A man accused of shoplifting at an Orlando Walmart was shot by a deputy of the Orange County Sheriff’s Office Sunday night, deputies said.In a release from OCSO, deputies say a man wearing a mask was attempting to steal a cart full of items from the Walmart located at 11250 E. Colonial Drive.After an attempt at communicating with the suspect, OCSO says the deputy discharged his Taser, but it did not work.OCSO said the deputy told the suspect, “Don’t reach,” before he discharged his weapon and shot the man.The suspect was taken to a nearby hospital with non-life-threatening injuries, OCSO said. According to the release, two knives were recovered at the scene.WESH 2 has a crew at the scene, where deputies and patrol cars can still be seen at the Walmart. This is the second time this week a shoplifter was shot at a Walmart in Central Florida.The sheriff’s office will provide an update Monday morning.>> This is a developing story and will be updated as new information is released.
ORLANDO, Fla. —
A man accused of shoplifting at an Orlando Walmart was shot by a deputy of the Orange County Sheriff’s Office Sunday night, deputies said.
In a release from OCSO, deputies say a man wearing a mask was attempting to steal a cart full of items from the Walmart located at 11250 E. Colonial Drive.
After an attempt at communicating with the suspect, OCSO says the deputy discharged his Taser, but it did not work.
OCSO said the deputy told the suspect, “Don’t reach,” before he discharged his weapon and shot the man.
The suspect was taken to a nearby hospital with non-life-threatening injuries, OCSO said.
According to the release, two knives were recovered at the scene.
WESH 2 has a crew at the scene, where deputies and patrol cars can still be seen at the Walmart.
This is the second time this week a shoplifter was shot at a Walmart in Central Florida.
The sheriff’s office will provide an update Monday morning.
>> This is a developing story and will be updated as new information is released.
A man in his 40s was shot on Wednesday morning at a 7-Eleven, according to the Orange County Sheriff’s OfficeThe incident was reported at the intersection of East Colonial Drive and Magnolia Avenue.Deputies said they responded to the scene around 3:30 a.m.Upon arriving, they found that a man had been shot, so he was taken to the hospital with non-life-threatening injuries.Details about who shot him or the cause remain unknown.Orange County deputies are still investigating the incident.
ORLANDO, Fla. —
A man in his 40s was shot on Wednesday morning at a 7-Eleven, according to the Orange County Sheriff’s Office
The incident was reported at the intersection of East Colonial Drive and Magnolia Avenue.
Deputies said they responded to the scene around 3:30 a.m.
Upon arriving, they found that a man had been shot, so he was taken to the hospital with non-life-threatening injuries.
Details about who shot him or the cause remain unknown.
Orange County deputies are still investigating the incident.
A contract security guard was hospitalized Monday afternoon after he drove onto an airport taxiway and sped past planes, authorities said.
On Dec. 8 around 1:12 p.m., the guard assigned to a security checkpoint “drove a vehicle into an airport taxiway at a high rate of speed,” according to a statement from John Wayne Airport spokesperson AnnaSophia Servin.
Video shared with ABC7 showed a white sedan speeding down the taxiway near planes. The news outlet reported that an air traffic controller advised a Southwest plane to “hold position.”
“There’s a high-speed chase on the taxiway,” the controller said.
Orange County sheriff’s deputies detained the driver shortly thereafter and requested a medical assessment from the Orange County Fire Authority, the statement said.
“The individual was evaluated on scene and determined to be experiencing a possible medical emergency,” Servin said.
He was subsequently hospitalized and suspended from his job, according to the statement. Airport operations continued on schedule.
THIS STORY. A MAN COVERED FROM TOP TO BOTTOM, WEARING A PAIR OF SWIM GOGGLES IS WANTED FOR ROBBING A RESTAURANT AT DISNEY SPRINGS. WESH TWO MICHELLE MEREDITH IS LIVE AT DISNEY TODAY. AND MICHELLE, JUST WHEN YOU THINK YOU’VE SEEN IT ALL. WELL, YOU KNOW THIS GUY DID NOT HAVE A GUN, NOR DID HE IMPLY HE DID. BUT THE WAY HE WAS DRESSED, NO DOUBT CAUGHT THESE EMPLOYEES BY SURPRISE. WHO OR WHAT DOES THIS LOOK LIKE? WITH A MENACING GOOGLY LOOKING EYES, THE CREATURE FROM THE BLACK LAGOON, LOCH NESS MONSTER COMING OUT OF A SWAMP. NO, HE’S THE SUSPECT IN A ROBBERY THAT HAPPENED AROUND MIDNIGHT MONDAY AT DISNEY SPRINGS. THE RESTAURANT THAT GOT HIT, THE PADDLEFISH, LOOKS LIKE A BIG MISSISSIPPI RIVER STYLE PADDLE BOAT. ACCORDING TO THE ORANGE COUNTY SHERIFF’S OFFICE, THE SUSPECT, COMPLETE WITH SWIMMING GOGGLES, A MASK, CAP, GLOVES, AND WHO LOOKS LIKE HE’S ABOUT TO SPRAY PAINT THE SURVEILLANCE CAMERA, MADE HIS WAY INTO THE MANAGER’S OFFICE WHILE THEY WERE DEPOSITING CASH INTO THE SAFE. PUSHED TWO EMPLOYEES INTO THE CORNER OF THE OFFICE. TOLD THEM TO GO DOWN, PUT THEM ON THEIR KNEES, AND DEMANDED THEY CLOSE THEIR EYES. THE TWO RESTAURANT EMPLOYEES WERE NOT HURT, AND THE REPORT INDICATES THE REST OF THE CREW WAS UPSTAIRS CLEANING. JUST RIDICULOUS. I MEAN, HOW ARE YOU GOING TO FIND THIS DUDE? VISITORS AND LOCALS WE TALKED TO NEAR DISNEY SPRINGS PROCESSED IT ALL WITH DIFFERENT LEVELS OF ASTONISHMENT. I THINK THIS WORLD IS SICK LATELY. I SAID, THAT’S INSANE. WHAT IS THIS WORLD COMING TO? THE SUSPECT, WHO WITNESSES SAY WAS COVERED FROM HEAD TO TOE, IS DESCRIBED AS A MAN ABOUT 510 WITH A SLIM BUILD. AND AS AN ADDED TOUCH ON HIS FEET, HE WAS WEARING SOCKS. JUST SOCKS. AND NO SHOES. LI
Suspect in swim mask robbed restaurant at Florida’s Disney Springs
At first glance, the picture of a robbery suspect might look like the Creature from the Black Lagoon. Or even the Loch Ness Monster.But actually, he’s the suspect in a robbery that happened on Monday around midnight at Disney Springs in Florida. The restaurant, Paddlefish, looks like a big Mississippi River paddleboat. According to the Orange County Sheriff’s Office, the suspect, complete with swim goggles, a mask, cap and gloves, made his way to the manager’s office while employees were depositing cash into the safe, pushed two employees into the corner, instructed them to kneel, and demanded they close their eyes.The two restaurant employees were unharmed, and the report indicates the rest of the crew was upstairs cleaning.Jeanne Rose, who lives near Disney Springs, was in disbelief, saying, “Just ridiculous, I mean how are you going to find this dude.”Her husband, Allan Rose, commented, “I think this world is sick lately.” Dagmar Morales, who is visiting Orlando, added, “I said that’s insane… what is this world coming to.”Witnesses described the suspect as a man about 5’10” with a slim build, covered from head to toe, and notably wearing socks, just socks, with no shoes. If you have any information that can help investigators catch the suspect call Crimeline at 1-800-423-TIPS.
LAKE BUENA VISTA, Fla. —
At first glance, the picture of a robbery suspect might look like the Creature from the Black Lagoon.
Or even the Loch Ness Monster.
But actually, he’s the suspect in a robbery that happened on Monday around midnight at Disney Springs in Florida.
The restaurant, Paddlefish, looks like a big Mississippi River paddleboat.
According to the Orange County Sheriff’s Office, the suspect, complete with swim goggles, a mask, cap and gloves, made his way to the manager’s office while employees were depositing cash into the safe, pushed two employees into the corner, instructed them to kneel, and demanded they close their eyes.
The two restaurant employees were unharmed, and the report indicates the rest of the crew was upstairs cleaning.
Jeanne Rose, who lives near Disney Springs, was in disbelief, saying, “Just ridiculous, I mean how are you going to find this dude.”
Her husband, Allan Rose, commented, “I think this world is sick lately.”
Dagmar Morales, who is visiting Orlando, added, “I said that’s insane… what is this world coming to.”
Witnesses described the suspect as a man about 5’10” with a slim build, covered from head to toe, and notably wearing socks, just socks, with no shoes.
If you have any information that can help investigators catch the suspect call Crimeline at 1-800-423-TIPS.
A cow caused a car crash on Colonial Drive in Orlando near Bithlo.According to the Orange County Sheriff’s Office, the crash happened on E Colonial Drive at Parry Lane near East River High School around 3:30 a.m. Tuesday.Drivers should expect delays traveling westbound toward Waterford Lakes.No injuries were reported.
ORLANDO, Fla. —
A cow caused a car crash on Colonial Drive in Orlando near Bithlo.
According to the Orange County Sheriff’s Office, the crash happened on E Colonial Drive at Parry Lane near East River High School around 3:30 a.m. Tuesday.
Drivers should expect delays traveling westbound toward Waterford Lakes.
Authorities are searching for a masked bandit who shot at a bank teller in Lake Forest before making off with $31,000.
The man entered a Chase Bank branch around noon Thursday, reached over the counter and fired a round in the direction of the teller’s feet, according to the Orange County Sheriff’s Department. The bullet did not strike the teller.
The suspect fled the bank, near the intersection of Portola and Bake parkways, before deputies arrived. Sheriff’s officials described him as being between 5 feet 6 inches and 5 feet 10 inches tall with a thin build. He wore a camouflage print bucket hat, a black mask that covered his entire face, a yellow hooded sweatshirt, tan pants, gloves and was armed with a silver revolver, according to the Sheriff’s Department.
Deputies searched the surrounding neighborhood using a patrol helicopter and K-9 units, but could not find the man. Authorities collected several items from a trail near the bank that they say may be connected to the robbery. Officials did not specify what potential evidence was found.
A 41-year-old man accused of decapitating his parents and killing their dog started to sing Tina Turner’s “What’s Love Got to Do With It” after he was shot by an Orange County Sheriff’s deputy.
Joseph Brandon Gerdvil was arrested on suspicion of killing his parents, 77-year-old Ronald Walter Gerdvil and 79-year-old Antoinette Gerdvil in their San Juan Capistrano home on July 9, according to the Orange County Sheriff’s Department.
In body camera video of the incident released Friday, a blood-soaked Gerdvil is shown with a metal object in his hand approaching a sheriff’s deputy moments before he is shot, then swearing and singing after he’s on the ground wounded.
Authorities say the series of disturbing events began with Gerdvil text messaging photos of his bloodied mother to a cousin.
That relative called 911 around 7:30 a.m. to report a possible domestic assault on their elderly relatives who live in a mobile home community in the 32000 block of Alipaz Street, authorities said. She told dispatchers her cousin suffers from mental health issues and has been violent in the past.
Another dispatcher, meanwhile, received a 911 call from a maintenance worker at the same mobile home community who reported they were being chased by a bloodied man with a fork, authorities said.
The bloodied man, later identified as Gerdvil, drove off in the maintenance worker’s golf cart in an unknown direction.
Sheriff’s deputies who arrived at the scene found a person on the ground bleeding and a gruesome scene inside Gerdvil’s parents’ home.
“There’s a head on the counter,” one of the deputies on scene told dispatchers.
Gerdvil reappeared on a bike path a short time later and then approached a Sheriff’s Department community service officer as she sat in her vehicle, according to authorities. He then threw a shovel at the officer’s vehicle and drove off in the golf cart.
Body camera footage shows what happened next: A blood-soaked Gerdvil parked the golf cart on the sidewalk and approached a deputy while carrying a metal object.
He ignored the deputy’s orders and shouted something unintelligible before the deputy fired five times and Gerdvil fell to the ground.
“F— you,” Gerdvil said as he lay on the ground wounded.
Gerdvil then rolled onto his stomach and was handcuffed.
He can be heard telling deputies “I love you” and “I’m sorry you’re gonna have to die” while facing the ground.
As deputies assessed his wounds, Gerdvil said, “Finish me off.”
“Put one in my head, please. I beg of you,” he said.
At one point as he lay on the ground bleeding, and law enforcement and first responders moved frantically around the crime scene, Gerdvil broke out into song.
“What’s love got to do with it. What’s love, but a secondhand emotion?” he sang softly, quoting the 1984 Tina Turner hit.
He then shifted to Stevie Wonder and sang, “I just called to say I love you” as the deputies gave him medical attention.
It’s unclear how many times he was hit but the unnamed deputy who shot Gerdvil later told other deputies on the scene he aimed for his chest and stomach.
Gerdvil was booked on suspicion of two counts of homicide and remains at the hospital, according to authorities.
There were no deputies injured and the shooting is under investigation by the Orange County district attorney’s office. The killings are under investigation by the Orange County Sheriff’s Department homicide detail.
An ordeal at a Fullerton Wells Fargo bank on Tuesday evening began with a possible robbery attempt in which a man threatened witnesses with an “explosive device” and ended when police shot the individual outside the bank’s doors, according to law enforcement officials.
In a statement on social media, the Fullerton Police Department said officers responded to reports of a possible bank robbery in the 100 block of West Bastanchury Road around 5:09 p.m. and began evacuating employees.
The Orange County sheriff’s bomb squad also responded to the scene.
“While inside the bank, witnesses stated the suspect produced what appeared to be an explosive device. Upon exiting the bank, an officer involved shooting occurred,” the department wrote.
Police spokesperson Kristy Wells declined to provide additional details on the incident, citing an ongoing investigation.
It is unclear whether the suspect was killed, though CBS News reported the unidentified suspect died at the scene.
KTLA reported that the suspect was shot after exiting the bank, and that officers then sent in a robot and drone to investigate items surrounding the unresponsive suspect.
No employees or officers were injured, the Police Department said.
Sixteen members of the Orange County Sheriff’s Department SWAT team were injured Wednesday afternoon in an explosion at an FBI training facility in Irvine, according to authorities.
The explosion occurred around 1 p.m. in a small building at the Jerry Crowe Regional Tactical Training Facility, according to Sheriff’s Sgt. Frank Gonzalez.
The SWAT team was conducting its annual joint training with a bomb squad at the time, he said. The FBI wasn’t involved and had lent them the facility for the exercise.
Fifteen people were taken to hospitals. One person sustained a leg injury that will require surgery but is not life-threatening. Two others have superficial wounds, including back and leg injuries. The 13 other people went to the hospital as a precaution because of dizziness and ringing in their ears, but many have already been discharged.
After nearly half a century, authorities have identified the remains of a man who is believed to have been killed by Randy Kraft, California’s notorious “Scorecard Killer” who targeted young men in the 1970s and ‘80s.
Michael Ray Schlicht, who died when he was 17 in 1974, was identified Tuesday by investigators with the Orange County Sheriff’s Department using investigative genetic genealogy.
The Iowa native was found dead on Sept. 14, 1974, on the side of a trail in what is now Aliso Viejo. He had been dead for three to five days, according to authorities, and died of alcohol and diazepam intoxication. His death was initially determined to be accidental.
Michael Ray Schlicht, a John Doe homicide victim in 1974, was identified through investigative genetic genealogy.
(Orange County Sheriff’s Department)
Homicide investigators with the Sheriff’s Department realized in 1980 that there were other young men who had died of the same intoxication, and those deaths were classified as homicides, the department said.
“Over the years, multiple young men were found deceased throughout Orange County and Southern California, including several within a few miles of where [Schlicht’s] remains were discovered,” the department said in a news release.
It was not until 1983 when two California Highway Patrol officers pulled over Kraft, a 38-year-old computer technician from Long Beach, and discovered a dead Marine in the front seat that authorities began to piece together the homicides. Kraft’s deadly trail took investigators to Oregon and Michigan, and numerous bodies were also found in Orange County.
The officers discovered photos of other young male victims, apparently dead, under the floor mat of the car. Kraft was convicted of 16 murders in 1989, though he is suspected in dozens more. Eight of the men he killed had diazepam — commonly known as Valium — in their system, like Schlicht, prosecutors said.
Kraft’s nickname came from the list police found in the back of his car. It was a list of “notations” that prosecutors at Kraft’s trial said was a “death list,” showing each person he had killed. Prosecutors dubbed him the “Scorecard Killer.”
After 49 years of not knowing Schlicht’s identity, Sheriff’s Department investigators said they were able to generate a DNA profile for their John Doe victim by submitting tissue samples to a forensic biotechnology company.
Once they had the profile, sheriff’s investigators uploaded the DNA to a “law enforcement-approved genealogy database” and began building a family tree of the victim.
After months of researching, investigators connected the man’s DNA to people believed to be his grandparents. When they contacted a granddaughter of the potential grandparents, the woman told investigators she had not seen her brother since 1974 — the year the man was killed.
Close to their answer, investigators then received a DNA sample from a woman they believed to be their victim’s mother. It was a match and they were able to identify the dead 17-year-old as Schlicht.
A relative of Schlicht declined to comment to The Times on his identification.
A Westminster woman was arrested Friday on suspicion of killing her 9-year-old daughter, police said.
Officers were called to a home in the 14100 block of Goldenwest Street shortly after noon to conduct a welfare check after receiving a tip from a concerned family member, Westminster police said in a news release.
The officers forced themselves into the residence and found the girl dead and alone in the house “with obvious signs of trauma,” police said.
The child’s mother, 32-year-old Khadiyjah Pendergraph, was identified as a person of interest. She was later located and arrested at a shopping center in Aliso Viejo by Westminster police detectives working with the Orange County Sheriff’s Department.
Pendergraph was booked into the county jail on suspicion of murder, police said. There are no additional suspects, and the incident appears to be isolated.
“While police officers are exposed to tragedies on a daily basis, this murder is particularly disturbing, due to the senseless loss of a child allegedly at the hands of her own mother,” Police Chief Darin Lenyi said in a prepared statement.
Anyone with additional information is encouraged to call Det. Marcela Lopez at (714) 548-3773. Anonymous calls can be made to Orange County Crime Stoppers at (855) 847-6287 or sent to www.occrimestoppers.org.
Orange County Sheriff’s Deputy Jesse Carrasco had just a few details from dispatch when he pulled up to Cook’s Corner the evening of Aug. 23.
Minutes earlier, John Snowling had walked into the beloved bar in Trabuco Canyon and opened fire, killing three and wounding six others, including his estranged wife.
Carrasco was among the first deputies to arrive, and he quickly formulated a plan. He would park out front and run inside to find the shooter, he recalled in an interview this week.
It would have been a mistake. Perhaps a fatal one.
Unbeknownst to responding law enforcement, Snowling had already made his way into the parking lot — clutching two pistols and firing as patrons fled around him. Had Carrasco, 32, followed his initial instincts, he likely would have run right into the gunman, he said.
But a chance meeting with Nelson Rosales prompted him to change course. The way Carrasco tells it, Rosales probably saved his life.
In the two months since, Carrasco has spent time reflecting on the horror that unfolded that night. His thoughts kept returning to Rosales.
Rosales, 29, had gone to the bar that night to meet up with friends for a motorcycle ride through the canyon.
But as he approached the bar on his blue Yamaha motorcycle, he saw a panicked woman waving for him to stop.
Then he heard the gunshots. He watched as people fell to the ground outside the rough-hewn bar. Rosales, a jailer for the city of South Gate, quickly took cover behind a telephone pole and watched the gunman.
A man writes a message in chalk at a memorial to victims of the mass shooting at Cook’s Corner in Trabuco Canyon.
(Allen J. Schaben / Los Angeles Times)
Patrol cars screamed down Santiago Canyon Road. Rosales broke cover and ran toward them, waving his arms.
“It’s a male, blue shirt … he’s in that gray pickup with the door open,” Rosales responds.
“Gray pickup with the door open,” Carrasco repeats before speeding ahead.
Within seconds of Carrasco exiting his patrol car, he and other deputies came under fire and had to take cover.
What followed was a firefight lasting more than five minutes.
During the exchange of gunfire, it was challenging for deputies to keep eyes on Snowling, a retired Ventura Police Department sergeant, Carrasco said.
“His tactics were very similar to ours,” Carrasco said. “He wasn’t just standing in the open, he was moving from car to car. We could only see the top half of his body every now and then and it was just for a split second.”
Orange County Sheriff’s Deputy Jesse Carrasco, who responded to the Cook’s Corner shooting in August, chats with Nelson Rosales about motorcycles. Carrasco met with Rosales to thank him for helping deputies identify the gunman.
(Luis Sinco / Los Angeles Times)
On Thursday, Carrasco and Rosales met officially for the first time inside a conference room at the Orange County Sheriff’s Department office in Lake Forest. It was a moment Carrasco had been waiting for — a chance to thank Rosales for his actions that night.
At first, he struggled to find the words.
“We’re just grateful for you. If it wasn’t for you, things could have been completely different. And I wouldn’t be able to sit here and say that all the deputies made it out,” he said.
Rosales remained stoic but nodded as he listened.
Others fled, the deputy continued, but “you left cover to come tell me where he was. And I don’t know what drove you to do that, but I really appreciate you doing it.”
Sheriff’s Commander Kirsten Monteleone called Rosales a “guardian angel” for the deputies. Officials gave him a department challenge coin, a token of appreciation.
“I truly feel the information you gave saved some lives because had they gone in the bar they would have ran through the back,” Monteleone told Rosales. “They would have met a suspect with an advantage.”
Taylor Cox, Carrasco’s girlfriend of two years, smiled as she handed Rosales a gold envelope.
He carefully tore open the paper, his hands shaking slightly as he read the note on the card within. It was one of gratitude: for guiding deputies in the right direction. For ensuring Carrasco made it back home.
Rosales took a breath, emotion etched on his face.
He looked up, his voice only slightly more than a whisper.
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