright Jr., children of Eazy-E, listen as friends and family give speeches honoring the late rapper.
(Michael Blackshire/Los Angeles Times)
Wright’s parents, Katie and Richard Wright, were working class, Payton recalled. And the prominent rapper was one of the only children in the neighborhood with both parents at home during a time when Los Angeles and places like Compton were wracked with sky-high murder rates wrought by gang wars.
Payton’s own father, a lieutenant in the Compton Police Department, was one of seven officers living on their block, “so we had to keep everything on the down low.”
Payton said memories of his friend’s first car, first job and mischievous adventures hang in his head like they happened yesterday.
“He used to hate [that] I could finish his sentences,” Payton said. “We always knew what each other was thinking. I might not have thought he was right, but nothing could come between us.”
He and Wright drove around in a Chevrolet El Caminoin the 1980s, and took turns playing the role of driver and chauffeur, opening doors and pretending to ask for autographs in order impress young girls in the neighborhood.
The reason Wright was first interested in records “had nothing to do with making money,” Payton said. He was trying to impress a girl.
Early on, Payton said he didn’t think Wright had a future behind the mic. That caused some tension.
“I just couldn’t believe anybody was going to like it. And he didn’t take that well,” Payton recalled.
Looking back at everything his friend accomplished, he added: “This is just another big ‘I told you so’ from him to me.”
A man who said he shot two sheriff’s deputies at point-blank range while seeking revenge for a friend killed by police was sentenced to 166 years in prison Wednesday, prosecutors said.
Deonte Murray, 39, was convicted in September on multiple counts of attempted murder, assault, robbery and carjacking for an 11-day string of crimes that culminated when he walked up to an L.A. County Sheriff’s Department cruiser parked outside a Compton train station and opened fire. Deputies Claudia Apolinar and Emmanuel Perez-Perez were struck in the head and face and required surgery for their serious injuries.
The attack occurred in September 2020, on the heels of the murder of George Floyd in Minneapolis and during a flash point in police-community relations in L.A. after weeks of local protests against law enforcement. Murray, who admitted to the shootings, said he wanted payback after deputies killed his best friend, Samuel Herrera.
Eleven days before the attack on Apolinar and Perez-Perez, Herrera died in a shootout with sheriff’s deputies who were trying to serve a search warrant. Police recovered a small cache of firearms in Herrera’s garage, and neither of the deputies that Murray shot were involved in Herrera’s killing.
Murray’s attorney, Kate Hardie, said her client was in a grief-stricken rage after Herrera’s death and acting irrationally. He was living out of his car and operating in “a blur” of cognac and methamphetamine, she said.
Before shooting the deputies, Murray sprayed bullets at a car outside the Compton courthouse at a man he assumed was a plainclothes police detective. The victim in that shooting was not a law enforcement officer; he’d simply gone to the courthouse to file paperwork and was “trying to do a Zoom meeting in his car,” Deputy Dist. Atty. Stephen Lonseth told jurors.
Hours later, Murray approached the deputies’ cruiser and shot through the front passenger’s window before running away. Surveillance footage from the scene showed Apolinar, stained with blood, tending to Perez-Perez’s wounds.
“They’re alive because of, frankly, a miracle, and the heroics of Claudia Apolinar, who, despite being shot through the jaw, through the wrist, kept this from being a murder case,” Lonseth said.
The American Society of Composers, Authors and Publishers announced Tuesday that it would be presenting artist and producer Dr. Dre with its first-ever Hip-Hop Icon Award. The award honors “ASCAP members whose musical contributions have made an indelible impact on the art and culture of hip-hop,” the music licensing group said in a statement.
Dr. Dre will be presented with the honor at the ASCAP Rhythm & Soul Music Awards Celebration of 50 Years of Hip-Hop in Los Angeles on Thursday.
“Dr. Dre’s groundbreaking early work laid a foundation for hip-hop as we know it today. As a champion for some of today’s biggest artists and a successful entrepreneur, he changed the culture around hip-hop,” said ASCAP Chairman of the Board and President Paul Williams.
Rappers Dr. Dre and Snoop Dogg backstage at the Source Awards which were held at Madison Square Garden on August 3, 1995, in New York, NY.
Al Pereira / Getty Images
Dr. Dre is an eight-time Grammy Award-winning producer and musician, as well as the founder and CEO of record label Aftermath Entertainment and electronics giant Beats Electronics. He also founded Death Row Records, a favorite of West Coast hip-hop legends such as Tupac, MC Hammer and Snoop Dogg, who were on the label’s roster in the 90s.
Dr. Dre also founded the American hip-hop group N.W.A. in Compton, California, in 1987, but his solo career began five years later with his first album, “The Chronic” — which is now certified triple platinum.
Rappers N.W.A. (back) Dr. Dre, Laylaw from Above The Law, The D.O.C. (front) Ice Cube, Eazy-E., MC Ren and DJ Yella pose for a photo before their performance during the “Straight Outta Compton” tour at Kemper Arena in Kansas City, Missouri in 1989.
Raymond Boyd/Michael Ochs Archives/Getty Images
Dr. Dre’s production is widely credited with having launched the music careers of hip-hop legends such as 50 Cent, Eminem and Kendrick Lamar, among others.
“Dre continues to be a pivotal figure in the music industry and we are thrilled to recognize him with the inaugural ASCAP Hip-Hop Icon Award as we mark 50 years of hip-hop,” said Williams.
