A man who orchestrated a robbery that led to the 1988 killing of an Inglewood police officer in 1988 has been released from prison. The victim’s son speaks out about Joevone Elster's release.
Mary Beth McDade reports for the KTLA 5 News at 10 on May 31, 2017.
The state Senate on Wednesday voted to no longer make it a felony for someone infected with HIV to knowingly expose others to the disease by having unprotected sex without telling his or her partner about the infection.
The crime would be downgraded to a misdemeanor, and the bill would also apply to people who donate blood or semen without telling the blood or semen bank that they have acquired immunodeficiency syndrome, or AIDS, or have tested positive for human immunodeficiency virus, or HIV, the precursor to AIDS.
The measure, which next goes to the Assembly for consideration, was introduced by Sen. Scott Wiener (D-San Francisco), who said it is unfair to make HIV/AIDS the only communicable disease given such harsh treatment by prosecutors.
“These laws are irrational and discriminatory,” Wiener told the Senate, adding that the current felony status is “creating an incentive not to be tested, because if you don’t know your status you can’t be guilty of a felony.”
Read the full story on LATimes.com.
Hillary Clinton says she takes full responsibility for her decisions.
There’s just one catch: She says her decisions weren’t the reason that she lost to Donald Trump.
At Recode’s Code Conference in California on Wednesday, the former Democratic presidential nominee was reflective, quick to crack jokes — and eager to cast blame. The more than hour-long question-and-answer event marked the latest in a series of public appearances for Clinton in which she explicitly took on the actions of those around her and other external circumstances in explaining why she lost on Election Day.
“I take responsibility for every decision I make — but that’s not why I lost,” Clinton said.
Perhaps Clinton’s most fresh and savage criticism on Wednesday was directed at the Democratic National Committee. She went as far as to say that when she became her party’s presidential nominee, she inherited “nothing” from the committee.
“I’m now the nominee of the Democratic Party. I inherit nothing from the Democratic Party,” Clinton said. “It was bankrupt, it was on the verge of insolvency, its data was mediocre to poor, non-existent, wrong. I had to inject money into it — the DNC — to keep it going.”
The sad state of things at the DNC, Clinton continued, was only exacerbated by numerous efforts to influence the outcome of the presidential election. As she has now said many times, the ex-secretary of state again alleged that former FBI Director James Comey’s decision on October 28, 2016, to send a letter to Congress about her email controversy was simply devastating.
“I can’t look inside the guy’s mind. He dumped that on me on October 28, and I immediately start falling,” she said.
And while she repeated that it was a “mistake” to use a private email server during her time at the State Department, she also said that plenty of others — including the media — were complicit in fanning the flames.
In the new book that she is currently working on, she said: “I’m just using everything that anybody else said about it besides me to basically say: This was the biggest nothing burger — ever.”
Watching the story about her private email server explode was a “maddening” experience, Clinton said, as she specifically called out The New York Times for its coverage of the issue.
“They covered it like it was Pearl Harbor,” she said.
Clinton also described the attention around her paid speeches to Goldman Sachs as having been blown out of proportion. Asked why she insisted on addressing the big bank, she challenged the moderators by asking: “Why do you have Goldman Sachs here?”
“Because they pay us,” a moderator answered.
“They paid me,” Clinton responded.
Her decision to speak at the firm, Clinton said, was partly shaped by her understanding of Goldman’s role in the economy.
“You know, men got paid for the speeches they made. I got paid for the speeches I made,” she said. “And it was used, and I thought it was unfairly used.”
Something else that worked to her disadvantage? The widespread perception that she would win.
“I also think I was the victim of the very broad assumption that I was going to win,” she said. “I never believed that. I always thought it was going to be a close election.”
Asked the unavoidable question — whether she will run for president again — Clinton quickly answered, “No.”
But, she also added: “I won 3 million more votes than the other guy.”
A man with an AR-15 assault rifle, a 40-caliber handgun and 90 rounds of ammunition was arrested at President Donald Trump’s namesake hotel in Washington early Wednesday morning after a tipster warned police, authorities said.
Bryan Moles, 43, of Edinboro, Pennsylvania, was charged with carrying a pistol without a license and possession of unregistered ammunition, police said.
According to a police report, officers observed a firearm in “plain view” inside his car, which led to a search of the vehicle and a second weapon and ammunition found in the glove box.
“I believe that the officers and our federal partners and, in particular, the tipster coming forward averted a potential disaster,” Metropolitan Police Department Chief Peter Newsham said at a Wednesday news conference.
A law enforcement official told CNN that the individual who alerted authorities in Pennsylvania said that Moles was traveling to DC and wanted to kill the President. CNN is unable to corroborate Moles’ intentions. People in the area said they have repeatedly heard Moles firing his gun on his property.
Another law enforcement source said the individual told police that Moles allegedly stated in cell phone messages to the tipster that he “wanted to get close to Trump” and he “wanted to be like Timothy McVeigh” — who bombed the Oklahoma City federal building in 1995, killing 168 people.
Newsham said Moles was cooperating with authorities but they did not have enough information to immediately charge him with making threats.
In a statement, the Secret Service said they were summoned to the scene to investigate “a report of a potential threat against Secret Service protectees” but did not provide further details on possible targets. They said at no time were any protectees at risk.
Patricia Tang, the hotel’s director of sales and marketing, said in a statement that the safety and security of guests is the hotel’s top priority but otherwise directed questions to authorities.
The Los Angeles City Council agreed Wednesday to pay up to $500,000 to settle a lawsuit filed by a man assaulted by a police officer in South Los Angeles, an arrest caught on video that resulted in a rare criminal conviction — but no jail time — for the officer.
A still image from the video obtained by the Los Angeles Times shows the violent arrest of Clinton Alford Jr. by Officer Richard Garcia in 2014.
In a 12-0 vote, city lawmakers agreed to close the books on a federal civil rights case brought by Clinton Alford, who was kicked, punched and elbowed by an officer during a 2014 arrest.
The settlement marks the financial fallout of a case that echoed the larger national debate about how police use force: a black man, assaulted by an officer, recorded on video. The officer’s actions were criticized by many police officials, particularly after seeing the footage captured by a nearby security camera.
Prosecutors charged LAPD Officer Richard Garcia with assault under the color of authority, a felony that could have landed him behind bars for up to three years.
Read the full story on LATimes.com.
A baby girl died immediately after birth when her mother was seriously injured in a head-on crash near Valley Glen last week, and the suspected DUI driver has been arrested, LAPD officials said Wednesday.
The incident was reported about 11:05 p.m. May 26 along Fulton Avenue south of Hatteras Street. Julian Gutierrez, 25, apparently crossed the double yellow lines and drove into oncoming traffic, according to the Los Angeles Police Department. He crashed into another car that was heading in the opposite direction.
The driver of the second vehicle, Judith Mauricio, who was about eight months pregnant, was seriously injured and rushed to a hospital. Mauricio gave birth, but the baby died, officials said.
An investigation revealed that Gutierrez, of North Hills, was driving under the influence when the crash occurred. He suffered minor injuries and was treated at the scene, officials said.
He was eventually arrested on suspicion of murder and his bail was set at $2 million. He previously had a $70,000 warrant out for his arrest, police said.
Find your oasis with a refreshing and playful vacation in Greater Palm Springs. Watch the KTLA 5 News at 10 between 10:00 p.m. and 11:00 p.m. on Wednesday, May 31, 2017 for a code word. Then, come back to this page and enter for your chance to win two nights at the Hyatt Regency Indian Wells Resort & Spa, dinner for 2 at Lantana, and a pair of spa treatments. It’s the quintessential Palm Springs experience. Good luck!
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Even if you had been allowed to kick the tires as the world’s largest airplane was rolled out for the first time Wednesday, it might have taken you a while.
Stratolaunch is designed to release rockets that will carry satellites into space. (Credit: Stratolaunch Systems Corp. via CNN)
Stratolaunch — which is designed to release rockets that will carry satellites into space — has a 385-foot wingspan, features six engines used by the Boeing 747, stands 50 feet tall and can carry more than 500,000 pounds of payload.
And it has those 28 wheels.
The twin-fuselage aircraft, the baby of Microsoft co-founder Paul Allen, was pulled out of its Mojave Air and Space Port hangar in California to begin fueling tests — the first of many ground tests.
Jean Floyd, Stratolaunch’s chief executive officer, said the goal is to have a launch demonstration as early as 2019.
“Over the coming weeks and months, we’ll be actively conducting ground and flight line testing at the Mojave Air and Space Port,” Floyd said in a statement. “This is a first-of-its-kind aircraft, so we’re going to be diligent throughout testing and continue to prioritize the safety of our pilots, crew and staff.”
While the Stratolaunch has the biggest wingspan, the Antonov An-225 is longer. When business mogul Howard Hughes’ “Spruce Goose” lumbered into the air in 1947, the H-4 had an enormous wingspan of 320 feet.
Allen, owner of the NBA’s Portland Trail Blazers and the NFL’s Seattle Seahawks, has written about his desire to see more use of low Earth orbit without breaking the bank.
“With aircraft-like operations, our reusable launch platform will significantly reduce the long wait times traditionally experienced between the construction of a satellite and the opportunity to launch it into space,” he wrote last year.
Stratolaunch will take off from a runway. It will fly to the approximate cruising altitude of a commercial airliner before launching a launch vehicle. “As the launch vehicle rockets into orbit, Stratolaunch will fly back to a runway landing for reloading, refueling and reuse,” Allen says.
Allen’s Vulcan Aerospace has worked with aerospace pioneer Burt Rutan’s company, Scaled Composites, on the ambitious project.
The duo collaborated on the launch of SpaceShipOne in 2004.
Allen isn’t the only US billionaire with the dreams and pockets big enough to take on space.
Jeff Bezos, the Amazon CEO, and Elon Musk, the Tesla and SpaceX CEO, have distinguished themselves as the must-watch innovators pushing hardest to bring the future to us today.
In late March, SpaceX made history by successfully launching a used rocket into space. And the company plans to fly two customers around the moon in 2018. It’s already delivered satellites and has made resupply trips to the International Space Station.
Like Musk, Bezos wants to reuse rockets to drive down the cost of space travel. But for the time being, Blue Origin is mostly interested in conducting suborbital flights for tourists.
A noose was found at the National Museum of African American History and Culture in Washington, DC on Wednesday, the museum said in a statement.
This is the second incident in the last week of a noose being found on Smithsonian properties.
“Today’s incident is a painful reminder of the challenges that African Americans continue to face,” museum Founding Director Lonnie Bunch said in a statement posted on Twitter. “This was a horrible act, but it is a stark reminder of why our work is so important.”
The US Park Police said it was investigating “a case of that nature,” but had no further details.
The museum was opened by President Barack Obama in September 2016.
On Friday night, a Smithsonian police officer reportedly found a noose hanging from a tree while conducting security checks on the grounds.
Azusa Police took a stolen vehicle suspect into custody after he was found holed in the ceiling of a garage Wednesday afternoon, officials said.
The ordeal began about 8:30 a.m. when officers tracked a stolen vehicle to the 200 block of West Foothill Boulevard.
Officers saw the suspect, Johnny Ray Chavarria, get into the vehicle and drive off. When officers tried to stop Chavarria, he allegedly led them on a short pursuit that ended when he crashed into a porch of a home in the 400 block of West Third Street, police said in a news release.
Chavarria, 26, of Azusa, then got out of the vehicle, ran into the backyard and jumped over a wall.
Officers from the West Covina and Irwindale police departments responded to assist with the search, along with the Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Department.
Chavarria was eventually spotted by authorities after most had left the scene, officials said.
He ran away and officials continued to search the area, when they received information about a locked garage in the area.
Responding officers found pieces of broken drywall on a parked vehicle inside the garage and Chavarria was spotted in the ceiling, authorities said.
He eventually crawled down and was taken into custody.
He is expected to be booked on suspicion of theft, evading a peace officer, resisting arrest, vandalism, burglary and a no bail warrant, police said.
Dashcam video showing Tiger Woods’ Memorial Day encounter with police was made available to the media Wednesday, shedding more light on the golfer’s arrest on suspicion of driving under the influence.
One recording shows a Jupiter, Florida, police officer giving Woods a field sobriety test. Before they start, Woods puts his right foot on the hood of the officer’s car, and spends some time tying his shoe. Woods is wearing shorts, a dark hat and a light-colored shirt.
At one point the officer asks him, “Are you alright?” then tells him he can do the tests without shoes.
Woods then walks unsteadily through the frame. He returns to begin the tests.
Dashcam video released by the Jupiter Police Department shows Tiger Woods’ encounter with police on May 29, 2017.
The officer asks him if he has been drinking, and he says no.
When asked whether he had been taking medications, he says yes and the officer asks which ones. Woods’ answer is muted in the recording.
The officer performs a test in which he asks Woods to follow a red light with his eyes.
He moves the light but stops and says, “You’re not even looking at the light.”
Woods tells the officer he is.
“I’m following the light,” Woods says, his words running together.
Woods also has trouble walking the white line that separates the bike lane from the other lanes and following directions for reciting the alphabet. At one point he starts to walk away, then stumbles back, saying, “What are we doing?”
About 24 minutes into the video, Woods is asked to put his hands behind his back and is handcuffed.
Another video of the initial traffic stop shows the view out the front of an officer’s car as he pulls up to Woods’ car, which is almost halfway out of the right lane, sticking into a bike lane.
The brake lights of Woods’ 2015 Mercedes-Benz AMG 65 are lit and the right turn signal is blinking. Officer Matthew Palladino approaches the car on the passengers’ side. With his flashlight lit, he apparently checks out damage to the car.
Another officer eventually joins Palladino, who begins to question Woods.
You can hear Woods answering the officer’s questions.
“Where are you headed to?” Palladino asks.
“Jupiter,” Woods answers.
Damage to Tiger Woods’ 2015 Mercedes-Benz on the driver’s side of the vehicle is seen after he was found asleep at the wheel the morning of his arrest on suspicion of driving under the influence on May 29, 2017. (Credit: Jupiter Police Department)
“You know we’re in Jupiter?” the officer responds.
Woods replies that he is going to his house.
Woods: String reaction to medications
According to documents released Tuesday, police discovered Woods early Monday on the side of the road with his Mercedes-Benz running. His car showed signs of “fresh damage” on the driver’s side of the vehicle, according to the records. He was by himself and wearing his seat belt.
One of the reports said Woods had to be awakened and that his speech was slow and slurred but that he was “cooperative.”
A report said Woods also told police he “takes several prescriptions.” He took a Breathalyzer test, registering 0.000 on it both times, and a urine test, records show.
On Monday, Woods said in a statement to CNN and other media outlets that alcohol was not involved and that he had “an unexpected reaction to prescribed medications.” Woods, who has been rehabbing from back surgery, said he did not realize the mix of medications “had affected me so strongly.”
“I understand the severity of what I did and I take full responsibility for my actions,” he said.
Woods was arrested about 3 a.m., booked into jail and released on his own recognizance with no bond a few hours later, according to records. He was cited for DUI and improper parking; his arraignment date is July 5.
In his statement, Woods apologized to family, friends and fans. “I will do everything in my power to ensure this never happens again.”
Woods hopes to return to golf
Woods has won 14 major tournaments, second only to Jack Nicklaus. But the 41-year-old golfer has undergone multiple back surgeries and hasn’t played competitive golf since he was forced to pull out of the Dubai Desert Classic in February. He has expressed a desire to continue to play professionally despite his recent history of injuries.
He underwent fusion surgery on his back more than a month ago, his fourth operation since 2014. Woods said in a blog post published last week that “it was instant nerve relief.”
“I haven’t felt this good in years,” he said.
Woods also said in the post that his long-term prognosis for returning to professional golf is positive but that he won’t be able to twist his back for another two to three months.
Congressional investigators are examining whether Attorney General Jeff Sessions had an additional private meeting with Russia’s ambassador during the presidential campaign, according to Republican and Democratic Hill sources and intelligence officials briefed on the investigation.
Then-Sen. Jeff Sessions, left, and Russian Ambassador to the U.S. Sergey Kislyak are both seen at the Mayflower Hotel April 27, 2016, in Washington, D.C., where then-presidential candidate Donald Trump was giving a foreign policy speech. (Credit: BRENDAN SMIALOWSKI/AFP/Getty Images)
Investigators on the Hill are requesting additional information, including schedules from Sessions, a source with knowledge tells CNN. They are focusing on whether such a meeting took place April 27, 2016, at the Mayflower Hotel in Washington, DC, where then-candidate Donald Trump was delivering his first major foreign policy address. Prior to the speech, then-Sen. Sessions and Russian Ambassador Sergey Kislyak attended a small VIP reception with organizers, diplomats and others.
In addition to congressional investigators, the FBI is seeking to determine the extent of interactions the Trump campaign team may have had with Russia’s ambassador during the event as part of its broader counterintelligence investigation of Russian interference in the election. The FBI is looking into whether there was an additional private meeting at the Mayflower the same day, sources said. Neither Hill nor FBI investigators have yet concluded whether a private meeting took place — and acknowledge that it is possible any additional meeting was incidental.
“The Department of Justice appointed special counsel to assume responsibility for this matter,” Department of Justice spokeswoman Sarah Isgur Flores said in a statement to CNN. “We will allow him to do his job. It is unfortunate that anonymous sources whose credibility will never face public scrutiny are continuously trying to hinder that process by peddling false stories to the mainstream media. The facts haven’t changed; the then-Senator did not have any private or side conversations with any Russian officials at the Mayflower Hotel.”
Sessions has previously failed to disclose meetings with Russian officials. During his confirmation hearing on January 10, Sessions testified that he “did not have any communications with the Russians” during the campaign. He also said in a written statement submitted to the Senate judiciary committee that he was not in contact with anyone linked to the Russian government during the election.
Those answers became problematic for Sessions when reports emerged in March that he did have two meetings with Kislyak during the campaign — one at the Republican National Convention in July and one in his Senate office in September. Sessions conceded that the meetings happened but insisted they were part of his Senate duties and had nothing to do with the campaign. Nonetheless, Sessions was forced to recuse himself from the Russia investigation.
Asked at a news conference on March 2 whether there were any other meetings with Russians besides those two, Sessions told reporters, “I don’t believe so — you know, we meet a lot of people — I don’t believe so.”
Later that week, when Sessions updated his sworn testimony to the Senate judiciary committee, he acknowledged the two meetings with Kislyak but did not mention any encounter at the Mayflower Hotel.
“I do not recall any discussions with the Russian ambassador, or any other representative of the Russian government, regarding the political campaign on these occasions or any other occasion,” Sessions wrote.
CNN reported last week that Sessions didn’t list the two Kislyak meetings that he disclosed in March on the security forms he submitted this year. Flores said the FBI employee who helped Sessions fill out the forms instructed him to exclude foreign meetings that he considered to be part of his official Senate duties.
Russia was already trying to help Trump before the Mayflower Hotel speech, according to a US intelligence community assessment released in January. The report concluded that by March 2016, Kremlin-backed news outlets began supporting Trump and Russian military intelligence had kicked off its election-related cyber operations.
One day before the speech, Trump won commanding primary victories in five Northeast states, cementing his front-runner status and putting him on a track to secure the bitterly contested Republican nomination.
In the speech, Trump stressed his “America first” message and talked about the fight against terrorism. He offered an olive branch to the Kremlin in line with his comments throughout the campaign — but out of step with much of the US foreign policy establishment and all of his fellow presidential hopefuls.
“We desire to live peacefully and in friendship with Russia and China,” Trump said in his remarks. “We have serious differences with these two nations, and must regard them with open eyes. But we are not bound to be adversaries. We should seek common ground based on shared interests. Russia, for instance, has also seen the horror of Islamic terrorism. I believe an easing of tensions and improved relations with Russia — from a position of strength — is possible.”
Kislyak listened to the speech from the front row.
A man wanted in connection with the death of his ex-girlfriend found shot on the side of the road in Sylmar has been transported back to Los Angeles following his arrest in Mexico, police said Monday.
Jose Benjamin Rodriguez is seen in a booking photo released May 31, 2017, by the Los Angeles Police Department.
After receiving an anonymous tip suggesting Jose Benjamin Rodriguez had fled south of the U.S. border, detectives were able to locate him in the state of Colima, where a gang member associate of his resides, the Los Angeles Police Department said in a statement.
Rodriguez was taken into custody by Mexican immigration officials and Colima State Police on May 24 and returned to Los Angeles on Saturday, May 27, police said.
He is being held on suspicion of killing Eloise Elizarraraz, his former girlfriend who was found laying next to her BMW suffering from a gunshot wound on Jan. 7. Paramedics soon determined she was dead.
The 34-year-old mother of three was on her way to work that morning when her car was run off the road, according to police. Her car and body were found on the sidewalk at the intersection of Harding Street and Tripoli Avenue.
Eloise Elizarraraz is seen in a photo posted to a GoFundMe page.
Rodriguez is accused of pursuing her in a stolen vehicle and forcing her vehicle off the road before shooting her.
A warrant for his arrest on suspicion of murder was issued on Jan. 12 after investigators learned of his tumultuous relationship with Elizarraraz, police said. In an April 18 news conference, LAPD Detective James Fillmore described their relationship as “portentous” and “filled with jealousy and violence.”
Detectives had uncovered threatening messages Rodriguez sent to Elizarraraz and evidence he was attempting to find her, officers said.
According to Fillmore, Rodriguez was so infuriated after Elizarraraz told him she loved another man he drove from South L.A. to Sylmar and waited outside her home until she left that morning.
Rodriguez is a gang member with a long history of domestic violence and assaulting women, Fillmore said. He was believed to have been incarcerated on drug charges in November, and was apparently out on bail at the time of Elizarraraz’s death, he added.
Officials did not announce when Rodriguez was scheduled to be arraigned.
Los Angeles County Sheriff’s deputies have been credited with saving a young woman’s life after she attempted to jump off a bridge crossing in Pico Rivera, officials said Wednesday.
The incident occurred about 11:10 a.m. Tuesday at a railroad bridge near Rivera Road and Passons Boulevard, according a news release.
Sheriff’s officials and the Los Angeles County Fire Department responded to the area and cleared traffic around the bridge crossing.
Two deputies approached the teenager, who was leaning over a 25-foot drop to the street below, while another deputy approached her from the opposite side, officials said.
Dashcam video of the incident shows the teen holding onto the railway with her hands, her back facing the tracks and her arms extended behind her. The first two deputies asked if they could move toward her, and when they were within 50 feet of her, one of them talked to her for about 10 minutes.
The teen told Deputy Michael Stocz that she wanted to kill herself because a friend of hers had just died. She threw a piece of paper from her pocket onto the railroad tracks. Stocz asked her if he could read the piece of paper and when she agreed, he moved closer to her.
The teen at that point had her arms fully extended and Stocz lunged forward and grabbed both of her hand, the video shows. The other deputy, Brandon Longoria, assisted and were both able to pull her over the railing and onto the ground, the video showed.
The teen was taken to a hospital for further evaluation.
Sheriff Jim McDonnell praised the deputies’ actions.
“This is a positive reminder of the commitment that law enforcement makes every day to save the lives of others,” McDonnell said in the news release.
A 16-year-old girl charged with killing her Uber driver was captured on Walmart surveillance video "walking nonchalantly throughout the store" holding a knife in one hand and a machete in another, prosecutors said.
Authorities say Eliza Wasni later used those weapons kill 34-year-old Grant Nelson in Lincolnwood, Illinois.
That's just one of the details that Cook County State's Attorney Michelle Cunningham revealed in a news conference Wednesday after Wasni appeared in court on first-degree murder charges. She is being held without bond for allegedly killing Nelson, of Wilmette.
According to Cunningham, Wasni hailed the first of three Uber drivers at about 1:25 a.m. Tuesday, and was driven to a train station in Des Plaines.
At 2:18 a.m., a second Uber driver took her from the train station to a Walmart store. That's when Cunningham says the teen removed a knife and a machete from their packaging at the store and walked around holding them.
Then she left Walmart with the knife and machete, without paying, and was not stopped by any personnel, Cunningham said.
The third Uber driver, Nelson, picked up Wasni in his Hyundai Sonata a few blocks west of the Walmart. About two minutes after Wasni got in the car, Nelson was stabbed by Wasni from the backseat, Cunningham said.
Nelson was able to maneuver his car into a condo apartment building driveway near Lincoln and Touhy, officials said. Cunningham said he got out of the car and was heard banging and screaming at the lobby door saying "Help me! Help me! I'm going to die!" That's when residents called 911.
He got out of the car and was heard banging and screaming at the lobby door saying "Help me! Help me! I'm going to die," according to Cunningham. That's when residents called 911.
Wasni tried to flee in Nelson's vehicle but she hit a median near the scene, investigators said. She left the car, which was covered in blood, running in the middle of Lincoln Avenue and fled on foot.
Police found Nelson laying in the grass near the scene, officers said. He told officers that he was an Uber driver and that his passenger had attacked him. He was then transported to an area hospital where he later died from his injuries.
Nelson was then transported to an area hospital, where he later died from his injuries.
According to Cunningham, another group of officers later found Wasni crouched behind an office building's air conditioning unit not too far from the scene. She had the machete in one hand and a knife in another. When she wouldn't drop the weapons at the officers' requests, one of the officers
When the teen refused to drop the weapons at the officers' requests, one of the officers shocked her with a stun gun and she was taken into custody.
Autopsy results of the victim are still pending.
Walmart did not immediately offer a statement regarding the incident.
Two suspects who were arrested after a violent Santa Monica home invasion robbery have been tied to a similar incident that occurred less than two weeks earlier, police said Wednesday in announcing charges in the case.
Santa Monica police respond to a standoff with a home robbery suspect on May 26, 2017. (Credit: KTLA)
The most recent crime occurred about 6 p.m. Friday, May 26, and left a man in the intensive care unit with many stab wounds. His son was battered during the home invasion, police said.
That robbery, which occurred at a home in the 200 block of 19th Street, led to the arrest several hours later of a juvenile suspect who hid in the yard of a nearby home. The other suspect, 24-year-old Brian Noah Morgan, allegedly fled the home in a car; his license plate led to his arrest later that night in El Monte.
Brian Noah Morgan is shown in a photo released by the Santa Monica Police Department on May 27, 2017.
Forensic evidence and detective work tied Morgan and the juvenile to another crime that occurred the afternoon of May 15 in the 500 block of 17th Street, according to a news release from the Santa Monica Police Department.
A resident of the 17th Street home was taken to the hospital with serious injuries after reporting multiple people has assaulted him in a home-invasion robbery, police said.
The two robberies occurred about a half-mile apart.
Morgan was charged with attempted murder, robbery, burglary, assault with a deadly weapon and a parole violation, according to police Lt. Saul Rodriguez, who said he was being held without bail. Morgan was due to be arraigned Wednesday afternoon at the Airport Courthouse, the lieutenant said.
Charges filed against the unidentified juvenile suspect at Inglewood Juvenile Courthouse include attempted murder, robbery, assault with a deadly weapon and resisting arrest. He was being held at Eastlake Juvenile Hall, Rodriguez said.
At the time of the more recent home invasion, a decadelong resident of the affluent Santa Monica neighborhood told KTLA crime had escalated in the area within the last year.
A new program called "Orca Encounter" opened over the past weekend at SeaWorld in San Diego and is being billed as an educational exhibit after the park weathered backlash over its killer whales' treatment. However, many are saying the new display changes little, and does nothing about the orca's captivity.
Chip Yost reports for the KTLA 5 News at 3 on May 31, 2017.
The FBI is seeking information about someone who allegedly made “illicit sexual contact with a minor female” at Arlington National Cemetery on Memorial Day.
U.S. President Donald Trump arrives to lay a wreath at the Tomb of the Unknowns at Arlington National Cemetery to mark Memorial Day in Arlington, Virginia, on May 29, 2017. (Credit: Nicholas Kamm / AFP / Getty Images)
The bureau is seeking information about the unidentified individual — who the FBI described as a Hispanic male believed to be between 50 and 60 years old — in connection with an incident that occurred in the crowd during the wreath laying ceremony. An unnamed adult male allegedly “repeatedly inappropriately touched” the victim while standing in the crowd.
President Donald Trump visited Arlington National Cemetery on the holiday to honor the US service members who made the ultimate sacrifice. He was joined by Vice President Mike Pence, Chairman of the Joint Chiefs Gen. Joseph Dunford and Secretary of Defense James Mattis.
it is unclear whether the timing of incident coincided with Trump’s appearance at the event. The FBI said the incident took place around 11 a.m. ET.
The FBI said the man they are seeking information about has “short, spikey, grey and black hair,” and wore a short-sleeved shirt and dark blue shorts at the time of the incident.
Anyone with information is urged to contact the FBI’s Washington field office at 202-278-2000 or by submitting a tip on the FBI’s website.
The woman who alleged last year that she had sex with more than a dozen Oakland police officers has settled a claim against the city for approximately $1 million, according to her attorney and the City Council.
The accusations made last year by 19-year-old Jasmine Abuslin sparked national outrage and sent shock waves through the Oakland Police Department and Bay Area law enforcement community. Some of the encounters, she said, happened while she was underage. Abuslin also claimed officers gave her information about planned police raids in exchange for sex.
A series of investigations that began last summer have led to criminal charges against seven Bay Area law enforcement officers. the departure of Police Chief Sean Whent and discipline against several other Oakland cops. Investigators with the Alameda County district attorney’s office and the Richmond Police Department were also fired amid fallout from the scandal.
The city agreed to settle Abuslin’s claim for up to $989,000 during a City Council meeting, according to the council’s website. The vote did not take place until around 2 a.m. Wednesday, passing by 7-1, said civil rights attorney John Burris, who represents Abuslin.
Read the full story on LATimes.com.
The Pentagon successfully shot down an intercontinental ballistic missile using its own upgraded long-range interceptor missile on Tuesday in what was widely seen as a test of US ability to counter a North Korean missile launch.
The Missile Defense Agency launched a ground-based interceptor from Vandenberg Air Force Base in California to intercept a US-launched mock ICBM target over the Pacific Ocean, according to a US defense official.
The test ICBM, which flew thousands of miles per hour, was destroyed “thousands of miles off the coast” of the US mainland, with the intercept taking place northeast of Hawaii, the director of the Missile Defense Agency, Vice Adm. Jim Syring, told reporters at the Pentagon via a Wednesday phone call.
The interceptor “destroyed the target in a direct collision,” according to a statement from the Missile Defense Agency.
“The intercept of a complex, threat-representative ICBM target is an incredible accomplishment … and a critical milestone for this program,” Syring said in a statement shortly after the test.
“This system is vitally important to the defense of our homeland, and this test demonstrates that we have a capable, credible deterrent against a very real threat,” he said.
“Everything we did was operationally realistic,” Syring told reporters, adding that “decoys” were deployed by the target ICBM to make the test more realistic.
He said that the test ICBM “flew at a higher altitude and a longer range and a higher velocity than any other target we’ve flown to date.”
He said the designers of the test ICBM worked with the intelligence community in order to replicate a realistic Iranian or North Korean threat that the US might face between now and 2020.
“I was confident before the test that we have the capability to defeat any threat that they would throw at us and I am more confident — even more confident today,” Syring added.
The test cost about $244 million, according to Syring.
“We are launching an interceptor that is flying thousands of miles past Hawaii and that requires us to shut down large parts of the ocean in terms of mariner ship traffic and air traffic,” he said.
The next test will take place in August/September 2018 and will involve multiple interceptors attempting to take out a single test ICBM.
“We shoot more than one in a real world operational scenario,” Syring said.
Experts express caution
While the Pentagon is calling this test a success, some experts cautioned that the $40 billion missile defense system still has a long way to go before it can be considered fully developed.
“It marks two successes in a row, which is significant, but only two hits out of the last five attempts; that is, only a 40% success rate since early 2010,” said Philip E. Coyle, a senior fellow at the Center for Arms Control and Non-Proliferation.
“In school, 40% isn’t a passing grade,” added Coyle, who formerly headed the Pentagon’s office of operational test and evaluation. “Based on its testing record, we cannot rely upon this missile defense program to protect the United States from a North Korean long-range missile.”
Washington Rep. Adam Smith, the top Democrat on the House Armed Services Committee, congratulated the Missile Defense Agency for a successful test but sounded a note of caution that “much work remains to be done to ensure we have a reliable and effective system.”
“After an investment of more than $40 billion since 2002, it’s good that the Missile Defense Agency is finally doing a missile defense test against an ICBM target, some 13 years after the first Ground-Based Interceptor system’s deployment,” Smith told CNN.
“Flight intercept testing, particularly against realistic targets, remains a key element of the program to assess the effectiveness of our deployed missile defense system, as well as to demonstrate the capability and continue the development of such a system,” he added.
Wake of North Korea threat
The test comes just two days after Pyongyang fired a short-range ballistic missile that traveled an estimated 248 miles, splashing down within Japan’s exclusive economic zone.
In a Monday tweet, President Donald Trump joined the leaders of South Korea and Japan in condemning the test, saying that North Korea had “shown great disrespect” for China by “shooting off yet another ballistic missile.”
The Pentagon insists the long-planned test of its ground-based interceptor system is not solely about North Korea, and the test is aimed at being able to challenge any threatening ICBM, including possibly from Iran in the future.
That test involved firing a new version of the military’s single long-range ground-based interceptor missile, which is currently based in Alaska and California. That program has also been in existence for more than a decade but only about half of the tests have been successful, according to the Defense Department. US officials often call it a high-speed effort to hit a bullet with another bullet.
In the most recent Pentagon report examining weapons testing across the Department of Defense, this long-range system was criticized, saying it “demonstrates a limited capability to defend the US homeland from small numbers of simple intermediate-range or intercontinental ballistic missile threats launched from North Korea or Iran.”
The report went on to say the Defense Department continues to discover new failure modes during testing.
Hitting a bullet with another bullet
In Tuesday’s test, an interceptor missile was launched from Vandenberg and intercepted a simulated threat missile over the Pacific Ocean launched from Kwajalein Atoll in the Marshall Islands.
The interceptor tested had an upgraded “kill” vehicle — to hit the incoming missile, as well as an upgraded booster and improved guidance.
With this pre-programmed test, the Pentagon was looking to see specifically how all these components performed and what additional improvements needed to be made. It is widely acknowledged that in a real world attack, several interceptors would be launched to maximize the chance of quickly destroying the incoming threat.
Last week, Director of National Intelligence Dan Coats told Congress, “North Korea is an increasingly grave national security threat to the United States because of its growing missile and nuclear capabilities combined with the aggressive approach of its leader Kim Jong Un. Kim is attempting to prove that he has the capability to strike the US mainland with a nuclear weapon.”
Sen. John McCain, the chairman of the Senate Armed Services Committee, said in an interview Sunday that it would not be acceptable for North Korea to acquire an intercontinental ballistic missile, saying the US should not be reliant solely upon missile defense to ward off the threat.
“I don’t think it’s acceptable for the United States of America to have an intercontinental ballistic missile — or a missile aimed at Australia — with a nuclear weapon on it, and depend on our ability to counter it with an anti-missile capability,” McCain told Australia’s ABC.
He added that the situation on the Korean Peninsula had the potential to mirror the Cuban Missile Crisis unless Pyongyang is curbed, calling on China to do more.
Tuesday’s test came as the US has ramped up other missile defense efforts, including the deployment of the THAAD missile defense system to South Korea which is designed to counter short, medium and intermediate range missile threats. Earlier this month, the US military announced that the THAAD missile defense system had become operational.
Detectives released a composite sketch of a man they are seeking as a person of interest in the 2009 shooting death of a prominent attorney on Wednesday.
A person of interest in the shooting death of a Rolling Hills Estates attorney is seen in a composite sketch released May 31, 2017, by the Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Department.
Officials are hoping to identify and question the person, described as a black man in his 30s, in the execution-style shooting of 53-year-old Jeffrey Tidus, a well-known civil litigator, outside his Rolling Hills Estates home in December 2009, the Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Department said in a news release.
Tidus had just returned home from a fundraiser in Redondo Beach on the evening of Dec. 7, 2009, when he decided to resume work on a case, according to investigators.
It was around 8:30 p.m., and he went out to his car parking in the driveway to retrieve his work laptop. As he did so, someone came up behind him and shot him once in the head, deputies said.
He was rushed to UCLA Harbor Medical Center but died a day later as a result of his injuries.
Detectives had investigated the case for years with no arrests made, but late last month held a press conference with Tidus’ wife to announce new leads in the case.
Though officials could not disclose specific details about the nature of the new information, they said it indicated Tidus’ death was related to his work as a civil litigator at the law firm of Baute & Tidus, where he was a partner.
Sheryl Tidus, the victim’s wife of 25 years, said she not aware of any enemy or enemies who may have wanted to harm her husband.
A $100,000 reward — including $90,000 put up by the victim’s family on top of $10,000 approved by the L.A. County Board of Supervisors — is being offered for information leading to the arrest and conviction of the person responsible for Tidus’ death.
Anyone with information about the case is urged to contact detectives R. Kenny or J. Espino at 323-890-5500.
Additionally, those who prefer to leave a tip anonymously can call Crime Stoppers by dialing 1-800-222-8477.
At least 11 US citizens were injured in a massive suicide bomb blast in Kabul, Afghanistan, on Wednesday, according to several US officials.
Afghan security forces personnel are seen at the site of a car bomb attack in Kabul on May 31, 2017. (Credit: Shah Marai / AFP / Getty Images)
They were assigned to the US embassy there as contractors, the officials said.
Nine local Afghanistan hires working for the United States in a security capacity were killed in the blast, according to senior US officials. The local Afghan hires were working alongside the American contractors who were injured at Camp Eggers, which is a US facility across the street from the Germany embassy.
Related coverage: At Least 90 Dead, Hundreds Injured After Explosion Near Diplomatic Area in Afghanistan
An earlier assessment given to CNN said seven US citizens were injured. Sources cautioned to CNN that the number of US citizens who were injured could change as more information becomes available.
At least 90 people were killed and 400 wounded when the bomb ripped through a secure area of Kabul at the height of the Wednesday morning rush hour, Afghan officials said.
The blast, which came a few days into the Muslim holy month of Ramadan, was one of the deadliest to hit the Afghan capital in recent years.
The bomb exploded in the diplomatic quarter near the German Embassy and the Afghan presidential palace. The streets were packed with commuters, women shopping and children going to school.
Check back for updates on this developing story.
Micah Fletcher’s survival of last week’s deadly Oregon train stabbing may have come down to millimeters — the attacker’s blade, he says, sliced into his neck but just missed his carotid artery.
He and two other men, police say, were stabbed on a Portland commuter train when they confronted a man who’d directed a racially and religiously tinged tirade at two African-American teenagers, one of whom is Muslim and was wearing a hijab.
Fletcher offers a simple explanation for why he stepped in.
“It was the right thing to do,” Fletcher, 21, told CNN affiliate KPTV on Tuesday. “I’m not a hero, nobody special. I’m a kid from Portland.”
Take notice, he says: People need to stand up for one another.
“If you live here, move here, or if you want to call this city home, it is your home,” he told ABC News. “And we must protect each other like that is the truth, no matter what the consequences.”
“The Muslim community, especially in Portland, needs to understand that there are a lot of us that are not going to stand by and let anybody — whether they are from here or not — scare you into thinking you can’t be a part of this town, this city, this community, or this country,” he told ABC.
Jeremy Joseph Christian, 35, was arrested on suspicion of injuring Fletcher and fatally stabbing the two other men, Taliesin Myrddin Namkai-Meche and Ricky John Best, during Friday’s confrontation.
Fletcher — a long, freshly sutured wound visible on his neck — watched from the front row as Christian made an initial court appearance in a Portland courtroom on Tuesday.
In his interview with KPTV, Fletcher choked up when he spoke about the two men who died.
“I want the families of those two men (to know) that their children are heroes. They will always be loved in the eyes of this city,” he said.
Portland’s public buses and trains will stop at noon Friday for a moment of silence to honor Namkai-Meche, Best and Fletcher, the city’s TriMet transportation service said.
“May their sacrifices always be remembered, and their courage inspire unity and healing,” a post on TriMet’s Facebook page reads.
The attack
Christian yelled as he walked into the courtroom Tuesday: “Get out if you don’t like free speech!” and “You call it terrorism; I call it patriotism. You hear me? Die.”
Authorities say Friday’s attack happened after Christian boarded a MAX light rail train at 4:19 p.m. and yelled at the two teens who already were aboard.
“Get the f*** out!” he said, according to a probable cause affidavit. “Go home. We need Americans here!”
Train security cameras showed Christian taking “large drinks from a bladder style container of purple liquid” that Christian later identified as Sangria wine, the affidavit says.
One of the teens, Destinee Mangum, 16, told CNN affiliate KPTV that Christian “told us to go back to Saudi Arabia,” and said that “we should just kill ourselves.”
Mangum and her friend moved to the back of the train. A stranger intervened, telling Christian he couldn’t disrespect the girls in such a way, she said. Christian began arguing with several men.
Train security video and passengers’ cell phone video showed Christian “making a sudden move” toward Namkai-Meche, 23, of Portland, who responded by standing, according to the affidavit. Christian was standing close to Namkai-Meche when Fletcher stood up, too, the affidavit said.
Christian shouted “Do something!” and shoved Fletcher in the chest and appeared to pull a folded knife from his pocket, the affidavit said. Fletcher shoved Christian so hard Christian lost his balance and told him to get off the train, the affidavit said.
Video showed Christian swinging his arm and — in one motion — opening the knife and stabbing Fletcher in the neck, the affidavit said. Christian next stabbed Namkai-Meche twice in the neck, the affidavit said.
Best, 53, of Happy Valley, moved forward to intervene and was stabbed in the neck, the affidavit said. Christian pushed Best into Namkai-Meche and stabbed both men again, the affidavit said.
Fletcher, clutching his neck wound, exited the train and got help from passengers on the platform, the affidavit said.
Christian grabbed his belongings, exited the train and used the knife to threaten several people on the platform, the affidavit said. He also grabbed the bag dropped by the Muslim woman and tossed it onto the freeway. He was arrested a short distance away.
Namkai-Meche and Best died of multiple stab wounds, the affidavit said.
Christian: ‘I can die in prison a happy man’
Court documents reveal other details about the attack’s aftermath and Christian’s past:
— When police cornered Christian after the stabbings, he threw a folding knife with a 3.75-inch blade that bounced off a police vehicle, the affidavit said.
— A video camera inside a patrol car captured Christian saying, “I just stabbed a bunch of (expletive) in their neck. … I can die in prison a happy man,” the affidavit said. He said one of the men on the train kept resisting him, despite his threats. “That’s what liberalism gets you,” Christian said.
— Christian said he was transient and “does not know the last time he had a permanent address.” Court documents from previous years show he lived with his parents. Christian said he dropped out of high school, but passed the high school equivalency exam known as the GED.
— He was sentenced to 90 months in prison for the 2002 armed robbery of a Portland convenience store. While fleeing, Christian was shot in the head by an officer who said he thought Christian was going to shoot him. Christian said he robbed the market because “the guy there doesn’t sell any winning lottery tickets,” the arresting officer said, according to a prosecutor’s affidavit.
Christian was arraigned Tuesday on several charges, including two counts of aggravated murder, attempted murder, two counts of second-degree intimidation and being a felon in possession of a restricted weapon, police say.
His next court appearance will be June 7. A Multnomah County grand jury will convene in the coming days to consider additional charges and federal authorities are still deciding whether to prosecute Christian for hate crimes.
Another incident the day before?
Video obtained by CNN affiliate KOIN shows that Christian was involved in similar behavior on a MAX train only one day before.
Recorded by a woman who asked to be identified only as KK, the video shows Christian on a train late Thursday, aiming pejoratives at a conductor.
“It looks like we have a Christian or Muslim (expletive) bus driver. I’ll stab you, too, (expletive),” he said.
KK told KOIN that Christian was upset, complaining about the city and “venting to his friend on the phone about some girl that just pepper-sprayed him.” He was complaining about Muslims, Christians and Jews — saying they should burn at the stake and “f**ing die” — something she’d never heard before on Portland’s MAX trains, she told the station.
Police spokesman Pete Simpson confirmed that the man in the KOIN video is Christian. Simpson also said that Christian was maced the day before the deadly attack. The incident is part of a larger investigation and he didn’t have further details, he told CNN.
Death penalty possible
Police are examining Christian’s background, “including the information publicly available about the suspect’s extremist ideology,” they said in a news release. Videos have surfaced showing Christian shouting at people, at one point saying the N-word, as police officers separated him.
The aggravated murder charges carry a maximum penalty of death. Oregon has not executed a prisoner in more than two decades.
Christian also has a 2011 conviction on federal charges of felon in possession of a firearm, court documents show. The sentence on that charge was not immediately available.
In September 2002 he was charged with unlawful use of a weapon for having a sap — a pink sock with two hard balls — while in the Multnomah County Detention Center and sentenced to 13 months imprisonment, documents said.
Los Angeles County’s homeless population has soared 23% over last year despite increasing success in the placement of people in housing, according to a report released Wednesday.
The sharp rise in the latest count, to nearly 58,000, suggested that the pathway into homelessness continues to outpace intensifying efforts that — through rent subsidies, new construction, outreach and support services — got more than 14,000 people permanently off the streets last year.
“These are scary numbers,” said Leslie Evans, a West Adams resident active in efforts to combat homelessness in South Los Angeles.
Mirroring last year’s count, only one of every four homeless people were classified as “sheltered,” meaning they were counted in an emergency shelter or longer-term transitional program. That left three of every four, or just under 43,000, living on the street.
Read the full story on LATimes.com.
Two people were taken to a hospital after a deputy-involved shooting at a Wal-Mart in Hesperia Wednesday morning, authorities said.
Few details were immediately available about the shooting, which occurred in the 13400 block of Main Street before 8:20 a.m., according to the San Bernardino County Fire Department.
The shooting involved a law enforcement officer, the San Bernardino County Sheriff’s Department confirmed.
A medical helicopter was requested for two people with gunshot wounds, according to a tweet from the Fire Department. Their conditions were not immediately known.
It was also unclear if a deputy was among those struck by the gunfire.
No further information has been released.
Check back for updates on this developing story.
Fired FBI director James Comey plans to testify publicly in the Senate as early as next week to confirm bombshell accusations that President Donald Trump pressured him to end his investigation into a top Trump aide’s ties to Russia, a source close to the issue said Wednesday.
Director of the Federal Bureau of Investigation, James Comey testifies in front of the Senate Judiciary Committee during an oversight hearing on the FBI on Capitol Hill May 3, 2017. (Credit: Zach Gibson/Getty Images)
Final details are still being worked out and no official date for his testimony has been set. Comey is expected to appear before the Senate Intelligence Committee, which is investigating possible connections between the Trump campaign and Russia during last year’s presidential election.
Comey has spoken privately with Special Counsel Robert Mueller III to work out the parameters for his testimony to ensure there are no legal entanglements as a result of his public account, a source said. Comey will likely sit down with Mueller, a longtime colleague at the Justice Department, for a formal interview only after his public testimony.
When he testifies, Comey is unlikely to be willing to discuss in any detail the FBI’s investigation into the charges of possible collusion between Russia and the Trump campaign — the centerpiece of the probe, this source said. But he appears eager to discuss his tense interactions with Trump before his firing, which have now spurred allegations that the president may have tried to obstruct the investigation. If it happens, Comey’s public testimony promises to be a dramatic chapter in the months-long controversy, and it will likely bring even more intense scrutiny to an investigation that Trump has repeatedly denounced as a “witch hunt.”
The appointment of Mueller as a special counsel in the Russia investigation had raised concerns among some members of Congress that his probe could scuttle the chance for Congress and the public to hear directly from Comey. That appears less likely now that Mueller and Comey have discussed the limits of his testimony.
Since his firing last month, dramatic accounts have emerged in the New York Times, CNN, and elsewhere about the tense confrontations with Trump that Comey memorialized in memos afterward. A week after he took office in January, Trump allegedly demanded Comey’s “loyalty” if he kept him on as FBI director, and he urged Comey to drop his ongoing investigation into Michael Flynn, Trump’s fired national security adviser, in a separate, one-on-one meeting.
The source said that Comey is expected to stand by those accounts in his testimony.
“The bottom line is he’s going to testify,” the source close to the issue said. “He’s happy to testify, and he’s happy to cooperate.”
Officials with the Justice Department and Mueller’s office declined to comment.
The Las Vegas warehouse of a Swedish sex toy company was hit by thieves over the Memorial Day weekend — not once, but twice — prompting a police investigation.
In the first theft on Friday night, the bandits broke in and stole boxes containing 30,000 condoms.
On Saturday morning, thieves returned and rammed a vehicle through a delivery door. This time they grabbed boxes containing $15,000 worth of sex toys.
In a good-natured blog post about the thefts on its website, sex toy company Lelo had only one question after the break-ins: “What kind of party are these people having? We could have done the sponsorship or something.”
In its post Lelo also called the thieves “the horniest criminals in world history.”
Lelo representative Davor Solvo had a sense of humor about the thefts, telling CNN affiliate KVVU that whoever took the condoms and sex toys probably didn’t grab them “for testing purposes.”
The break-ins were captured on surveillance video, which Solvo said he gave to the Las Vegas Metropolitan Police Department.
Photo credit: Everett Police Department
Police in Everett, Washington, say would-be ATM thieves thwarted their own burglary attempt by setting the cash on fire, according to KTLA sister station KCPQ in Seattle.
Police and firefighters were called Tuesday morning to Coastal Community Bank on 19th Ave. SE following a report of a fire. When they arrived, crews found the drive-up ATM had been set on fire.
Aaron Snell of the Everett Police Department told KCPQ the suspects used a blowtorch to try and access the ATM's cash box. In the process of doing so, they accidentally set the money on fire.
According to John Dickson, Chief Operations Officers of Coastal Community Bank, the suspects were unable to get away with any money.
He told KCPQ masked men had tried to break into the bank's cash deposit box just a few weeks ago.
Dickson said the bank will be providing surveillance video of the incident to Everett police.
