Authorities plan to announce a reward Tuesday in their search for a man suspected of shooting his ex-girlfriend to death in front of their 10-year-old child on Jan. 16 in Bellflower.

The $5,000 reward for information leading to the arrest and conviction of Antowan Parker will be officially announced at a 10 a.m. news conference in Monterey Park, the Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Department stated in a news release.

Parker allegedly showed up to 26-year-old Kenia Buckner’s apartment in the 16200 block of Cornuta Avenue and shot her in front of the child and Kenia’s mother, the Sheriff’s Department stated.

Buckner was pronounced dead at the scene.

Kenia Buckner is shown in a photo posted to social media and confirmed by her family to KTLA.
Walker fled after the shooting and has remained on the loose.

Buckner’s mother is expected to join authorities at the news conference to ask the public for help in finding Parker.

A warrant has been issued to arrest Parker, who should be considered armed and dangerous, according to the Sheriff’s Department.

Anyone with information was asked to call L.A. Crime Stoppers at 800-222-TIPS (8477).

Police in Santa Ana are asking for the public’s help in locating a man wanted in connection with the fatal hit-and-run of a motorcyclist last week.

Luis Eduardo Distancia, 45, is the owner and operator of a white Ford Econoline van that fatally struck a motorcyclist Friday evening at the intersection of Standard Avenue and Walnut Street, the Santa Ana Police Department announced Monday in a statement.

Surveillance video from a local business shows around 4:47 p.m. Friday the vehicles were traveling in opposite directions on Standard Avenue, when the driver of the white van turned left directly in front of the motorcyclist’s path.

It appears that the motorcyclist tried to stop, but crashed into the van’s front fender.

Police said the driver of the van fled the scene, but was followed by a witness who provided police with a license plate.

The white van involved in the fatal crash was located by police Saturday, but Distancia has yet to contact police.

He is described as Hispanic, about 5 feet 10 inches tall, weighing 160 pounds, with brown hair and brown eyes.

The motorcyclist, identified as 36-year-old Eduardo Estrada Luevano, of Santa Ana, died of his injuries at a local hospital, police said.

A GoFundMe page has been set up by Estrada’s family and friends to support his funeral expenses.

Anyone with information on the whereabouts of Distancia is asked to contact SAPD Traffic Division Investigator W. Hadley at 714-245-8214, or whadley@santa-ana.org. Anonymous tipsters can call Orange County Crime Stoppers at 1-855-TIP-OCCS.

KTLA

A beloved San Fernando pastor was in the emergency room Wednesday night following an attack by a former parishioner that morning left him with a broken hip and laceration on his head.
Rudy Trujillo, known to many in the community as “Pastor Rudy,” was rushed to the hospital around 11 a.m. after the assault in the 700 block of North Maclay Avenue, according to San Fernando Police Chief Anthony Vairo. Rudy’s son, Joshua Trujillo, said his father was getting out of his car between meetings when he was struck by someone he had not seen since the man left his congregation a few years ago.

“It’s tough but he’s a fighter,” Joshua, 34, told KTLA. “Everybody who knows him knows that he’s one tough guy. He’s cracking jokes about the stitches in his head already.”

The suspect is not in custody. Police know the man’s name but are not releasing it as it could interfere with their investigation, San Fernando Police Sgt. Irwin Rosenberg said.

“We really don’t know what the motive is, we just know that he was known to Pastor Rudy,” Rosenberg told KTLA.

Police Chief Vairo described the suspect as a Hispanic man in his 30s or 40s who was driving a white Dodge van.

San Fernando’s mayor, Robert Gonzales, called the pastor “a strength in our community” as he urged residents who witnessed the attack to turn over any evidence or information they may have to the police.

Rudy was expected to undergo full hip replacement surgery Wednesday night, his family said.
The pastor is a well-known and heavily involved fixture in the San Fernando community. Along with wife, Annette Trujillo, Rudy leads the congregation at Faith Center in San Fernando and performs outreach with L.A. Mayor Eric Garcetti’s Gang Reduction and Youth Development program. He is also active in local government, serving as chair of the San Fernando Transportation and Safety Commission.

Earlier this month, Rudy spoke at the vigil for Eli Rodriguez, the San Fernando teen whose disappearance and accidental drowning amid severe rain storms shook the community.

One of the pastor’s latest projects was organizing an event dedicated to gang and drug intervention titled Stop the Violence — arranged to take place at 777 N. Maclay Ave., near the site of Wednesday’s attack. The gathering will go on as planned, his son Joshua said.

Joshua told KTLA that, after the shock of the violent incident, it will be more important than ever for the community to realize that recovery and strength come through forgiveness, not retaliation. He posted a statement on Facebook urging those close to the pastor not to resort to hatred.

“While we understand, even share your anger, we must never forget that what we preach, especially pastor Rudy Trujillo, is that we are to forgive and have mercy upon those who trespass against us,” he wrote in the post. “We never imagined this would be easy, and after today, we know it will not. As Christians, we are committed to the teachings of Jesus. Jesus teaches us to love even those who hate us and violently attack us. He taught us to forgive those who wrong us.”

Three men were arrested on Friday after they were accused of committing sex crimes with two underage girls, according to the San Bernardino County Sheriff’s Department.

Antonio Alvarez, 37, Melvin Pilgrim, 62, and Jeffery Raynor, 45, were arrested in connection with unlawful intercourse with a minor, oral copulation and penetration with a foreign object.

The girls’ mother learned that her daughters had been sexually abused by several family members over a period of several years and contacted authorities in January 2017, according to the SBSD.

Deputies investigated the reports and discovered that one victim, now 15-years-old, was abused from 4 to 11-years-old and the other daughter, now 18, was abused from 6 to 10-years-old.

Both daughters were allegedly sexually abused by Alvarez, Pilgrim and Raynor, deputies said in a press release.

The San Bernardino District Attorney’s office is reviewing the case to determine if any criminal charges will be filed.

Investigators said there may be more victims and encourage anyone with information to call the Highland Station at 909-425-9793.

KTLA

Two men were in critical condition Monday morning after being shot outside a Denny’s restaurant in Santa Ana the night before.
The shooting occurred about 11:20 p.m. Sunday at the restaurant located in the 2500 block of South Bristol Street, said Santa Ana Police Department Cmdr. Sorenson.

The two victims were standing outside the Denny’s when a gunman or gunmen opened fire, Sorenson said, adding that witnesses recalled hearing as many as eight gunshots.

Authorities found one victim in front of the Denny’s and the second wounded man near an AutoZone about 30 yards away.

Both men were transported in critical condition but were expected to survive, Sorenson said.

It was unclear if there were one or more shooters, or if they had arrived on foot or in a vehicle.

No weapons were recovered at the scene.

Investigators did not have any suspect descriptions but were checking for surveillance video, Sorenson said.

The area is well-known for gang activity but it was unclear if the shooting was gang-related, Sorenson said.

KTLA

A man with multiple gunshot wounds was found dead after crashing in a church parking lot Monday evening.

Montebello police responded to the 800 block of North Garfield Avenue after receiving a call of gunshots heard in the area, the Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Department stated in a news release.

The officers were directed to the Our Lady of the Miraculous Medal Catholic Church parking lot by witnesses who said they heard several shots as they were finishing up choir practice.

Police found an unresponsive man slumped over in a vehicle that had crashed into at least one other vehicle in the parking lot, the Sheriff’s Department stated.

The man, who has not been identified, had numerous gunshot wounds to his upper torso, and was pronounced dead at the scene just before 9 p.m., according to the news release.

No description of the gunman or the gunman’s vehicle were available.

It was not clear if the shooting occurred in the parking lot or if the victim drove into the parking lot after being shot on Garfield Avenue.

Anyone with information was asked to call the Sheriff’s Department at 323-890-5500. Those who wish to remain anonymous can call Crime Stoppers at 800-222-TIPS (8477).

KTLA

A man who was shot during an apparent robbery crashed his car into a building in Exposition Park Tuesday night as he attempted to get away from his attackers, police said.

Officers were called to the 3900 block of South Western Avenue about 9:15 p.m. after a vehicle crashed into a building, said Los Angeles Police Department Officer Mike Lopez.

Witnesses told KTLA an unconscious man was found inside the vehicle slumped over the steering wheel.

The man was suffering from multiple gunshot wounds and transported to a nearby hospital in critical condition, Lopez said.

Investigators later located surveillance video a few blocks away at a Chevron gas station on West Vernon and South Western avenues in the Central-Alameda neighborhood that showed three people approaching a man and apparently attempting to rob him, said LAPD Sgt. Anthony Costello.

The victim did not comply with the attackers and was shot multiple times, Costello said.

Everyone involved in the incident then fled the scene, including the victim who got into his vehicle and attempted to drive away but crashed a short time later, Costello said.

The victim has undergone surgery and is expected to survive, Costello said.

No description of the attackers, who are still outstanding, was immediately available.

KTLA

A 27-year-old woman has been arrested for child endangerment stemming from a South Los Angeles house fire in January that left four children critically injured, the Los Angeles Police Department reported.

Chiquita Jordan was arrested by detectives from LAPD’s Abuse Child Unit for child endangerment causing great bodily injury, officials said Monday.

On January 16 four children, between the ages of 2 and 8, were hospitalized in critical condition after a home in the 800 block of West Manchester Ave. went up in flames in the Vermont Knolls neighborhood of South Los Angeles.

At the time police said Jordan had left the children unattended while she went out to run an errand around 11 p.m. on the night of the fire.

Officials said the fire ripped through the 400 square-foot bungalow, which was mostly secured with bars and steel screen doors, at a very rapid pace.

The children had been in the home alone and were huddled in a bedroom when firefighters arrived on scene to rescue them.

The children were badly burned and suffered from smoke inhalation, officials said.

Police say Jordan has ties to Las Vegas, Nevada and detectives are asking for the public’s help in gathering information about the family’s travels to and from Las Vegas.

Jordan’s bail was set at $100,000.

The case remains under investigation by LAPD’s Juvenile Division-Abused Child Section.

Anyone with information can contact Detective Moses Castillo at 213-486-0586, or Officer Kristine Caldwell at 213-486-0884.

Anonymous tipsters can call L.A. Regional Crime Stoppers at 800-222-8477.

KTLA

By James Rufus Koren | Los Angeles Times (View original article)

Wells Fargo & Co. has been ordered to rehire a former Los Angeles-area bank manager who federal officials say was fired because he reported potential fraud to his superiors and to a bank ethics hotline — a claim the bank denies even as it has acknowledged problems with its hotline.

The Occupational Safety and Health Administration said Monday that the San Francisco bank must not only rehire the whistleblower, who was fired in 2010, but pay him $5.4 million in back pay, damages and legal fees.

The employee has been unable to find a banking job since, and his award includes earnings lost during his time out of the industry, the agency said in its statement.

An OSHA investigation found that the worker told his superiors and the bank’s ethics hotline that he believed two employees under his supervision were involved in fraud. Soon afterward, despite a record of good performance reviews, the worker was fired, OSHA said. The agency does not release the names of workers involved in whistleblower cases.

“He verbally told his managers, and he also called the hotline,” said Barbara Goto, regional administrator for OSHA. “Because of that, he was retaliated against by Wells Fargo.”

Federal whistleblower laws prohibit companies from retaliating against workers for reporting legal violations, either internally or to government officials.

Vince Scanlon, a Wells Fargo spokesman, said the bank will appeal the finding.

“We disagree with the findings and will be requesting a full hearing of the matter,” he said in an email.

Still, OSHA’s finding that the worker was retaliated against — at least in part for reporting violations to the company’s ethics hotline — mirrors claims made by numerous bank employees. They say they were fired or disciplined after calling the hotline to report that other workers were creating accounts for customers without authorization.

The bank last year acknowledged that from 2011 to 2015, workers created as many as 2.1 million accounts without authorization and the bank fired 5,300 workers over the practice.

In a speech to Wells Fargo employees in January, Chief Executive Timothy Sloan said the bank hired an outside firm to review cases of employees who were fired within a year of calling the ethics hotline.

“A few cases of the hundreds reviewed raised questions, and we are following up on them,” he said.

He said the bank would also expand that review to include cases in which workers were disciplined within a year of calling.

In September, soon after Wells Fargo reached a $185-million settlement with regulators, then-Labor Secretary Thomas Perez promised a “top-to-bottom” review of labor complaints against Wells Fargo.

That could include claims of whistleblower retaliation as well as unpaid wages. Some Wells Fargo employees have complained that they were forced to work without pay to try to meet onerous sales goals, which regulators say contributed to workers opening unauthorized accounts.

A Labor Department spokesman said Monday that the review of the bank’s practices is ongoing, though a department website set up to provide information to, and collect complaints from, Wells Fargo workers was taken down in January.

A fender bender in a thrift store parking lot led to a violent brawl between two women in Stockton that was captured on camera, and a woman jailed after the incident is telling her side from behind bars.

In the video, a woman wearing a black sweatshirt can be seen swinging at another woman in a green top. Then, it appears that she grabs the other woman by the ponytail and yanks her to the ground. The woman in green is then seen on the ground with her arm bent in the wrong direction.

“I pushed her. And it was an accident,” the younger woman in the video, Vanessa Ortiz, told KTLA sister station KTXL in an interview from behind bars. “And my apologies to her and her family, whatever.”

Ortiz, 25, is now in the San Joaquin County Jail for felony battery. Police are not identifying the other woman in the video, but say she is 67 years old.

“She’s not your average old lady, she’s like a spicy old lady. As you can see I have scratches on my face, she snatched my glasses off,” Ortiz said.

Some witnesses say the four-decade age difference between these two women doesn’t paint the full picture, KTXL in Sacramento reported.

Bernardo Gonzalez, who witnessed the incident and captured the fight on video, says the older woman was the aggressor.

“The old lady was instigating cause the lady was like, ‘I already exchanged info with you, what more do you want?’ and the old lady started getting all in her face and got aggressive with her,” Gonzalez told KTXL.

Gonzales says the beginning of his video shows the older woman putting her hands up first.

Ortiz told KTXL she wondered how she was supposed to walk away from a woman who slapped her hand and scratched her face.

Ortiz is ineligible for bail. Her jail log shows she also had an arrest warrant out for failure to appear on a misdemeanor charge of loitering with intent of prostitution.

She says she was recently trying to re-build her life.

“I don’t have any violent crimes on my record,” Ortiz said. “Like I said, I have prostitution, but no one’s denying nothing.”

A man who walked into an Ontario grocery store with a shotgun was killed when officers opened fire Sunday night, police said.
The incident took place about 10:44 p.m. at the Stater Bros. located in the 1900 block of East 4th Street, Ontario Police Department Detective Melissa Ramirez said.

Police received multiple calls from customers reporting a man with a shotgun had walked into the store, Ramirez said.

Officers arrived and entered the Stater Bros. fearing customers were still in danger, Ramirez said.

Police found the man, who was still armed with a shotgun, and an officer involved shooting occurred, Ramirez said.

The man, who has not been identified, died inside the store, Ramirez said.

It was unclear why the man entered the store and why he brought a shotgun.

No officers, employees or customers were injured in the incident.

Anyone with information regarding the incident was asked to call the Police Department at 909-986-6711.

Information can also be reported anonymously by calling WE-TIP at (800) 78-CRIME or online at www.wetip.com.

KTLA

An investigation was underway Wednesday after a suspected drunken driver lost control of his vehicle in North Hollywood and slammed into another car, killing the driver.
The crash occurred around midnight near the intersection of Vanowen Street and Laurel Canyon Boulevard, Los Angeles Police Department Capt. Andy Neiman said.

The suspected drunk driver was traveling westbound on Vanowen Street at a high rate of speed when he lost control and went into the eastbound lanes, striking a car that was traveling northbound, Neiman said.

“The force of the collision was so great that it forced both of the vehicles to continue traveling westbound about a half a block,” Neiman said.

The driver that was struck suffered severe and ultimately fatal injuries, Neiman said.

The victim, a 58-year-old man, has not been identified.

The other driver fled the scene, but was chased down by an off-duty security guard who held him until police arrived, Neiman said.

Witnesses said the man appeared to be under the influence and police are investigating the crash as a possible DUI, Neiman said.

The suspected DUI driver, who was about 28-years-old, was hospitalized following the crash, Neiman said.

KTLA

A driver was taken into custody after a wild, hourlong pursuit that began with an alleged road-rage incident in San Gabriel and spanned multiple cities and freeways in Los Angeles County before coming to a dramatic conclusion in Cerritos on Tuesday.
The pursuit began on the westbound 10 Freeway at about 11:32 a.m., after the suspect was involved in an alleged act of “highway violence” against a San Gabriel Police Department patrol vehicle, according to CHP Officer Juan Galvan.

When officers tried to stop the driver, he took off, California Highway Patrol Officer Stephan Brandt said.

San Gabriel police initially pursued the driver before calling CHP to take over, according to Brandt.

From San Gabriel, the chase headed west and past downtown Los Angeles, with the suspect eventually exiting the 101 Freeway in Hollywood.

At one point, the suspect, who was driving erratically, narrowly missed hitting two pedestrians who were in a crosswalk. He also managed to recover from a PIT maneuver that a CHP SUV performed on a surface street early on in the chase, aerial video showed.

The suspect then made his way back to the 101 Freeway headed southbound for downtown.

Video from Sky5 showed law enforcement personnel following the white Nissan Rogue SUV, which was weaving in and out of the slow-moving, heavily traveled stretch of the 101 toward downtown L.A.; with traffic at a crawl, he barely missed some cars and appeared to side-swipe at least one vehicle in an aggressive effort to evade police.
The pursuit continued through the downtown and into South Los Angeles, where the driver was able to pick up speed on the wide-open 110 Freeway as multiple law enforcement vehicles followed.

As the chase headed toward the San Pedro area, the driver exited the freeway and lead pursuing CHP vehicles through Wilmington-area surface streets. Eventually, the suspect drove back onto the 110 Freeway in Carson and headed eastbound on the 91 Freeway into the Long Beach area.

While traveling on the 91, he collided with the side of a CHP cruiser on the freeway, aerial footage showed. That didn’t deter the driver, who continued driving erratically, Sky5 footage showed.

“Each pursuit that we have we treat with extreme caution,” Galvan told KTLA when asked about the aggressiveness of the pursuit driver. “There are pursuits where they are like this unfortunately, that happen during the night and it doesn’t get attention as it does here. So, we have seen rammings, we have seen the suspects in pursuit be very aggressive in this nature.”

The chase came to an end around 12:35 p.m. when the driver lost control of the SUV as he exited the eastbound 91 Freeway at Norwalk Boulevard in Cerritos. The vehicle spun out of control and came to stop between some trees and other brush alongside the freeway off-ramp, which was close to several homes, Sky5 video showed.
The male driver appeared to exit the SUV on the rear-passenger side before he could be seen running through the brush.

The suspect was taken into custody by CHP officers and handcuffed shortly after he fled on foot, the footage showed. He was arrested on suspicion of assault with a deadly weapon and felony evading, police later said in a statement.

He was later taken away in an ambulance, though it was unclear what type of injuries he had received.

The driver faced several potential charges, including felony evading and assault on a peace officer, Galvan said.

His name has not yet been released.

Galvan did not provide any details about the initial incident involving San Gabriel police, telling KTLA more information would be released at a later time.

KTLA

One suspect was arrested and another person was sought after a brawl inside a Wal-Mart in Hesperia left a man hospitalized, authorities said Sunday night.

Deputies responded about 7:30 p.m. Saturday to the Wal-Mart located at 13401 Main St. after receiving a report that several subjects were fighting inside, a Hesperia Police Department news release stated.

When they arrived, deputies determined an argument between two females had escalated into two men fighting one another, according to the release.

As the fight was taking place, the victim was struck multiple times in the face and knocked unconscious, the Police Department said. The victim, who suffered “significant injuries” to his upper body, was transported to a hospital in unknown condition.

Deputies reviewed store surveillance video during the course of the investigation and determined that the person who knocked the man unconscious had approached the victim and punched him several times; he was not involved in the initial fight, according to the release.

The man, identified by police as 24-year-old Dashean Wages, of Adelanto, was still in the Wal-Mart when deputies made contact with him. He was subsequently taken into custody, the release stated.

Wages was book at the High Desert Detention Center on suspicion of battery with serious injuries. His bail has been set at $100,000.

He was scheduled to be arraigned Tuesday.

The other individuals involved in the argument and fight left the store before deputies arrived.

Authorities have yet to identify the suspect involved in the initial fight, and are asking anyone with information about the incident to call the Hesperia Sheriff’s Station at 760-947-1500.

Anonymous tips can be left by calling the We-Tip Hotline at 1-800-782-7463, or leaving info on the website http://www.wetip.com.

Police are attempting to identify suspects in an armed robbery that occurred on Easter Sunday near Knott’s Berry Farm in Buena Park.

Officers responded to a Subway sandwich shop at 7900 Beach Blvd. around 11:50 p.m., according to a statement from the Buena Park Police Department.

The establishment is located less than one block north of Knott’s Berry Farm.

Surveillance footage shows two men entering the fast-food restaurant and brandished firearms at the cashier employee, demanding cash.

The men fled with an undisclosed amount, police said, and possibly drove north on Beach Boulevard in a dark-colored vehicle.

The suspects are described as African-American men in their 20s. They were seen wearing face masks and dark clothing.

No injuries were reported in relation to the incident.

Gil Ficke, owner of the Subway franchise, said the incident was frightening but the employee did exactly what he was supposed to.

“It’s a small business. We don’t carry a lot of cash,” Ficke said. “I think it’s terrible that these things are happening in our neighborhood.”

Two other armed robberies were recently reported in the same area, but in each of those the suspect worked alone and was described only as a white man.

On April 3, a masked gunman entered a Little Caesars Pizza in the 7900 block of Dale Street, about a mile east of the Subway. The man successfully extorted cash from the employees, who were unharmed, officers said.

A white man also robbed a Buena Park Domino’s Pizza on March 30, authorities said.

Anyone with information about the crime can contact Buena Park Police at 714-562-3901.

By Veronica Rocha, Los Angeles Times (View original article)

Leave it to a group of tech-savvy concert-goers to solve a case of stolen cellphones at the Coachella Valley Music and Arts Festival over the weekend.

At a scene like Coachella, where any music act, art installation and fashion or food trend is Instagrammable or Snapchatted, it’s no wonder several festival-goers noticed their cellphones had vanished during the event Friday.

According to the Indio Police Department, the music fans activated their “Find My iPhone” app and followed Reinaldo De Jesus Henao around the venue until he was detained by security workers.

Officers later arrived and found more than 100 cellphones in Henao’s backpack, police said.

Henao, 36, of New York was arrested on suspicion of grand theft and possession of stolen property, police said.

Several cellphones were returned to victims, and others were left at lost and found, according to police.

Police said a man fatally shot three people Tuesday in Fresno, California, in less than two minutes in what authorities are calling a hate crime.

The three victims were white, and apparently chosen at random, police said. The suspect, Kori Ali Muhammad, 39, is black, police said.

Muhammad had posted on social media a dislike for white people and government officials, Fresno, California, police Chief Jerry Dyer said. He also yelled “Allahu Akbar” (God is greatest) when he was arrested Tuesday, officials said.

“We do not believe … that this is a terrorist-related crime,” Dyer told reporters. “This is solely based on race.”

The FBI is assisting in the investigation, the police chief said.

Muhammad fired 16 rounds within 60 to 90 seconds, Dyer said.

He shot a 34-year-old PG&E truck passenger and two other men — a 37-year-old and a 58-year-old — in downtown Fresno, Dyer said.

Muhammad will face four counts of murder and two counts of assault with a deadly weapon, officials said. The fourth murder count is from a previous incident.

Muhammad also is accused of firing at a 59-year-old white man coming out of a house, but he missed, the police chief said. Muhammad then pointed a gun at three Hispanic women, including a 4-year-old, in a car, but did not fire, Dyer said.

The shootings occurred within a block-and-a-half of each other, Dyer said.

“We had three people that were shot and killed and one person shot at in less than a two-minute time frame in the city of Fresno,” the police chief said.

Dyer said the slain men are believed to have had no connection to Muhammad.

Two of those shot at were near Catholic Charities and were clients of the social services agency, Dyer said.

Muhammad surrendered to police shortly after the fourth shooting, telling an officer: “I did it. I shot them,” the police chief said.

He was being sought in the April 13 slaying of Carl Williams, 25, an unarmed security guard shot outside a Fresno Motel 6.

In a statement, Fresno Mayor Lee Brand said: “This is a sad day for us all.”

The statement said: “My thoughts and prayers are with the families of the victims. None of us can imagine what they must be going through.”

KTLA

South Pasadena police credited a 13-year-old girl’s quick-thinking actions — and her cellphone — with leading to the arrest of a child molestation suspect on Thursday.

The teen, a student at South Pasadena Middle School, had just left the campus early Wednesday afternoon and was walking eastbound on Oak Street when she noticed a man slowly driving a red Toyota Corolla on the road, according to the Police Department.

The man drove ahead of the teen and stopped at the intersection of Oak and Marengo Avenue, when she was approached by the suspect.

He “had asked her to get into the car, asked her if she needed a ride. And she refused that, and he continued to coax her, trying to get her in the car. She continued to refuse,” South Pasadena Police Chief Art Miller said at a mid-afternoon news conference on Thursday.

The girl took out her cellphone, an action that apparently prompted the suspect to drive away, according to police. But before he managed to flee, she used the camera feature to snap an important photo.

“She had the wherewithal to take a picture of the car that the suspect was in, which was very, very key information for us to have,” Miller said.

The would-be-victim then called her father, who in turn contacted South Pasadena police; the department immediately began to investigate the incident, according to the chief.

Using the photo, police ran the license plate and identified its owner, 43-year-old Edwin Lineras. They then discovered Lineras had a $125,000 warrant out of the city of Alhambra for “child annoyance and unlawful sex with a minor.” Miller said.

The following morning, around 7 a.m., South Pasadena Officer Brian Wiley was working an unrelated case in Alhambra when he spotted the suspect’s car. He initiated a traffic stop and ultimately arrested Lineras.

“I was able to identify his vehicle only because of the simple fact of the picture” the teen had taken, Wiley said. “Just based off that picture, I was able to … verify his license plate, and then verify who he was, and then made the arrest.”

Wiley and Miller each praised the teen for her actions, as well as the lessons her parents instilled in her.

“Hopefully … other parents can kind of learn something off of this, instilling, you know, stay away from strangers, identifying who a stranger is. And in this case and point, being able to utilize her cellphone,” Wiley said.

Miller also emphasized the role of the teen’s mother and father in training their child to recognize danger.

“I spoke with the parents of the 13-year-old girl. He was very appreciative of not only what the police department has done, but the training he has installed in his daughter. And that training is that if you see something that you’re uncomfortable about, notify an adult, notify an authority,” he said.

Lineras had been wanted in connection to an Alhambra police investigation into an alleged unlawful sexual relationship between the suspect and a high school student that began last year, according to Alhambra Police Chief Timothy Vu.

The alleged relationship started through social media in Jan. 2016, when the victim was 16 years old, and ended in November, he said.

Investigators worked to locate him, but couldn’t find track the suspect down. That’s when the warrant — for lewd acts with a minor and unlawful sexual intercourse with a minor — was issued, according to Vu.

Lineras does not have an extensive criminal history, according to Miller. The suspect had a forgery case and some misdemeanor DMV-related infractions in his past.

The public’s help was being sought by police as an investigation into the case continued.

“I’m asking the public if you’ve had any contact with the suspect – any time he might have approached a child, or anything like that – we would want to know about it,” Miller said.

He asked anyone who had information to call their local department or South Pasadena detectives at 626-403-7280.

A 5-year-old San Gabriel Valley boy last seen by his mother last week remains missing Monday, and his father is in jail on $10 million bail.

South Pasadena police and Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Department homicide investigators don’t know if the child, Aramazd Andressian Jr., was abducted, officials said Sunday afternoon.

The boy’s father, a 35-year-old South Pasadena man who has the same name as his son, was found unresponsive in the city’s Arroyo Park on Saturday morning.

It’s not clear if the boy was ever with him in the park, and Andressian Sr. has provided convoluted, inconsistent and contradictory statement to investigators, according to sheriff’s homicide Capt. Chris Bergner.

At least one home has been served with a search warrant in connection with the investigation, sheriff’s Lt. Joe Mendoza said Monday, declining to provide any details about the residence.

The boy’s mother, a San Gabriel Valley woman whose name has not been released, is in the midst of a divorce from the boy’s father. She is distraught, police said.

South Pasadena police and the Sheriff’s Department Homicide Bureau are working the case jointly. They’re following every new lead, Bergner said at a news conference Sunday, but “it’s not enough.”

“He’s not with his mother and he’s not with his father. He’s with somebody and we’re pleading to that somebody to let us bring him home,” Bergner said.

Authorities have told the public the following information, hoping it leads someone who knows something to come forward:

Aramazd Andressian Jr. was last seen in person by his mother about 8 a.m. Saturday, April 15. That’s when she handed over the boy to his father during a custody transition at Baldwin Park Police Department.
His mother again saw her son during a Skype video conversation about 6:45 p.m. Tuesday, April 18.
A scheduled Thursday, April 20, Skype conversation did not occur.
The father’s 2004 gray BMW sedan — California license plate No. 5FIL646 — was spotted in Orange County in the early morning hours of Friday, April 21.
Aramazd Andressian Sr. was found passed out near his car in Arroyo Park on the morning of Saturday, April 22.
When the father failed to show up for an arranged custody transfer meeting in San Marino at 8:30 a.m. Saturday, she reported her son missing.
South Pasadena police and officers from many surrounding agencies — some 125 searchers total — combed through the Arroyo Park area until 3 a.m. Sunday, looking for the boy or clues to his whereabouts.

After an interview of several hours, the father was arrested Saturday on suspicion of one count of child endangerment and one count of child abduction. A bail deviation judge approved raising his bail from $100,000 to $10 million, South Pasadena police Chief Art Miller said.

He remained in custody at the South Pasadena Police Department jail, a sheriff’s official said Monday.

No organized search effort like the weekend one in Arroyo Park is planed for Monday, Mendoza said. Several other locations in the South Pasadena area have been searched, he said.

Aramazd Jr. is described as being about 3 feet, 5 inches tall and 55 pounds. He was last seen wearing a turquoise shirt and plaid shorts or a gray-and-white-striped shirt with gray sweatpants. He has a small mole on the bottom of his right shoulder, police said.

His father is described as 5 feet, 3 inches in height and 152 pounds, with brown hair and blue eyes.

Anyone with information about the boy’s location can call sheriff’s detectives at 323-890-5500 or South Pasadena police at 626-403-7297.

The driver involved in a stolen vehicle pursuit was killed Tuesday morning after Long Beach police officers opened fire on the car when it turned an approached them in Bellflower.

The chase began about 5:55 a.m. near the intersection of North Paramount Boulevard and East Artesia Boulevard after police received a LoJack hit for a stolen vehicle out of the Los Angeles area, Long Beach Police Department Sgt. Brad Johnson said.

Sky 5 was over the pursuit about 6:10 a.m. as the vehicle traveled at a high rate of speed in Long Beach and through the Bellflower and Downey areas.

“At one point a handgun was thrown out of the vehicle,” Johnson said, adding that the weapon had been recovered.

The driver narrowly missed several collisions as the car sped through multiple intersections.

The vehicle appeared to be an older model Honda Civic, which had possibly been stolen, according to a CHP official.

Video showed a second person was sitting in the vehicle’s passenger seat.

The chase continued on the 91, 710 and 105 freeways before the driver returned to surface streets in Norwalk, video showed just before 6:30 a.m.

Among the several near misses, video showed the vehicle almost hit a motorcyclist while traveling westbound through an intersection on Alondra Boulevard.

The pursuit came to an end about 6:40 a.m. when the driver entered a parking lot of a Storage Outlet facility on Foster Road in Bellflower.

The vehicle turned around in the parking lot and began to drive in the direction of officers who had blocked the exit and gotten out of their vehicles.

Long Beach police officers then opened fire on the vehicle, Johnson said.

The car rolled to a stop near the parked patrol cars at the entrance of the storage facility.

Video appeared to show several bullet holes in the vehicle’s windshield.

The driver of the vehicle was pronounced dead by Los Angeles County Fire Department personnel, Johnson said.

The driver has not been identified.

The passenger was taken into custody uninjured, Johnson said.

No officers were hurt in the incident, Johnson said.