A Los Angeles Sheriff’s Department cruiser at a crime scene. (File photo courtesy of the department)
The search continued Friday for suspects in a Christmas Day shooting that killed a 16-year-old boy and wounded four others in Lancaster.
It occurred around 1:10 p.m. Thursday in the city in the Antelope Valley in northern Los Angeles County.
The boy was discovered by deputies and pronounced dead at the scene by Los Angeles County Fire Department personnel, according to the Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Department.
A 17-year-old girl, a 15-year-old boy and two men, 19 and 29, were taken to a hospital and treated for non-life-threatening gunshot wounds, the department reported.
The hospitalized victims’ identities were not released.
No suspects have been arrested, Sheriffs Deputy Tracy Koerner told City News Service.
The cause of the shooting remained under investigation.
Authorities urged anyone with information about the shooting to call the Homicide Bureau at 323-890-5500 or Los Angeles County Crime Stoppers at 800-222-8477.
A man’s body was recovered Friday inside a vehicle that was found partially submerged in a flooded area in Lancaster.
An LAFD helicopter located the vehicle around 9:45 a.m. while flying over the flooded area near 50th Street East and East Avenue I.
LA County Fire responded to the location after family members reported finding the vehicle of a relative who had been missing.
The air rescue crew was able to extract the deceased man from the vehicle.
The LA County Sheriff’s Department says the vehicle was not visible from the roadway due to the terrain and significant flooding from the holiday storm.
Video shared with NBC4 shows the vehicle submerged up to its wheels in mud, surrounded by runoff water.
The identity and cause of death will be released at a later time pending an investigation from the LA County Coroner, according to LASD.
A 16-year-old boy was killed and four others were injured during a Christmas Day shooting in Lancaster, authorities said Thursday night.
The Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Department said in a statement that deputies responded to the 1000 block of E. Angela Court, a suburban street that ends in a cul-de-sac lined with single-family homes with red tile roofs and two-car garages. The incident was reported shortly after 1:00 p.m.
They discovered the 16-year-old at the scene of the shooting, where he was declared dead. A 17-year-old girl, 15-year-old boy and two men, 19 and 29, the statement said, were taken to a local hospital with “non-life-threatening gunshot wounds.”
The department said in an email late Thursday that “[a]t this time we don’t expect any other updates.”
The department is asking anyone with information about the shooting to call the Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Department’s Homicide Bureau at (323) 890-5500. To report a tip anonymously, call “Crime Stoppers” at (800) 222-TIPS (8477), download the “P3 Tips” Mobile APP on Google play or the Apple App Store, or visit lacrimestoppers.org.
WEEK WITH SUNSHINE. HELLO AND THANK YOU TO THE EARTH SCIENCE CLASSES AT MERRIMACK HIGH SCHOOL, WHO I VISITED WITH YESTERDAY. WE TALKED ABOUT THE TECHNOLOGY WE USE TO FORECAST STORMS, AND A RECAP OF THE BIG STORMS AND THE TYPES OF STORMS WE GET HERE IN NEW HAMPSHIRE. SOME GREAT QUESTIONS BY THEM ABOUT MY JOB AND YES, ABOUT THE ALARM CLOCK. AND AS YOU CAN SEE, WHEN THREE CLASSES SHOW UP IN A THEATER, THEY ALL SPREAD OUT. SO NO ONE IS IN THE FRONT ROW. WHEN YOU DO A HIGH SCHOOL KIND OF THE WAY THAT GOES, ISN’T IT? BUT A HUGE THANK YOU TO
News We Love: School faculty sleep on roof after fundraising success
Three faculty members at Lancaster County Christian School are sleeping on the roof as a reward for students surpassing their fundraising goal.At the beginning of this month, the school aimed to raise $500,000 to construct a new building on one of its campuses to alleviate overcrowded classrooms.Video above: Earth science classroomsThe school ended up earning more than $737,000.
LANCASTER COUNTY, Pa. —
Three faculty members at Lancaster County Christian School are sleeping on the roof as a reward for students surpassing their fundraising goal.
At the beginning of this month, the school aimed to raise $500,000 to construct a new building on one of its campuses to alleviate overcrowded classrooms.
The 2020 killings of Maliaka Taylor, 13, and Maurice Taylor Jr., 12, ended in a guilty verdict Tuesday, bringing a horrific five year case to a close
A truly horrific case out of Los Angeles County came to a close on Tuesday, after a jury convicted a father and mother of an unspeakable crime: first-degree murder in the stabbing and decapitation of their 13-year-old daughter and 12-year-old son in 2020, as well as child abuse for forcing their two younger boys to view their slain siblings, and starving them for days.
Maurice Jewel Taylor Sr., 39, and Natalie Sumiko Brothwell, 48, ended a five-year saga that horrified the community, where the family lived in a quiet Lancaster neighborhood. Taylor and Brothwell face life in prison without parole plus more than six additional years, with sentencing set for January 2026.
#California#Parents Convicted of Stabbing and Decapitating Two Children and Forcing Their Surviving Children to ‘Live Through Unimaginable Horror’https://t.co/DjlRZLz1CA
“This was a monstrous act of cruelty that shattered an entire family,” Los Angeles County District Attorney Nathan J. Hochman said in a statement. “Two innocent children were brutally murdered, and their young brothers were left to live through unimaginable horror. The jury’s verdict delivers justice for these victims and sends a powerful message: Those who commit such evil acts will be held fully accountable.”
Prosecutors proved that on November 29, 2020, Taylor and Brothwell fatally stabbed and decapitated 13-year-old Maliaka Taylor and 12-year-old Maurice Taylor Jr. inside the family’s home, according to court documents and trial testimony. The couple then forced their surviving sons, then ages 8 and 9, to look at the gruesome scene (the decapitated bodies of their brother and sister) before locking them in separate bedrooms without food for several days. The latter led to convictions on two counts each of child abuse likely to cause great bodily injury or death.
The case unfolded after Los Angeles County Sheriff’s deputies and the fire department were called to the residence five days after the murders, after receiving a tip about a possible gas leak, and then subsequently discovering the bodies of the two children. More specifically, they discovered Taylor inside with the children’s mutilated bodies (Maliaka in one bedroom and Maurice Jr. in another) and arrested him on the spot after he resisted. Brothwell fled shortly after Taylor’s arrest and was named a person of interest; she was on the run for nearly 10 months before her arrest in September 2021 while in Tucson, Arizona. She was extradited to California the following month.
Statements from the surviving brothers, who were found malnourished and confined, pointed to both parents in the killings and abuse, per the prosecutors.
The couple was each charged with two counts of murder under special circumstances and separate counts of child abuse. Taylor once sought to represent himself for “spiritual reasons,” briefly delaying the proceedings for a mental health evaluation. He was later declared mentally fit to stand trial.
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Deputy District Attorneys Alexander Lara and Kirsten Brown of the Sex Crimes Division, alongside investigators from the Sheriff’s Lancaster Station, handled the prosecution. “This prosecution would not have been possible but for the tremendous efforts of Lara and Brown, who pieced this gruesome case together and presented it compellingly to the jury,” Hochman said, praising his staff.
Neither Taylor nor Brothwell testified, and their defense attorneys argued mental health issues, though the jury clearly rejected their defense. The surviving children, now teenagers, were placed in protective custody and have received counseling, authorities said.
Oh, no. The rock world has lost a true original: Ace Frehley, the iconic founding guitarist of KISS and the man behind the band’s legendary “Spaceman” persona, has tragically passed away at the age of 74.
The news broke Thursday and sent shockwaves right away. According to a heartbreaking statement from his family, the rocker died earlier that day in Morristown, New Jersey, following complications from a fall he suffered at his home several weeks ago.
In their message, sent to People on Thursday night, his family wrote:
“We are completely devastated and heartbroken. In his last moments, we were fortunate enough to have been able to surround him with loving, caring, peaceful words, thoughts, prayers and intentions as he left this earth.”
And the family didn’t stop there. They made sure to pay tribute to who Ace was as a person, beyond just the leather and loud guitars:
“We cherish all of his finest memories, his laughter, and celebrate his strengths and kindness that he bestowed upon others. The magnitude of his passing is of epic proportions, and beyond comprehension. Reflecting on all of his incredible life achievements, Ace’s memory will continue to live on forever!”
Oof. That hits hard.
TMZ had previously reported Ace was placed on life support due to a brain bleed caused by the fall, which happened at some point last month. Just a few weeks ago, on September 25, he addressed fans directly via Instagram, downplaying the incident as a “minor” fall and citing doctor’s orders as the reason he had to cancel a show in Lancaster, California.
At the time, fans were reassured with a statement saying he was “fine” and still hard at work on his next solo album, Origins Vol. 4. But that optimism slowly faded. On October 6, less than two weeks before his passing, Frehley officially canceled the rest of his 2025 tour due to “ongoing medical issues.” And now we know just how serious those issues were.
Born Paul Frehley in the Bronx, Ace skyrocketed to fame in the ’70s as the original lead guitarist of KISS. He helped form the band in 1973 alongside Gene Simmons, Paul Stanley, and Peter Criss. His “Spaceman” alter ego was a cultural stamp on rock history.
Ace officially left KISS in 1982 after internal tensions with the band. He had a thriving solo career, and then reunited with KISS for a successful reunion in 1996. His final performance with them came in 2018 on the KISS Kruise.
So sad. Ace was a rockstar in every sense of the word.
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 pilot was killed after two small-engine planes collided in midair over Lancaster on Sunday afternoon, officials said.
Federal authorities said Sunday that they were looking into the crash, which a Los Angeles County sheriff’s spokesperson said occurred about 12:50 p.m.
Firefighters arrived at the scene of a downed plane near 47th Street East and Avenue F about 1:20 p.m., said L.A. County Fire Capt. Sheila Kelliher-Berkoh. A second downed aircraft was near 60th Street East and Avenue G, Kelliher-Berkoh said.
One of the pilots was pronounced dead at the scene, but the other pilot was uninjured, she said. Although details of the incident were scarce Sunday afternoon, it appears the two planes collided above Lancaster, Kelliher-Berkoh said.
It wasn’t known Sunday afternoon what caused the crash, she said.
No passengers were on either plane.
The National Transportation Safety Board “is investigating the midair collision of a Yakovlev Yak-52 and Nanchang CJ-6A near Lancaster,” the agency said in a statement Sunday afternoon.
The Yak-52 is a single-engine craft designed in the 1970s in the Soviet Union. The CJ-6A was originally produced in the 1960s for the Chinese military. Both are known to be used in aerobatics.
As the temperature climbed Saturday to a record 128 degrees Fahrenheit in Death Valley National Park, a group of motorcyclists became distressed by the extreme heat, and one of them died, a park ranger said.
The motorcyclists were touring the park near Badwater Basin, a stretch of salt flats that is also the lowest point in North America, when — in the mid- to late afternoon — they reported being affected by the extreme heat, according to park ranger Nichole Andler.
One of the riders was pronounced dead at the site, and another person with severe heat illness was taken to Las Vegas, Andler said. Four others in the group were treated and released.
The name of the deceased motorcyclist, or other identifying information, was not released, and the specific cause of death will be determined by the coroner, Andler said.
“Yesterday it was 128 degrees, which was a record high for that day in Death Valley,” the ranger noted, “and these folks were traveling through on motorcycles, and most likely they didn’t have adequate cooling.”
The heat also hindered the rescue effort. When temperatures exceed 120 degrees Fahrenheit, a medical helicopter cannot access the park. Air expands when it is heated, becoming thinner than cold air. So, helicopters can’t get the lift needed to fly.
But Andler said that, in addition to park rangers, first responders from Inyo County and nearby Pahrump, Nev., assisted the bikers.
Saturday’s temperature was just shy of the all-time heat record in Death Valley — 134 degrees, which was set on July 10, 1913. Since record-keeping began in 1911, temperatures have reached or exceeded 130 degrees only three times — with two of those times since 2020: Aug. 16, 2020, and again on July 9, 2021.
Each year, at least one to three people die of heat-related illnesses while visiting the park, and each week, there are one to three calls for medical assistance for heat-related stress.
“Folks get excited about experiencing the warmest temperatures that they’ve ever experienced before, and sometimes they forget that if an hour ago they were hot and started to feel nauseous, then they need to spend the rest of the day in air conditioning — because that could be the earliest sign of heat illness,” Andler said. “If you warm up and never properly cool down, your body doesn’t get a chance to reset.”
Elsewhere in Southern California, the heat shattered records and broiled communities.
Leela Finley Little, 6, cools off Sunday at Tierra Bonita Park in Lancaster, which saw a high Sunday of 115.
(Dania Maxwell / Los Angeles Times)
On Sunday, Palmdale and Lancaster each set record highs for that date — with Palmdale seeing a 114-degree high, exceeding the record of 110 set in 1989. In Lancaster, the 115 degrees recorded Sunday topped the record of 110 reported in 1989 and 2017.
The National Weather Service said that extreme heat would continue this week across the Southland, with highs of 105 to 115 in the interior valleys, mountains and deserts.
The excessive-heat warning was extended to 9 p.m. Thursday for the western San Gabriel Mountains, the Antelope Valley, Angeles Crest Highway and the corridors of the 5 and 14 freeways.
Another excessive-heat warning was in place until Wednesday for the Santa Clarita Valley, Santa Monica Mountains, Calabasas, the San Fernando Valley and eastern San Gabriel Mountains — regions where temperatures were forecast to exceed 100 degrees, according to the weather service.
At least two people were killed Wednesday night in a shooting in a residential area in Lancaster, the Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Department is investigating.
The shooting was reported shortly before 6 p.m. in the 800 block of E Avenue J-12, LASD said. There, two men were found shot and were taken to an area hospital. They later died of their injuries.
Details on what led up to the shooting were not immediately clear. Authorities did not release the names of the deceased.
A detailed description of a possible gunman was not available.
The investigation is ongoing. Anyone with information on the case is asked to contact LASD’s Homicide Bureau at 323-890-5500. Anonymous tips can be made by contacting Crime Stoppers at 800-222-8477.
Authorities have identified the 3-year-old boy whose neck was slashed in Lancaster earlier this week, and the investigation is continuing into his death.
Deputies responded just before 11 p.m. Tuesday to the 43400 block of 57th Street West, south of Avenue K, on a medical rescue call, according to the Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Department. When they arrived, deputies found a victim described only as a “male juvenile” suffering from a “laceration to the neck.”
David Jacques Hernandez of Lancaster died at a hospital, the Los Angeles County Department of Medical Examiner reported.
Sheriff’s officials were investigating the death as a homicide. The Los Angeles Times, citing unnamed sources, said the boy was found in a bathtub with his throat cut. The body was found by a family friend who went to the home at the behest of one of the boy’s relatives, the paper reported.
According to the sheriff’s department, deputies who responded to the home also found Rena Naulls, 39, at the home suffering from a “medical emergency.” Naulls, the live-in boyfriend of the child’s mother, tried “to take his own life” at the home, sheriff’s officials said.
Naulls was taken to a hospital, where he is considered to be in stable condition, according to the sheriff’s department.
“Mr. Naulls has been identified as a person of interest in this matter,” sheriff’s officials said in a statement. They stressed that no arrests have been made.
The biological father of the toddler, Herbett Hernandez, said he is utterly devastated over his child’s death and is in disbelief.
“What did he do for this psycho, monster, whoever, did that to my baby?” the elder Hernandez said.
The grieving father was in an on-again, off-again relationship with the boy’s mother for the last 13 years. They had been separated for the last four months.
According to the sheriff’s department, there were three other children in the home. All were unharmed and were placed in the custody of the County Department of Children and Family Services. The Times reported those children are ages 9, 11 and 14.
Anyone with information on the case was urged to call the Sheriff’s Homicide Bureau at 323-890-5500, or Crime Stoppers at 800-222-TIPS. Tipsters may also use the website http://lacrimestoppers.org.
If you or someone you know is in crisis, call or text 988 to reach the Suicide and Crisis Lifeline or chat live at 988lifeline.org. You can also visit SpeakingOfSuicide.com/resources for additional support.
Niani Finlayson’s family gathered for her service in Anaheim on Sunday.
The 27-year-old was shot in front of her 9-year-old daughter on December 4 after deputies responded to a domestic violence call at an apartment in Lancaster.
The L.A. County Sheriff’s Department claims she was threatening her ex-boyfriend with a knife. The department later released video of the shooting.
In a 911 audio clip released by the sheriff’s department, Finlayson is heard telling the dispatcher that the man “won’t get of my house” and “he will not leave me alone.”
“I need the police here right now. No, cause he won’t get his hands off of me,” Finlayson says, as she apparently argues with a man in the background.
The L.A. County District Attorney’s Office is conducting its own independent review of the shooting.
Finlayson’s family says the shooting was unjustified and has begun the process of suing the department and county for $30 million.
If your rain gutters are overflowing now, just wait.
Forecasters say a second storm fueled by an atmospheric river will hit California next week, roughly doubling the amount of rain falling Thursday on Los Angeles and surrounding areas.
All told, the city of L.A. is expected to receive almost 5.9 inches from the storm that started Wednesday and the more enduring one that’s expected to peak on Sunday and Monday, the National Weather Service said this week. The totals within L.A. County range from 2.7 inches in Lancaster to 10.2 inches in Pine Mountain.
(Paul Duginski / Los Angeles Times)
For those of you keeping track at home, the amount of rain expected for L.A. is about three times as much as the city received in January. And it’s more than the city saw in all of 2020-21, according to the Los Angeles Almanac.
Here are the weather service’s projections for rainfall for selected cities in the region:
Fillmore: first storm 3 inches, second storm 5.3 inches, 8.3 inchestotal
Lancaster: first storm 0.8 inches, second storm 1.9 inches, 2.7 inchestotal
Long Beach: first storm 1.9 inches, second storm 3.5 inches, 5.4 inchestotal
Los Angeles: first storm 2 inches, second storm 3.9 inches, 5.9 inchestotal
Northridge: first storm 1.9 inches, second storm 4.2 inches, 6.1 inchestotal
Ojai: first storm 3.3 inches, second storm 6.5 inches, 9.7 inchestotal
Oxnard: first storm 2 inches, second storm 4.8 inches, 6.7 inchestotal
Pasadena: first storm 3 inches, second storm 4.5 inches, 7.5 inchestotal
Paso Robles: first storm 0.9 inches, second storm 2.2 inches, 3.1 inchestotal
San Luis Obispo: first storm 1.8 inches, second storm 3.4 inches, 5.2 inchestotal
Santa Barbara: first storm 2.5 inches, second storm 5.7 inches, 8.2 inches total
The weather service offered more general projections for snowfall, saying the first storm could bring 8 to 16 inches of snow to elevations above 7,000 feet. As for the second storm, the service said, “significant and hazardous” snowfall will be possible above 6,000 feet through Monday night, with lesser amounts possible at lower elevations in the mountains by Tuesday or Wednesday.
Forecasters expect the first storm to abate Thursday afternoon, although San Luis Obispo and the mountains could see more precipitation Friday.
The volume dumped by the second storm is expected to be significantly greater because the storm system isn’t in as big a hurry to leave Southern California. The system is expected to stall “from around Point Conception south,” the weather service said, but that spot “could easily shift 50 to 100 miles either direction so there still is some uncertainty.” Nevertheless, it said, “this system will likely produce 24 to 36 hours (or more) of continuous rain.”
LOS ANGELES (KABC) — A new report details a pattern of child abuse and neglect cases happening in the Antelope Valley more frequently than in other parts of Southern California.
The desert communities have become notorious for several highly-publicized cases involving abuse and deaths of young children, including 8-year-old Gabriel Fernandez in 2013 in Palmdale, 10-year-old Anthony Avalos of Lancaster in 2018 and 4-year-old Noah Cuatro of Palmdale in 2019.
Data from the Los Angeles County Department of Children and Family Services show the Antelope Valley had the highest rate of child deaths of the county’s eight service areas from 2015 to 2023. DCFS reported 23 such cases during that period, for a rate of 21 cases per 100,000 children living in the region.
“The tragedies in the Antelope Valley reflect a critical need for community resources and a critical need for agencies to work together,” said Deanne Durfee, executive director of the Inter-agency Council on Child Abuse and Neglect.
Durfee says her organization is teaming up with other agencies to target and stop child abuse. She says there needs to be more community outreach to prevent children from being abused or killed.
ICAN hosted its annual policy committee meeting in downtown Los Angeles, joined by law enforcement and other agencies, including Sheriff Robert Luna.
“I don’t want to see one of these (cases) again,” Luna said. “One is way too many. As you sit here through this meeting you’ll hear conversations – we’ll challenge each other and just make sure that we’re pushing each other to the point where we’re protecting every child in this county.”
ICAN says the aim is to focus more attention on getting DCFS and other agencies under one big tent to prevent more children from being abused or killed. The organization also says the crisis in childhood depression, drug use, mental illness and suicide must be addressed and solutions found.
Los Angeles County sheriff‘s deputies have arrested a 37-year-old man suspected of murder after a woman’s body was found this week stuffed inside the trunk of a car at his home and set on fire.
Veronica Aguilar, 27, had been living in a home owned by the suspect, Matthew Switalski, in the Quartz Hill neighborhood near Lancaster. The UCLA graduate taught at a nearby elementary school and was beloved by the families she worked with and her friends.
Aguilar’s body was found by Los Angeles County firefighters responding to a garage fire Wednesday.
“Her story is all over the news of her brutal death,” her brother Juan Aguilar wrote on a GoFundMe page meant to raise money for a funeral. “Things will never be the same ever again. We miss her so much. She had the best spirit she always had a smile. My family is heartbroken.”
“She was the sweetest teacher in the world,” one parent of a student wrote on the website. “We were blessed to have her in our lives. My daughter loved her so much.”
Switalski is a former Northrop Grumman employee, and KABC-TV reported that he worked at the defense company until May. He was, according to LinkedIn, a program, cost and schedule controller and had worked for the company since 2010.
In the spring, court records show, Switalski was arrested and charged with several counts of rape and sexual misconduct with a romantic partner. After being arraigned in June, he was released on $600,000 bail, according to court records.
After the fire was extinguished at the Quartz Hill home Wednesday morning, authorities quickly identified Switalski as a suspect. Crews had searched the garage and discovered the woman’s body inside the trunk of the car.
He was arrested Thursday in Kern County, according to the Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Department. He’s being held at the Lancaster Sheriff’s Station on a $10-million bond and has been charged with a felony, according to the department’s inmate locator.
A 4-year-old boy was killed Friday evening in Lancaster after a man shot into a family’s vehicle during a road rage incident, according to the Los Angeles Sheriff’s Department.
During the incident, the boy was seated in the back and struck by gunfire in the upper body, police said. The child’s parents rushed him to a hospital, where he was pronounced dead.
Deputies from the Lancaster sheriff’s station responded to a call of a shooting victim at the 44600 block of Sierra Highway at 7:29 p.m. Investigators began working on the case and found the suspect’s vehicle near the scene.
A 29-year-old Black man and a 27-year-old white woman, who were not identified, were arrested on suspicion of murder. Police said there were no other suspects.
Police reported that the suspects abruptly maneuvered in front of the family’s car near Sierra Highway and East Avenue J, initiating a pursuit through several side streets.
While being followed, the driver of the family’s car slowed his vehicle, prompting the suspects to stop alongside the passenger side of the victim’s car and begin shooting, a Sheriff’s Department official said.
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.
The Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Department is reeling after the deaths of four “beloved” active and retired officers.
In an email statement to KTLA on Tuesday, LA County Sheriff Robert Luna addressed a jaw-dropping report that has shocked the community: within 24 hours, four officers died, all said to be by suicide. Luna did not confirm the manners of death, but multiple anonymous sources suggested to the LA Times that suicide was the consistent factor among the four fallen men.
The first was discovered on Monday at around 10:30 a.m. in Valencia, and just two hours later another was found in Lancaster. Later that same evening at 5:40 p.m., LASD detectives discovered a third deputy in Stevenson Ranch, while the fourth was found on Tuesday at around 7:30 a.m. in Pomona. The outlet reported one of the victims was 25-year vet Commander Darren Harris, who was allegedly discovered with a self-inflicted gunshot wound, while another was Sergeant Greg Hovland.
How utterly confounding. FOUR deaths by suicide in just 24 hours?? We know these types of self-harm incidents tend to cluster in families, but in a single day??
Luna wrote in his statement:
“We are stunned to learn of these deaths, and it has sent shockwaves of emotions throughout the department as we try and cope with the loss of not just one, but four beloved active and retired members of our department family. During trying times like these it’s important for personnel regardless of rank or position to check on the well-being of other colleagues and friends. I have the deepest concern for our employees’ well-being, and we are urgently exploring avenues to reduce work stress factors to support our employees’ work and personal lives.”
The deaths are being investigated by homicide detectives and the County of Los Angeles Medical Examiner. As of now, authorities — believe it or not — do NOT believe they’re related! However, retired Santa Monica police officer Cristina Coria alluded to what sounds like a mental health crisis within the force that isn’t being addressed. She told Fox 11 on Wednesday:
“There are so many officers that I know that have talked about committing suicide that I never thought in a million years would think about it or talk about it. There are so many officers out there that are struggling with their identity, with finances, with relationship problems, with addictions to pain meds, addiction to alcohol, you name it. There are so many things going on, that our departments are not reaching out to them [struggling officers] enough.”
See more (below):
Wow. The LASD added that its Psychological Services Bureau and the Injury and Health Support Unit are providing support to the families of the victims. We hope everyone gets some answers soon.
If you or someone you know is contemplating suicide, help is available. Consider contacting the 988 Suicide & Crisis Lifeline at 988, by calling, texting, or chatting, or go to 988lifeline.org
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.
