Thread: L.A. on track for record-low number of killings

L.A. on track for record-low number of killings, police chief says

September 23, 2010 | 2:42 pm

Los Angeles Police Chief Charlie Beck said Thursday that the city is on pace to finish the year with fewer than 300 homicides, which would mark about a 75% decline in killings since the city’s peak in the early 1990s, reaching a low not seen in several decades.

To date this year, 216 people have been killed at the hands of another -- compared with 236 homicides in the same period last year. In total, the city finished 2009 with 314 killings.

Beck made his comments during a luncheon speech hosted by the civic group Town Hall Los Angeles. He was touting the overall 7.5% decline in all categories of serious violent and property crime the city has experienced this year.

Barring a major surge in crime over the next few months, it would be the ninth consecutive year that crime rates have fallen in L.A., Beck said.

But it is the homicide rate that garners the most attention. Beck compared the current total with 1992, when nearly 1,200 people were killed.

-- Joel Rubin at the Millennium Biltmore Hotel

Photo: LAPD Chief Charlie Beck

Credit: Los Angeles Times

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Los Angeles County rate as of Aug 27, 2010.

Homicide Report: 14 killings last week in L.A. County; three in car-to-car shootings
August 27, 2010 | 8:15 am

Coroner's officials reported 14 killings between Aug. 15 and Aug. 22, bringing the year-to-date total to 420, according to data collected for The Times' Homicide Report database.

Countywide homicide rates still remain lower than in previous years: There were 501 killings during the same period last year, 574 the year before and 643 in 2007.

Authorities found at least three of the dead were shot while driving in cars, including Luis Delgado, 33, who was killed Aug. 15 in Van Nuys.

Delgado was driving his car in the area of Saticoy Street and Gaynor Avenue when he and a man in another car exchanged words, according to Los Angeles police. At that point, both men pulled out guns and began firing at each other, authorities said. Delgado was discovered fatally wounded on a sidewalk after someone called 911 to reported gunfire.

Police did not know if the other gunman, who witnesses said was driving a red, compact, four-door sedan, was injured. The man was last seen driving away from the scene, according to police.

A week after Delgado was killed, Anthony Hermosillo and Michael Velez died in a car-to-car shooting in Vincent, an unincorporated area near Irwindale.

Hermosillo, 27, was discovered with gunshot wounds in his parked car after authorities got a call reporting shots fired about 6:15 p.m. on Sunday. He was taken to County-USC Medical Center, where he died a short time later.

While Hermosillo was en route to the hospital, Covina police stopped a car off of Enid Avenue and Arrow Highway. Inside, they found Michael Velez, 30, also suffering from gunshot wounds, said sheriff's homicide Det. Ron Duval, who is handling the investigation.

Paramedics were called and Velez was pronounced dead at the scene.

Witnesses said two men were shooting at each other. Investigators believe Hermosillo shot Velez, but someone else shot Hermosillo. No arrests have been made in connection with the case, Duval said.

The Times' Homicide Report provides an interactive map and database of all homicides in Los Angeles County reported by the coroner since Jan. 1, 2007.

-- Sarah Ardalani

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The Homicide Report (as of September 23, 2010)
THE TIMES CHRONICLES L.A. COUNTY HOMICIDE VICTIMS

http://projects.latimes.com/homicide/blog/page/1/