At least 5 injured after helicopter crash in national forest

Five people were injured Saturday afternoon after a Los Angeles Sheriff’s Department helicopter crashed in the Angeles National Forest near Azusa, the LA County Fire Department said

ByThe Associated Press

20 March 2022, 08:01

• 2 min read

AZUSA, Calif. -- Five people were injured Saturday afternoon after a Los Angeles Sheriff’s Department helicopter crashed in the Angeles National Forest near Azusa, the LA County Fire Department said.

All five passengers were being airlifted to Pomona Valley Medical Center, Sheriff Alex Villanueva told The Los Angeles Times. One of the passengers is in critical condition, two are in moderate condition and two others have minor injuries, he said.

The crash occurred at 4:58 p.m. near the San Gabriel Reservoir, which is near Highway 39 and East Fork Road near Azusa.

The Los Angeles Times reported that the green Air Rescue 5 helicopter was responding to a call for service in the area at the time of the crash. The San Dimas station received a call that a helicopter went down at 4:58 p.m., the sheriff’s department said.

The damaged aircraft is now lying on its side in Azusa Canyon near the San Gabriel Dam. Multiple emergency vehicles are at the scene.

The rescue helicopter makes hundreds of flights annually into some of the toughest terrain, often flying into narrow canyons and dealing with difficult topography.

The helicopter crew has “saved thousands of lives over the years,” Villanueva told the Times.

The National Transportation Safety Board has launched an investigation into the crash, spokesman Eric Weiss said..

Man convicted of 7 dog torture-killings eligible for parole

Officials in northern Nevada say a man convicted of torturing, killing and dismembering seven dogs is eligible for possible release years earlier than originally believed

ByThe Associated Press

20 March 2022, 05:53

• 3 min read

3:17

On Location: March 19, 2022

Catch up on the developing stories making headlines.

The Associated Press

RENO, Nev. -- A man convicted of torturing, killing and dismembering seven dogs is eligible for possible release years earlier than originally believed, officials said.

The Nevada Department of Corrections originally calculated that Jason Brown, 32, would not have a chance for parole until 2025 but now says that was legally incorrect under Nevada law because his crimes involved dogs, not people, the Reno Gazette Journal reported.

“Animals are treated as personal property under Nevada law,” department spokesman Bill Quenga said, adding that a designation of violence according to the law can only be made when the victim is human.

Reclassifying Brown from a violent to a nonviolent offender meant that credits, such as good behavior in prison, are applied, causing Brown to become eligible for parole as of 2019, Quenga said.

A Nevada Parole Board hearing is set for April 11 to consider his possible release.

“Please note, however, parole eligibility does not guarantee an offender release on parole,” Quenga said.

Brown was sentenced in 2015 to up to 28 years in prison after he pleaded no contest to seven felony counts of maiming, poisoning or killing another person's animal, saying he was a drug addict and had no recollection of the events.

During Brown's sentencing hearing, owners of some of the dogs testified that they sold puppies to Brown because he seemed like a normal clean-cut kid when he responded to their ads on Craig’s List. They cried in the courtroom as a judge watched videotapes of Brown torturing and skinning the dogs.

The images weren’t visible to the court audience, but Brown could be heard on the audio telling friends he took the animals to his “house of pain” and wanted to turn them into a fur coat. At least four of the dogs were beheaded.

“We certainly disagree with releasing him earlier than the original 11 years for parole eligibility,” said Michelle Bays, spokesperson for the Washoe County District Attorney’s Office. “We will be at the parole hearing to oppose his release now.”

District Attorney Chris Hicks, who said in 2015 that the animal-cruelty case was the worst he'd seen, said Thursday that Nevada law should be changed “so crimes against animals such as this are considered violent crime.”

Gina Greisen of Nevada Voters for Animals has started a campaign to have people contact the parole board to oppose Brown’s release.

“He’s the absolute worst animal abuser in Nevada history,” said Greisen.

Video shows cop kneeling on Wisconsin student's neck

School officials in Kenosha, Wisconsin, released surveillance footage that shows an off-duty police officer putting his knee on a 12-year-old girl’s neck to restrain her amid a lunchtime fight

ByThe Associated Press

20 March 2022, 07:53

• 2 min read

The Associated Press

In this frame grab from surveillance video provided by the Kenosha Unified School Distri...

KENOSHA, Wis. -- School officials in Kenosha, Wisconsin, released surveillance footage that shows an off-duty police officer putting his knee on a 12-year-old girl's neck to restrain her amid a lunchtime fight.

The Kenosha Unified School District released redacted footage of the March 4 fight on Friday. It shows Kenosha officer Shawn Guetschow intervening in the fight and then scuffling with the girl, before falling to the ground and hitting his head on a table.

Guetschow, who was working as a security guard at the school, then pushes the girl's head into the ground and uses his knee on her neck for about half a minute before handcuffing her and walking her out of the cafeteria.

Jerrel Perez, the girl’s father, has called for criminal charges against Guetschow for using a type of restraint that was banned for Wisconsin law enforcement officers last year. He said his daughter is in therapy and seeing a neurologist for her injuries.

The school district initially placed Guetschow on paid leave. He resigned from his part-time security job with the school on Tuesday, the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel reported.

In his resignation letter, Guetschow complained the school district has not supported him and that the incident has placed a heavy burden on his family.

The district told the newspaper it would not provide any additional details and did not respond to messages left by The Associated Press on Saturday. Kenosah police, in a statement, said Guetschow is still employed by the department.

“We continue our investigation, paying careful attention to the entire scope of the incident," the statement said. “We have no further update at this time.”

Trial set for MS-13 associate charged in deaths of 4 men

A federal jury will hear opening statements next week in the trial of a Long Island woman accused of luring four young men to their slaughter by more than a dozen members of the MS-13 street gang

ByThe Associated Press

20 March 2022, 01:41

• 2 min read

The Associated Press

FILE - The casket of Justin Llivicura — one of four young men found slain in a suspected...

CENTRAL ISLIP, N.Y. -- A federal jury will hear opening statements Monday in the trial of a Long Island woman accused of luring four young men to their slaughter by more than a dozen members of the MS-13 street gang.

Prosecutors say Leniz Escobar helped orchestrate the 2017 massacre as a teenage associate of the gang before falsely claiming to be a victim in the ambush.

Escobar has pleaded not guilty to racketeering charges in the four deaths that prosecutors described as “a horrific frenzy of violence” involving machetes, knives and tree limbs in a Central Islip park.

Defense attorney Jesse Siegel told The Associated Press that “after almost five years, Ms. Escobar is looking forward to having her day in court.”

MS-13 had been seeking to settle a score, prosecutors allege, and believed the young victims to be members of the rival 18th Street Gang. The victims’ families have denied that any of the slain men were in a gang.

Prosecutors allege that Escobar, who was 17 at the time, was seeking to curry favor with MS-13 and alerted its members to the victims' location in a wooden area. Under MS-13 rules, the killings had been “pre-authorized” by gang leadership, prosecutors said, and contributors to the carnage stood to gain membership or ascend the organization's ranks.

Authorities said Escobar later tossed her cellphone from a moving vehicle — as well as a SIM card that had been removed and damaged so badly law enforcement couldn't recover its contents.

“Additionally, Escobar discarded the bloody clothing that she had been wearing on the night of the murders,” prosecutors wrote in a court filing.

MS-13, also known as La Mara Salvatrucha, recruits young teenagers from El Salvador and Honduras, though many gang members were born in the U.S. The gang has been blamed for dozens of killings since January 2016 across a wide swath of Long Island.

Mariupol police officer pleads for help from Biden, Macron

A Ukrainian police officer in Mariupol has warned the besieged port city has been “wiped off the face of the earth” and has pleaded with the American and French presidents to provide his country with a modern air defense system

ByThe Associated Press

20 March 2022, 01:39

• 2 min read

The Associated Press

This satellite image provided by Maxar Technologies on Friday, March 18, 2022 shows d...

MARIUPOL, Ukraine -- A Ukrainian police officer in Mariupol has warned that the besieged port city has been “wiped off the face of the earth” and pleaded with the presidents of the United States and France to provide his country with a modern air defense system.

In a video post from a rubble-strewn street, Mariupol police officer Michail Vershnin told President Joe Biden and French President Emmanuel Macron that they had promised assistance, “but what we have received is not quite it," and urged them to save the civilian population.

“Children, elderly people are dying. The city is destroyed and it has been wiped off the face of the earth,” he said speaking in Russian in the video filmed Friday that was authenticated by The Associated Press. In it, flames can be seen coming from several buildings while others were decimated. Apparent explosions could also be heard.

“You have promised that there will be help, give us that help. Biden, Macron, you are great leaders. Be them to the end,” he said.

Vershnin said the city is facing the fate of the Syrian city of Aleppo that was destroyed in 2016 in a Russian-backed siege during Syria’s revolution-turned-civil war. Russia helped Syrian President Bashar Assad’s government with a ruthless strategy by locking sieges around opposition-held areas, bombarding and starving them until the population’s ability to hold out collapsed.

Authorities: Virginia reporter among 2 killed in shooting

Authorities say a Virginia newspaper reporter was one of two people killed during a shooting outside a restaurant and bar

ByThe Associated Press

20 March 2022, 04:17

• 2 min read

The Associated Press

A person walks by Chicho’s Pizza Backstage, in Norfolk, Va., Saturday, March 19, 2022...

NORFOLK, Va. -- A Virginia newspaper reporter was one of two people killed during a shooting early Saturday outside a restaurant and bar, authorities said.

Sierra Jenkins, 25, who covered education for The Virginian-Pilot of Norfolk, died at Sentara Norfolk General Hospital after the shooting outside Chicho’s Pizza Backstage, according to officials.

Norfolk police detectives were investigating the shooting, which also resulted in injuries to three others. Jenkins was caught in the crossfire as she was leaving the bar, restaurant manager Rory Schindel told the newspaper. No arrests had been announced as of Saturday afternoon.

Jenkins grew up in Norfolk and graduated from Georgia State University. She worked as an intern at Atlanta Magazine and CNN before joining The Pilot in December 2020.

“Sierra was a bright and talented woman with so much going for her. Her passion for journalism was undeniable and our community is better because of her reporting,” said Kris Worrell, editor-in-chief of Virginia Media, which operates The Virginian-Pilot and several other newspapers. “Sierra was funny and energetic and full of enthusiasm. We are absolutely heartbroken.”

Schindel said bartenders had announced last call for drinks and turned up the lights at about 1:30 a.m. An argument began outside as people started to leave, and shots rang out soon afterward, the newspaper reported.

Norfolk police identified the other person killed as Devon M. Harris, 25, of Portsmouth. Another woman had a life-threatening gunshot wound, while two more men received gunshot wounds that were not life-threatening, police said in a news release.

Jenkins father, Maurice Jenkins of Virginia Beach, told the newspaper his daughter “wasn’t much of a going-out kind of person at all” but had a friend visiting the area who wanted to go out. Chicho’s Pizza Backstage was next to Tidewater Community College’s downtown Norfolk campus.

Sierra Jenkins's birthday was last weekend. She got her first apartment in Virginia Beach a month ago after having lived with family, the newspaper reported.

Some top statewide leaders mourned the deaths Saturday.

“Our hearts are breaking for the lives lost in Norfolk, including Sierra Jenkins,” Gov. Glenn Youngkin tweeted. “The First Lady and I are praying for their families, friends, and the Virginian-Pilot community.”