Ernesto Murillo, 26 Southern California gang member was sentenced to 110 years in prison for shooting a 6-year-old boy last year.

Southern California gang member was sentenced to 110 years in prison for shooting a 6-year-old boy last year.The Los Angeles Times reported Thursday that Ernesto Murillo, 26, pleaded guilty in March to three counts of attempted murder, five counts of assault with a firearm and one count of shooting at an occupied vehicle in connection with the shooting.Murillo also admitted he was a gang member, the newspaper said.Laverya Elzy was shot in the head. Five adults and two other children in the vehicle were not hurt in the incident. The (Torrence, Calif.) Daily Breeze reported that Lavareay attends school, and still has significant pain from the bullet that is still in his brain. "You can't ever erase what happened," Lavareay's mother, Trina Cooper, said. "I'll forgive him, but never forget," she said of Murillo.

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Authorities say a man with a rifle opened fire on a group of people eating at a Los Angeles-area taco truck

Authorities say a man with a rifle opened fire on a group of people eating at a Los Angeles-area taco truck, killing a 59-year-old man and wounding five other people.Los Angeles County sheriff's Deputy Byron Ward says the shooting occurred Wednesday night in Lennox, an unincorporated area near Los Angeles International Airport.
Ward says one victim died at the scene and the others were taken to hospitals with injuries ranging from minor to serious.
Among the wounded were two men, a woman and two boys — one 12 years old.Authorities are searching for the gunman.

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Gangster has been sentenced to death for murdering two people, including a 14-year-old girl who was shot as she crouched outside a Compton market.

Steven Cheatham has been sentenced to death for murdering two people, including a 14-year-old girl who was shot as she crouched outside a Compton market.A judge in Los Angeles sentenced Steven Cheatham on Friday.Cheatham, 32, was convicted in October of two counts of first-degree murder and four counts of attempted murder.
Prosecutors say Cheatham confronted Elvira Ramirez and her two friends as she went to use a pay phone near the market in 2001. He wounded her friends, then shot the girl in the back of the head and again in the leg after she fell to the ground.None of the victims had any gang affiliation.Cheatham also was sentenced for fatally shooting an unarmed man in the face in 1998 and wounding two people in 2000.

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George Torres seemed to fare remarkably well with local gangbangers and taggers.

George Torres seemed to fare remarkably well with local gangbangers and taggers.
His Numero Uno supermarkets, for the most part, remained as pristine on the outside as they were sparkling on the inside. And, after a rough beginning, he had relatively few run-ins with local toughs.Just how Torres, 52, was able to achieve this apparent status promises to be an underlying theme in his racketeering trial, which got underway this week in the downtown Los Angeles courtroom of U.S. District Judge Stephen V. Wilson.Torres' defense attorneys portray him as a self-made entrepreneur who earned the respect of neighborhood mothers -- and, by extension, their sons -- by bringing fresh meat and produce to their neighborhoods at a fair price. He was a man who treated customers with respect and gave at-risk youths jobs to help steer them from gangs and drugs.Federal prosecutors, on the other hand, contend that Torres is a ruthless businessman who cultivated an aura of danger. He ran his highly profitable supermarkets as a criminal enterprise in which he hired illegal workers, bribed a public official and -- when people crossed him -- arranged to have them killed, prosecutors say.

The case relies heavily on the testimony of current and former Torres employees as well as allegedly incriminating statements by Torres caught on wiretapped phone calls. Torres' brother, Manuel, who worked as a manager and "right-hand man" for Torres at the markets, is a co-defendant.

Steven G. Madison, Torres' lead attorney, suggested to jurors in his opening statement Tuesday that the government's case was the result of an overzealous LAPD detective who had a vendetta against George Torres. Madison also said the case was being held together by convicted felons hoping to win early release by cooperating with prosecutors.By far the most sensational allegations revolve around three murders that prosecutors say Torres solicited, beginning in the early 1990s.According to Assistant U.S. Atty. Timothy J. Searight, Torres' campaign of violence began in 1993, shortly after he bought a small store that he then closed and began remodeling to open as his second market.Soon after Torres bought the store, Searight told jurors, some Primera Flats gang members who hung out across the street began hassling his security guards. A few weeks later, one of the guards was shot in the back of the head and killed.Searight said Torres became convinced that one of the gang members was responsible. He turned to a trusted employee and protege, Ignacio "Nacho" Meza, to retaliate, the prosecutor said. Three weeks later, Searight said, Meza leaned out of the window of a car driven by another man and sprayed a group of Primera Flats members with gunfire. Four people were hit and one, Edward Carpel, was killed.Torres turned to Meza again later that year when a gang member called "Shorty," whom he had hired to provide security after the L.A. riots, tried to extort money from Torres as a "tax" for operating one of his stores in gang territory."You need to take care of Shorty," Searight quoted Torres as saying.
A few weeks later, Jose "Shorty" Maldonado was fatally shot after walking out of a barbershop across the street from the main Numero Uno market on Jefferson Boulevard south of downtown L.A. Searight said Meza pulled the trigger.Four years later, the prosecutor said, Meza was himself the victim of Torres' vengeance.

Searight said Meza, who was also a major drug dealer, was in debt after having some drugs and money seized by authorities. He stole $500,000 from Torres and used the money to repay the debt.

Searight said Torres suspected Meza immediately but pretended he did not. Though Meza had stopped working at the stores, Torres lured him back with a job offer. The prosecutor said Meza disappeared his first day back at work, Oct. 5, 1998."Precisely how he died is not known," Searight told jurors. "His body was never found."Madison, a former federal prosecutor, told the jury that the government's case relied almost entirely on the testimony of two convicted drug dealers, both of whom are serving lengthy sentences in federal prison and hope to have the terms reduced by helping convict Torres.One of the convicts, who is caught in dozens of wiretapped phone conversations with Torres in which the two appear to be talking in conspiratorial tones, is expected to testify that Torres asked him to kill Meza but that he refused.Madison said that despite about 125,000 wiretapped telephone conversations and searches of Torres' home, business and even his garbage, "there is not a single piece of evidence that relates in any way to solicitation to do murder.""These two witnesses are all they have," he said.
He said the case against Torres was initiated by a detective from the Los Angeles Police Department's Newton Division who appeared fixated on the supermarket magnate. He said the detective ignored compelling evidence that Carpel and Maldonado were the victims of gang-related shootings, and the possibility that Meza fled the country because he was under indictment in a major drug case.Madison said the detective also appeared to violate protocol for dealing with informants, such as the practice of keeping them apart so they don't have the opportunity to concoct a story together. Madison said the detective in the Torres case actually arranged for two informants to share a cell and is heard on tape asking: "Have you guys talked yet? You got it straight?"The trial, which is expected to last a month to eight weeks, resumes today.

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Steven Munoz 11-year-old boy and a 19-year-old man were shot dead at the Staples Center, victims of a drive-by shooting

11-year-old boy and a 19-year-old man were fatally wounded Sunday evening a few blocks from Staples Center, victims of a drive-by shooting that police said may have been gang-related.The victims were sitting on a lawn with others about 6:30 p.m. near Valencia and Connecticut streets when someone fired at the group multiple times from a passing gray Honda, police said.The group scattered. The 11-year-old, whom police identified as Steven Munoz, ran around the corner to an apartment building in the 1400 block of West 11th Street, where a police spokeswoman said she believed he lived. The 19-year-old, whom the spokeswoman did not identify pending notification of next of kin, collapsed in an alley.Both were taken to a local hospital where they died later Sunday.

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One of several men who stormed a suburban home Friday was shot dead by one of the residents, who blasted the intruders as they entered,

"One of several men who stormed a suburban home Friday was shot dead by one of the residents, who blasted the intruders as they entered, in an incident police were calling a home-invasion robbery attempt. Three or four men kicked in the door of the house in the 24300 block of Burbank Boulevard, setting off the gunfight, Los Angeles police said. Aside from the one intruder killed, no one was injured. "Obviously, these residents here do have a right to protect themselves," said Los Angeles police Lt. Steven Sambar. "Those people are extremely lucky." Police were searching for two or three other suspects, described as African-American men in their 20s. Gunfire and screams pierced the neighborhood's usual quiet about 2:45 p.m., after the men first knocked on the home's front door - then kicked it in, Los Angeles police Sgt. Jeff Nuttall said. Inside was a couple in their 60s and their two sons in their 20s. At least one of the sons was armed, and he opened fire, hitting one of the intruders. The man died in the doorway, clutching a revolver, Nuttall said. His identity was not immediately available. The intruders shot back, but didn't hit anyone, then fled."

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Jonathan Belvin Taylor spent most of 2007 in prison

Jonathan Belvin Taylor, 24, spent most of 2007 in prison after a conviction for being a felon in possession of a firearm. He was released on parole in October, the state Department of Corrections said.
Taylor, a Los Angeles resident killed in the Friday night shootout when he pulled out a handgun and fired at the two officers, was convicted in 2002 for carrying a concealed firearm in a car, was sentenced to 16 months in prison in 2005 for receiving

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Jonathan Belvin Taylor killed in the Friday night shootout when he pulled out a handgun and fired at the two officers

Jonathan Belvin Taylor, 24, spent most of 2007 in prison after a conviction for being a felon in possession of a firearm. He was released on parole in October, the state Department of Corrections said. Taylor, a Los Angeles resident killed in the Friday night shootout when he pulled out a handgun and fired at the two officers, was convicted in 2002 for carrying a concealed firearm in a car, was sentenced Lt. Raymond Garcia was shot in the face and is recovering. to 16 months in prison in 2005 for receiving stolen property, and served seven months of a 16-month sentence for carrying a gun in 2007, county and state records show.
He also was arrested in 2004 for carrying a loaded gun. El Segundo police on Monday released more details of what led to the shooting, including the fact that both officers were already wounded when they fired the bullets that struck Taylor as he tried to escape out the lobby doors. Detective Scott O'Connor and Lt. Raymond Garcia were working an overtime shift at the movie theater. The Pacific theater chain, which operates the Beach Cities 16 on Rosecrans Avenue and Nash Street, contracts with the city to pay for the police presence on weekends.
Taylor arrived at the theater with a woman and two other couples about 20 minutes earlier to see the last showing of "Street Kings," a movie about a Los Angeles police detective played by Keanu Reeves on a quest to find the killers of his former partner. Taylor's female companion was inside the theater when he approached the guest services counter and demanded a refund, El Segundo police Lt. Bob Turnbull said. An employee denied his request because he did not have his ticket
Detective Scott O'Connor was shot in the left shoulder and is recovering. stub. It was not clear why Taylor wanted his money back, but Turnbull said movie patrons sometimes ask for refunds when a theater is filled and they are unable to sit with their companions. Had he carried the stubs, he probably would have received his money back, Turnbull said. A manager asked the officers - who were standing at the entrance to a long hallway that leads to the theaters - to intervene when Taylor became belligerent. The manager wanted Taylor removed from the lobby because he was creating a disturbance, Turnbull said. "Witnesses described his demeanor as abnormal and his physical appearance to be sweating profusely," Turnbull said.
The shooting began when the officers approached him. "As Officer O'Connor made contact with the individual, Taylor spun around and produced a handgun and just began firing," Turnbull said. About 75 to 100 people in the lobby, many buying popcorn and sodas at the concession stand, dropped to the ground or ran. "It became a chaotic scene," Turnbull said. "He fired off five or six rounds. He was at the same time trying to flee out the doors." Both officers returned fire. A bullet hit Garcia in the face, just above his lip. It broke his jaw, struck his tongue, tore his esophagus and lodged near his spine. A bullet struck O'Connor in the chest area of his bullet-proof vest. Another missed the vest and penetrated his upper left shoulder. Despite their wounds, both officers fired at Taylor, killing him. He died just outside the glass doors facing Nash Street. One bullet fired in the exchange struck a 20-year-old "innocent bystander," police said. The man was taken to a hospital with a leg wound. The investigation will try to determine whether Taylor or the officers fired the round that hit the man. Police from throughout the South Bay swarmed in, closing the theaters. Garcia and O'Connor, along with a theater security guard, had seen Taylor arrive earlier with the other couples. Police special weapons teams went from theater to theater checking patrons to determine if Taylor had acted alone.
During the search, police detained the girlfriend and the other couples, who were trying to leave even though their friend lay dead on the concrete. Officers also arrested two people after finding a discarded handgun in theater 15. The people and gun were unrelated to Taylor, Turnbull said. They were released pending more investigation. The wounded officers are recovering.
O'Connor, who received a Medal of Valor award in 2000 for rescuing three neighbors from a burning home, has been released from a hospital and is recovering at home.
Garcia, head of the department's Special Operations Division and commander of the Traffic and Animal Control Section, remained hospitalized Monday.
"He is responsive and alert, still in ICU, being monitored," Turnbull said.
Garcia received a Medal of Valor award in 2001 for preventing a woman from jumping from a freeway overpass.
"Both are very lucky," Turnbull said. "Ray is a good friend of mine - not only a colleague but a peer. Officer O'Connor is one of my investigators. This is a difficult time."

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204th Street and East Side Torrance members can no longer associate with one another. That includes "standing, sitting, walking, driving, gathering or

A judge Tuesday approved a court order meant to cripple two Harbor Gateway gangs, severely limiting the members from walking, driving or even standing with one another.
Los Angeles Superior Court Judge David Yaffe's approval of a preliminary injunction, which occurred the same day a young boy was shot in an apparently gang-related attack, creates a so-called safety zone and gives police officers the authority to enforce a variety of tough restrictions on the members of the 204th Street and East Side Torrance gangs. Although police could not say that East Side Torrance was involved in Tuesday's shooting, they are investigating the possibility because the victim and his family strayed into the gang's turf. Police and prosecutors have been waiting for the ruling since December, when they filed the gang injunction and served papers on more than 40gang members.
Members of 204th Street hired an attorney to fight the order, but East Side Torrance members did not. "(The judge) said there was enough for the preliminary injunction. It's an ongoing threat and it needs to be stopped," said Deputy City Attorney Anne Tremblay, assistant supervisor of her office's gang division. The "safety zone" established by the injunction is bounded by Del Amo Boulevard to the north, Western Avenue on the west, Lomita Boulevard on the south and Normandie Avenue on the east. It extends 100 yards to the outside of each
boundary and takes in the locations where 14-year-old Cheryl Green was killed in December 2006, and a 6-year-old boy was wounded Tuesday.
According to the order, 204th Street and East Side Torrance members can no longer associate with one another. That includes "standing, sitting, walking, driving, gathering or appearing anywhere in public view, in a public place or in any place accessible to the public." The only exemptions are in a school or church.
In addition, police can arrest gang members who confront, intimidate, annoy, harass, threaten, challenge, provoke, assault or batter anyone who lives, works or passes through the safety zone.
Gang members also cannot: Possess any firearm, ammunition or other dangerous weapon.
Sell, traffic or possess any controlled substance or marijuana, and any drug paraphernalia, including pipes and rolling papers.
Act as lookouts by "whistling, yelling or otherwise signalling" with hand signals, walkie talkies or cellular telephones to warn others that police are nearby.
Obstruct traffic, drink in public, carry graffiti tools, loiter, trespass or violate curfew. The injunction specifically identifies more than 40 East Side Torrance and 204th Street gang members by name, but is not limited to them.
LAPD Harbor Division officers must again serve gang members with the order before they can begin enforcing it, Tremblay said. Capt. William Hayes, the Harbor Division's commander, said he had not been informed about the judge's decision and was awaiting word from the City Attorney's Office on what action to take next.
Police and prosecutors pushed for the injunction following Green's killing. Her suspected killers are 204th Street gang members who allegedly shot her because she is black. Officers took a year to gather evidence against gang members to support the injunction and write a document before submitting it to a judge.

Attorney Ronald Mintz, who represents 204th Street in its opposition, said the police evidence against his clients is based on hearsay, rumor and innuendo.

"The judge didn't really care what I had to say," Mintz said.

A court hearing will be scheduled for prosecutors to seek a permanent injunction similar to those imposed in recent years in Harbor City, Redondo Beach and Lennox.
Mintz said his clients believe the injunction against the gang members violates their individual rights. Prosecutors, Mintz said, sued a "fictitious entity" that does not drink beer in public or smoke marijuana. Its members, he said, cannot be treated as a unit, and are legally no different than the Boy Scouts of America.
"A Boy Scout may go out and shoot somebody," Mintz said. "That doesn't make all the members guilty."
East Side Torrance formed in the 1970s, getting its name from its location. Although the area it calls home has a Torrance mailing address, it is east of the city's boundary in the Harbor Gateway area of Los Angeles.
Its territory is bounded by Western, Sepulveda Boulevard, Normandie and Carson Street, according to an affidavit filed by Los Angeles police Detective Dan Robbins in support of the gang injunction. East Side Torrance feuded with Torrance's La Rana gang, which helped create the 204thStreet gang in the 1980s. East Side Torrance's rivals include 204th Street to the north, Harbor City Boys and Harbor City Crips to the south, and Tortilla Flats in the unincorporated area to the east. "When one gang tries to move into another's turf, deadly gang wars are often the result," Robbins wrote

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Two Latino males flashed gang signs before opening fire on the red GMC Yukon

6-year-old black boy was critically wounded Tuesday when he was shot in the head by suspected Latino gang members as the victim's family drove through the Harbor Gateway neighborhood on their way to an auto auction, Los Angeles Police Chief William J. Bratton said.
Two Latino males flashed gang signs before opening fire on the red GMC Yukon with six people inside, including a woman who is eight months pregnant, Bratton said. The rear window of the SUV was shattered by the gunfire, and one of the rounds hit the boy in the head, he said.The victim was rushed by paramedics to Harbor-UCLA Medical Center after the shooting, which occurred about 12:40 p.m. on 227th Street between Halldale and Denker avenues, police said. The boy was listed in critical condition.
The shooting caps several weeks of violent incidents believed to involve gangs around Los Angeles County that have sparked both fear and anger in some neighborhoods. Earlier this week, a Los Angeles High School football player was gunned down in what authorities described as an unprovoked attack by gang members. Last week, a gang member opened fire at a bus stop in South Los Angeles, wounding eight people, including five children. Before that, a gun battle between LAPD officers and gang members outside a Glassell Park school caused much of the community to be locked down for hours.Some -- but not all -- of the incidents involved violence between blacks and Latinos.As of Saturday night there had been 67 homicides reported in the city since Jan. 1, compared with 54 for the same period last year, an increase of 24%, according to the LAPD. But violent crime in general continues a downward trend, with 5.1% fewer incidents reported so far this year.
Police said the family of the victim in Tuesday's shooting was not from the Harbor Gateway neighborhood, which is known for racial tensions between Latino gangs and black residents. Other passengers inside the vehicle were a man and a woman and two other children, ages 3 and 1 1/2 .There were no other reported injuries, police said.Police cordoned off two blocks Tuesday afternoon as they launched a massive search for the two suspects, one described as between the ages of 28 and 30, heavyset, wearing a white T-shirt and black pants; the other, between ages 16 and 20, with a shaved head and possibly a mustache, wearing blue jeans and riding a racing bicycle.Bratton did not say whether the suspects had ties to a specific gang, but he noted that the neighborhood is home to the East Side Torrance gang. "This is an area that is under the influence of a Latino gang," Bratton said. "You may recall that about a year or so ago, the mayor and I were engaged in a major initiative up the street at 204th Street, where there had been the shooting death of a young black woman."Bratton was referring to the killing of 14-year-old Cheryl Green in December 2006. Two members of the 204th Street gang allegedly shot Green as she stood talking with friends.The suspects were later caught and charged with murder, along with a special hate crime allegation. They are still awaiting trial.Both shootings occurred in the narrow strip of land known as Harbor Gateway, which connects the bulk of Los Angeles and the harbor communities.
Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa joined Bratton at an afternoon news conference to discuss the latest shooting. He noted that there had been several apparently unprovoked gang attacks in recent weeks."What's been particularly disturbing is the sensational nature of some of these incidents," Villaraigosa said. "It was people minding their own business. . . . That's what causes even more concern. This wasn't a gang battle."Josefina Salazar, 40, who lives in the neighborhood with her two children, said residents live in constant fear of gang violence."We worry about our security here," she said. "But rent is so high there's no option to go anywhere else."
Salazar, who stood outside a house where several TV trucks were parked, said the mayor and police chief "say they're cleaning the city up, but then things like this happen again."Another resident, who has lived in the neighborhood for three years and did not want to be identified, described the area as "gang infested" and pointed to the graffiti on a nearby driveway. He said his garage door also has been painted with graffiti.
"This place has no laws," he said. The police "never come to protect. They come to collect the dead."
The East Side Torrance and 204th Street gangs are longtime rivals. But they also are known for preying on black residents.
The shooting came a week after Los Angeles City Atty. Rocky Delgadillo obtained a preliminary gang injunction against 26 members of East Side Torrance and 204th Street.The injunction bars the members from associating with one another in public within a designated Harbor Gateway "safety zone." Violators would face up to a year in jail, said Jeff Isaacs, head of the city attorney's criminal prosecutions.
In a declaration supporting Delgadillo's request against East Side Torrance, LAPD Sgt. Dan Robbins said the gang frequently targeted black residents with violence, harassment and racist graffiti."Every black person, but in particular black males, is a potential victim of EST violence and intimidation," wrote Robbins, the LAPD's expert on the two gangs.

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Los Angeles police fatally shot an armed suspect and wounded another

Los Angeles police fatally shot an armed suspect and wounded another Thursday in the wake of a fatal gang-related drive-by shooting, authorities said.
The drive-by killed a man holding a 2-year-old girl, who emerged from the incident unscathed. The victims and suspects were not immediately identified.
The officer-involved shooting occurred shortly after noon at Estara Avenue and Drew Street, but no officers were injured, said Los Angeles police Officer Kate Lopez.
"What we do know is that three suspects exited that car - all three with firearms," Deputy Chief Sergio Diaz said. "At least two of them fired at the officers, possibly three fired at the officers. "The officers fired back, striking two of the suspects. One expired at the scene. One was wounded and has been transported to a local hospital. Another, we're told, fled on foot, and we believe the driver fled in his vehicle." According to police, gang violence has erupted in the area in the past month, prompting additional resources to be assigned to the area. LAPD Assistant Chief Jim McDonald told reporters the officer-involved shooting occurred blocks away and minutes after a fatal drive-by shooting in which a man was shot 15 times.
"At that location, there was a man walking down the street carrying a 2-year-old child. The suspects in this vehicle drove by, ... shot the victim in this case a number of times. The victim went down at the scene, dropped the baby."
Police said the 37-year-old victim died later at a hospital. According to Chief William Bratton, officers anticipated that the suspects in the drive-by would return to their own neighborhood, so police tried to head them off. A third suspect ran from the scene, but was arrested shortly after 5 p.m., according to KABC (Channel 7). A fourth suspect, the vehicle's driver, left the scene and is still being sought.

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