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Tag: Riverside

  • Southern California deputy shot, killed during traffic stop

    Southern California deputy shot, killed during traffic stop

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    Riverside County sheriff’s deputy shot and killed; suspect also dead after pursuit ends in Norco


    Riverside County sheriff’s deputy shot and killed; suspect also dead after pursuit ends in Norco

    02:50

    A Southern California deputy was shot and killed Thursday afternoon, authorities confirmed, and the suspect was later shot and killed by officers following a police pursuit.  

    Just before 2 p.m. local time, a Riverside County Sheriff’s deputy was shot after pulling over a vehicle in the city of Jurupa Valley, according to the sheriff’s department. He later died of his wounds. 

    The deputy was identified as 32-year-old Isaiah Cordero, an eight-year veteran of the department, according to Riverside County Sheriff Chad Bianco. 

    In an news conference Thursday night, Bianco said that the Cordero was shot as he approached the suspect’s vehicle. Residents tried to help Cordero until officers and paramedics arrived on scene. 

    It’s unclear what prompted the traffic stop. 

    Following the shooting, the vehicle had been driving, a pickup truck, was spotted in neighboring San Bernardino County, and a high-speed chase ensued involving multiple law enforcement agencies, Bianco said. 

    The pursuit traversed several freeways and eventually made its way back into Riverside County. It came to an end when the truck collided with another vehicle, Bianco said, on the 15 Freeway in the city of Norco. 

    The suspect shot at officers, and they returned fire, Bianco said. The suspect, identified as 44-year-old William Shae McKay, died at the scene, Bianco disclosed. 

    “The suspect was shooting at deputies, which prompted them to shoot back, and he was killed,” Bianco said. 

    According to Bianco, McKay had an “extensive criminal history” dating back prior to the year 2000, including convictions for kidnapping, robbery and multiple assaults with a deadly weapon, including the stabbing a California Highway Patrol K-9. 

    His most recent conviction was in November 2021 was for kidnapping and assault with a deadly weapon, McKay said. 

    On Thursday night, the fallen deputy’s body was transported in a procession from a hospital to the Riverside County coroner’s office in the nearby city of Perris. Dozens of deputies lined up outside the hospital to pay their respects. 

    Jurupa Valley is located about 50 miles east of Los Angeles. 

    Police outside the hospital after deputy shooting Riverside
    Members of the Riverside County Sheriff’s Department line up outside a hospital to pay their respects to a deputy who was shot and killed during a traffic stop in Jurupa Valley, California, on Dec. 29, 2022. 

    CBS Los Angeles


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  • Virginia probes hiring of trooper who killed teen’s family

    Virginia probes hiring of trooper who killed teen’s family

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    RICHMOND, Va. — After a former state trooper from Virginia drove across the country, kidnapped a 15-year-old California girl, killed three members of her family, then shot himself, Virginia State Police and the sheriff’s office he had recently started working for said they found no warning signs during background checks before he was hired.

    But in the weeks since Austin Lee Edwards went on a rampage in Riverside, California, it’s become clear Virginia State police missed red flags about Edwards’ mental health that were in plain sight before they hired him in 2021.

    Virginia Gov. Glenn Youngkin has called for a “full investigation” by the state inspector general’s office.

    “I believe that there was human error here,” Youngkin said last week in response to a reporter’s question about whether state police should have done more to investigate Edwards’ background before hiring him.

    “Our job is to not let this happen again,” Youngkin said.

    Edwards was hired by state police and entered the police academy in July 2021. He graduated as a trooper in January and worked for only nine months before resigning in October. Edwards was hired as a deputy sheriff in Washington County, Virginia, on Nov. 16, just nine days before the killings in California.

    Authorities in California have said Edwards posed online as a 17-year-old boy while communicating with the girl, a form of deception known as “catfishing.” He asked her to send nude photos of herself and she stopped communicating with him.

    On Nov. 25, Edwards killed the girl’s mother and grandparents, then set fire to their home in Riverside, a city about 50 miles (80 kilometers) southeast of downtown Los Angeles.

    Edwards died by suicide during a shootout with San Bernardino sheriff’s deputies the same day. The girl was rescued. Family members and police said the girl is now in counseling for trauma.

    After repeatedly saying state police found no areas of concern in Edwards’ background, state police spokesperson Corinne Geller said Dec. 7 that a recently completed review found “human error” resulted in an incomplete database query during the hiring process.

    That admission came in response to news reports that Edwards had been involuntarily held at a psychiatric facility after he threatened to kill his father and himself in 2016, when he was 21.

    A report written by police in Abingdon, Virginia, near the Tennessee border, said Edwards’ father restrained him after he found his son with a self-inflicted injury to his hand. The incident was first reported by the Los Angeles Times.

    “Austin made several statements in the presence of Officers that he wanted to die, that he would try to kill himself the instant he was free from restraints, and that he would kill his father,” police wrote in the report, which was obtained by The Associated Press.

    An emergency custody order was issued, followed by a temporary detention order, which allowed police to take him to a psychiatric facility.

    The scope of Virginia Inspector General Michael Westfall’s investigation was not immediately clear. His office released a statement Friday saying it had received a request to “review a recent Virginia State Police matter,” but a spokesperson did not respond to a phone message and email seeking details on the parameters of the investigation.

    Youngkin’s office also declined to discuss specifics. Spokesperson Macaulay Porter said in a statement that Youngkin “has full confidence that they will follow the evidence, wherever it may lead.”

    The inspector general’s office focuses on investigating complaints about fraud, waste and abuse in the executive branch of state government. It also conducts investigations and performance audits of state agencies.

    “The IG has fairly wide-ranging investigatory powers that are defined by statute, but the statute is fuzzy enough so that the IG might be able to investigate general issues that the governor asks the IG to investigate,” said Henry Chambers, a law professor at the University of Richmond.

    Geller said state police believe the error made during the hiring process for Edwards was “an isolated incident,” and said “steps are currently underway to ensure the error is not repeated going forward.”

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  • Deputy in California slayings killed self with service gun

    Deputy in California slayings killed self with service gun

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    RIVERSIDE, Calif. — A Virginia sheriff’s deputy who police say traveled to California to kill three family members of a 15-year-old girl he tried to sexually extort online killed himself with a government-issued firearm, authorities said Saturday.

    Austin Lee Edwards, 28, drove across the country and on Nov. 25 killed the girl’s mother and grandparents and set fire to their home in Riverside, a city about 50 miles (80 kilometers) east of downtown Los Angeles, authorities said.

    That same day, Edwards died by suicide during a shootout with San Bernardino sheriff’s deputies. The teenage girl was rescued.

    “Our detectives determined the gun used was Edwards’ department-issued semi-automatic service pistol,” sheriff’s spokeswoman Gloria Huerta said in a statement.

    The Riverside Police Department, which is investigating the deaths of the girl’s family members, has not said how they were killed.

    Edwards, a resident of North Chesterfield, Virginia, appears to have posed online as a 17-year-old boy to engage in a romantic relationship with the girl and obtain her personal information by deceiving her with a false identity, known as “catfishing,” police said.

    Authorities said the girl stopped communicating with him after he asked her to send him nude photos of herself.

    Edwards was a former Virginia state trooper and was a sheriff’s deputy in Washington County, Virginia, at the time of the killings.

    Both law enforcement agencies have said they found no warning signs about Edwards before he was hired. But a police report from the Abingdon Police Department in Virginia shows he was detained in 2016 for a psychiatric evaluation over threats to kill himself and his father, years before he joined law enforcement.

    On Thursday — a day after the Los Angeles Times broke the news about the mental health episode — the Virginia State Police said a recently completed review showed “human error” resulted in an incomplete database query during the hiring process.

    The Washington County Sheriff’s Office did not respond to calls seeking comment on the 2016 episode.

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  • Police: Deputy posed as teen online to sexually extort girl

    Police: Deputy posed as teen online to sexually extort girl

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    RIVERSIDE, Calif. — A Virginia sheriff’s deputy posed as a 17-year-old boy online and asked a teenage California girl for nude photos before he drove across the country and killed her mother and grandparents and set fire to their home, authorities said Wednesday.

    Austin Lee Edwards, 28, died by suicide Friday during a shootout with San Bernardino sheriff’s deputies. The 15-year-old girl from Riverside, California, was rescued and is in counseling for trauma, family members and police said at a news conference Wednesday.

    Edwards, a resident of North Chesterfield, Virginia, appears to have posed as a teenager online to engage in a romantic relationship with the girl and obtain her personal information by deceiving her with a false identity, known as “catfishing,” police said.

    Authorities did not provide additional details about their communications and said they still need to comb through online accounts. Officials are looking into whether he victimized other minors across the country.

    It’s also unclear whether this was the girl’s first in-person encounter with Edwards or whether she was aware that he was coming to California, officials said.

    Riverside Police Chief Larry Gonzalez said that because of the girl’s young age and trauma it will take time to complete their interviews with her and get answers to the many questions surrounding the case, such as whether she was coerced or threatened into leaving with him.

    “We don’t believe at this point she had anything to do with the murders,” he said.

    At some point, Edwards asked the girl for sexual photos and she stopped communicating with him, Gonzalez said, but detectives don’t yet know when that happened or whether Edwards killed her family in retaliation.

    Authorities believe Edwards parked his vehicle in a neighbor’s driveway, walked to the home and killed the family members before leaving with the girl on Friday. Officials have not yet determined how he entered the home, killed the victims or set the fire.

    The bodies found in the Riverside home — about 50 miles (80 kilometers) southeast of downtown Los Angeles in a suburban neighborhood of single-family homes where the loud rush of freeway traffic can be heard — were identified as the girl’s grandparents and mother: Mark Winek, 69; Sharie Winek, 65; and their 38-year-old daughter, Brooke Winek.

    “Nobody could imagine this crime happening to my family, to our family,” said Michelle Blandin, Mark and Sharie’s daughter and Brooke’s sister.

    A tearful Blandin said her parents and sister “lived and loved selflessly.” The killing of Brooke, a single parent, means that her daughters — the 15-year-old girl and her 13-year-old sister — are now motherless, Blandin said.

    A front window of the charred home in the Riverside cul-de-sac was boarded up Wednesday with a wooden cross. Dozens of candles had been laid on the sidewalk, along with bouquets of flowers and stuffed animals.

    Edwards is a former Virginia state trooper and was a sheriff’s deputy in Washington County, Virginia, at the time of the killings. The law enforcement agencies there said he did not show any concerning behaviors and no other employers disclosed any issues during background checks.

    Gonzalez called it “disgusting really” to see someone in law enforcement involved in such heinous crimes and wondered how he had been hired at two Virginia agencies.

    “How did this person get past a background investigation? How this person get past a polygraph investigation?” the chief said. “From what we understand so far about him, there’s really not a big rap sheet on this person or anything that would indicate that they can see that outcome.”

    Police are also looking into whether Edwards used his law enforcement weapon or government-issued laptop in the crimes.

    A neighbor on Friday called police to report Edwards’ red Kia Soul as a suspicious car and said the girl appeared to be in distress and involved in a disturbance with a man, Gonzalez said.

    Police were able to run the vehicle’s license plate and discovered that Edwards had filed a police report earlier this year regarding vandalism to the Kia, the chief said. The police report had Edwards’ cellphone number in it, which allowed investigators to ping his phone and quickly locate him in Southern California.

    He got into a gun battle with San Bernardino sheriff’s deputies and died by a self-inflicted gunshot wound, the coroner’s office said Wednesday.

    Blandin said she last saw her parents and sister on Thanksgiving, the day before they were slain.

    “We had a family debate, and it got heated, on if the brownies my mom made should be frosted with sprinkles or just left plain,” she said. “Little did I know, on that day, that would be the last time that my husband and I would see my parents and my sister again.”

    Blandin begged parents and guardians to use her family’s tragedy to start conversations about internet safety.

    “When you are talking to your children about the dangers of their online actions, please use us as a reference,” she said. “Tell our story to help your parenting. Not out of fear, but out of an example of something that did happen.”

    ——

    This story has been corrected to attribute a quote to Riverside Police Chief Larry Gonzalez. It was incorrectly attributed to Riverside Police Officer Ryan Railsback.

    ——

    Dazio reported from Los Angeles. Associated Press Writer Denise Lavoie in Richmond, Virginia, contributed.

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  • California police: Virginia man killed family, took teenager

    California police: Virginia man killed family, took teenager

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    RIVERSIDE, Calif. — The suspect in a triple homicide in Southern California who died in a shootout with police Friday is believed to have driven across the country to meet a teenage girl before killing three members of her family, police said.

    Austin Lee Edwards, 28, also likely set fire to the family’s home in Riverside, California, before leaving with the girl. Deputies from the San Bernardino County Sheriff’s Department killed Edwards after locating him with the teenager later that day, police said.

    Edwards, 28, previously worked for the state police and a sheriff’s department in Virginia, authorities in California said.

    Edwards, a resident of North Chesterfield, Virginia, met the girl online and obtained her personal information by deceiving her with a false identity, known as “catfishing,” the Riverside Police Department said.

    The bodies found in the home were identified as the girl’s grandparents and mother — Mark Winek, 69, his wife, Sharie Winek, 65, and their 38-year-old daughter Brooke Winek. Police said the exact causes of their deaths remained under investigation.

    The teenager was unharmed and taken into protective custody by the Riverside County Department of Public Social Services.

    Police in Riverside, about 50 miles (80 kilometers) southeast of downtown Los Angeles, received a call for a welfare check Friday morning concerning a man and woman involved in a disturbance near a car. Investigators later determined the two people were Edwards and the teenager, whose age was not released.

    Authorities believe Edwards parked his vehicle in a neighbor’s driveway, walked to the home and killed the family members before leaving with the girl.

    Dispatchers were alerted to smoke and a possible structure fire a few houses away from the disturbance. The Riverside Fire Department discovered three adults laying in the front entryway and took them outside, where rescue personnel “determined they were victims of an apparent homicide,” police said.

    The cause of the fire was under investigation, but appeared to have been “intentionally ignited,” police said.

    Riverside authorities distributed a description of Edwards’ vehicle to law enforcement agencies and several hours later police located the car with Edwards and the teenager in Kelso, an unincorporated area of San Bernardino County. Edwards fired gunshots and was killed by deputies returning fire, police said.

    The Virginia State Police and the Washington County Sheriff’s Department did not immediately respond to requests for additional information about Edwards.

    Riverside Police Chief Larry Gonzalez called the case “yet another horrific reminder of the predators existing online who prey on our children.”

    “If you’ve already had a conversation with your kids on how to be safe online and on social media, have it again. If not, start it now to better protect them,” Gonzalez said.

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  • 195 ways to help California’s painted ladies

    195 ways to help California’s painted ladies

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    Newswise — By documenting hundreds of new nectar plants for painted ladies, scientists have renewed hope these charismatic butterflies may prove resilient to climate change. 

    Every spring, swarms of the colorful butterflies can be spotted in Southern California as they make their way from western Mexico to the Pacific Northwest to breed. Some years, the number of migrating butterflies is in the millions. 

    Additionally, California is home to resident painted lady populations that require food sources year-round.

    Though they are a major North American butterfly species, there is a lack of baseline data to quantify a decline in painted ladies. However, scientists believe they are being negatively affected by hotter, drier weather and habitat loss.

    “The lack of rainfall in Southern California likely impacts the butterflies’ ability to move through the state, potentially decreasing nectar sources and causing them to die without reproducing,” said Jolene Saldivar, UC Riverside ecologist who led this effort to identify new painted lady nectar plants. 

    “There’s so much to be learned about these butterflies before drought and climate change damage them irreparably,” Saldivar said. This study, which identifies 195 new nectar plants for the species, is now published in the journal Environmental Entomology.  

    To obtain this result, the UCR team sorted through more than 10,000 images of painted ladies in California shrublands, supplied by community scientists through the iNaturalist website. Any images in which the butterflies did not have mouth parts extended and were not obviously feeding were omitted from analysis, as were any images of caterpillars. 

    The newly discovered nectar sources may offer Southern California gardeners wanting to support the species a wide range of options. 

    “Much of what we identified could responsibly be planted during a drought,”      said Erin Wilson-Rankin, study co-author and UCR associate professor of entomology. 

    Of the top 10 most frequently observed plant species, seven are native to California. These include yellow-flowered rubber rabbitbrush, blue wild hyacinth, common fiddleneck, Fremont’s pincushion, black sage, wild heliotrope and desert lavender, which belongs to the mint family. 

    These butterflies also readily feed on showy ornamental plants common to California landscaping, such as lantana, butterfly bush and rosemary, as well as flowering weeds.

    “It’s an uber generalist insect, not picky at all,” Saldivar said. 

    Painted lady caterpillars consume plants, but they are not known to eat any agriculturally important species, nor are they known spreaders of any illness. They serve as good sources of prey for insects, spiders, birds, wasps and reptiles, and mature butterflies can pollinate some of the many plants they visit.

    “It might be getting tougher for painted ladies in some places, but these butterflies will feed on what flowers are available — even a few plants in a window box could help them,” Wilson-Rankin said. 

    Saldivar says she believes the results of this paper may encourage community scientists, whose contributions to knowledge should be celebrated and promoted. 

    “Adding a photo and a little information to a community science website or through an app on your smartphone might seem minor, but in the big picture, it helps inform us about ecological processes we’d otherwise be very challenged to learn about,” Saldivar said. 

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    University of California, Riverside

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