Photo by Mike Messina
Firefighters responded to a small blaze that broke out in some brush above the Hermon Dog Park at about noon today. Mike Messina, who was at the park, took the above photo as firefighters extinguished the fire near Avenue 60 and the Arroyo Seco Parkway. No other details were immediately available.
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View Child homicides reported in Elysian Valley in a larger map |
When it came time to report last year’s crime statistics, Capt. William Murphy of the LAPD Northeast Division noted that 2 of the 12 homicides that took place in his division were “were family related infant fatalities” or cases of child abuse. Digging a little deeper into those statistics, it turns out that both of those deadly cases of child abuse took place in Elysian Valley, the small neighborhood wedged between the L.A. River and 5 Freeway. The two deaths – a three-year-old boy named Isiah and a 19-month old girl named Rosemary – were among the six, citywide homicides investigated last year by the LAPD’s Abused Child Unit, which handles unexplained deaths of children under age 11. Lt. Vincent Neglia with the Abused Child Unit provided a few more details about the Elysian Valley homicides, which were unrelated.
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The City Council today approved $100,000 in reward money in connection with the murders of two Lincoln Heights women – Bree’Anna Guzman and Michelle Lozano. An official said that the county coroner has determined that the body found last week next to a Silver Lake freeway onramp was that of Guzman, a 22-year-old mother who has been missing since Dec. 26 after she took a walk to a Lincoln Heights drug store and never returned. “Our hearts and prayers go out to her loving family and friends,” said Monica Valencia, a spokeswoman for Councilman Ed Reyes.
Reyes requested a $50,000 reward for information on the Guzman case and another $50,000 reward in connection with the murder of Lozano, a 17-year-0ld who turned up dead next to the 5 Freeway in Boyle Heights, a year ago. The case remains unsolved.
The two homicides have generated fear and rumors among many Lincoln Heights residents, with some speculating that the pair of murders were connected and that men have attempted to kidnap women. But the LAPD, in a statement, said it has not been able to determine a connection between the cases.
A Lincoln Heights activist has organized an event tonight – Take Back Lincoln Heights – along North Broadway in response to the fear and rumors generated by the two cases.
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Erika Gallo of Lincoln Heights was filling up her car Sunday night at the Arco at the corner of North Broadway and Griffin Avenue when she noticed the sidewalks were practically abandoned. No was walking their dog, running an errand to the store or out for some evening exercise. Gallo, a neighborhood activist who grew up in Lincoln Heights, said she thinks the empty street reflected the fear and uncertainty surrounding the fate of two neighborhood women: Bree’Anna Guzman and Michelle Lozano. Officials are still trying to confirm that it was Guzman’s body that was discovered last week next to the 2 freeway in Silver Lake. Lozano, a 17-year-0ld, turned up dead next to the 5 Freeway in Boyle Heights.
It’s not clear if the two incidents are connected but Gallo decided something needed to be done to restore the confidence of her Lincoln Heights neighbors. So, she is asking Lincoln Heights residents to take a walk on Wednesday night along North Broadway.
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A woman was sexually assaulted in Echo Park this morning by a man who had offered to help the victim find her friends. Officers responded to the 1800 block of Sunset Boulevard after the woman’s friends called police at about 1 a.m., said Lt. Wes. Buhrmester with the Rampart Division. Passersby reported seeing an ambulance and police squad cars parked in the middle of the street. Here are more details from Buhrmester:
The investigation revealed a female was on foot looking for friends, when approached by a suspect offering to help find them. The suspect escorted her to a nearby secluded location where he sexually assaulted her. He then fled the area, and the woman was able to find her friends, and told them what just happened. They phoned the police.
The investigation is ongoing and “details of the assault and particulars of the location and suspect are not being disclosed at this time,” Buhrmester said.
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An Angeleno Heights man living in the 800 block of Laveta Terrace awoke early this morning to the sound of footsteps in the hallway and discovered the backdoor open. The resident went outside and saw a man trying to start his car. Police were called shortly before 4 a.m. after the resident tried and failed to catch the suspect, who ran down the street. The officers who responded recalled seeing a man who fit the suspect’s description earlier in the evening at location several blocks away, said Lt. Wes Buhrmester with the Rampart Division. Buhrmester describes what happened next:
After their on-scene investigation, they went to where they had seen the man, and found him. He was detained based on suspect description. The victim responded to the scene and identified Urizar Pastor, 26, Los Angeles, as the man who had been in his car. Pastor had not been seen in the house, though.
A search of Pastor pursuant to arrest disclosed foreign currency in his pockets. The victim advised that his roommate collected such currency, and re-checked the residence. Ransacking was discovered in the roommate’s room, with similar currency scattered about the floor. Pastor was arrested for residential burglary. At the station, he made statements implicating himself in the crime. Pastor was booked at the Metropolitan Detention Center, with bail set at $50,000.
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Photo by Mary-Austin Klein
The body of a woman discovered by a Silver Lake freeway entrance this morning has been identified as that of 22-year-old Breeanna Guzman, a Lincoln Heights mother of two who took a walk to a drug store on Dec. 26 and never returned to her Humboldt Street home, according to officials briefed by the LAPD. A police spokesman, however, could not confirm the information, but an LAPD official told NBC that there was a “strong possibility” that the body is that of Guzman.
The body was found near the Riverside Drive on-ramp to the Glendale Freeway across the street from Allesandro Elementary. The woman’s family, including her mother, were at the scene of the investigation today, said NBC.
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* This story has been updated from earlier versions.
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Capt. William Murphy of the Northeast Division – which stretches from Echo Park and Silver Lake to Highland Park and Eagle Rock – released crime statistics for 2o11 that showed another annual decline in overall crime. The number of homicides, however, rose to 12 from 8 in 2010, which ranks as the low point for Northeast Division homicides since 1971. Despite last year’s uptick in murder, Murphy notes that homicides remain well below the division’s five most deadliest years, which took place in the early 1990s (see chart above). For a breakdown on homicides and crime by neighborhood, click on the link below for Murphy’s review and commentary of 2011 crime statistics.
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Police are investigating the death of a man that was reported this afternoon in an Echo Park Avenue apartment building. One person was pronounced dead at the scene at 1551 Echo Park Ave. – a four-story brick apartment building that is home Chango Coffee and other shops – at about 12:30 p.m., said fire department spokesman Brian Humphrey. A police officer on the scene said the man’s death, which took place in a first floor of the Del Mor apartment building, was not a homicide but provided no further details.
* Update @ 5:25 p.m. : Sgt. Alaniz with the Northeast Division said the death was related to a drug overdose but the matter is still being investigated. “His friends called the fire department, and I guess they arrived too late.”
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A block of Sunset Boulevard in Echo Park tonight attracted a swarm of police activity after officers responded to a pair of unrelated incidents across the street from each other. With LAPD and media helicopters hovering overhead, police blocked off Sunset Boulevard west of Alvarado Street at about 8: 3o p.m. as Rampart Division officers investigated and detained several persons suspected of selling drugs inside and in front of Lucy’s Laundrymart. Meanwhile, across the street, officers with the Northeast Division pulled over a stolen vehicle they had been following for several blocks. The two events found restaurant patrons and laundrymat customers wondering what was going on as police cars and officers flooded the area. “It got really busy, really fast,” said Sgt. Joel Miller with the Rampart Divison.
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