Fatal Shooting

Dec 17 2012

No description of the shooter

LOS ANGELES, Calif.—A homeless man was fatally wounded in a drive-by shooting on a South Los Angeles street, and the suspect remained at large today, a police sergeant said.

The victim was identified as Damian Lerma, 31, said Coroner's Investigator Dana Bee.

Bee said Lerma, a transient, had no place of residence.

Dec 13 2012

Fatally wounded during fight with officers

California State University, San Bernardino, police on Saturday shot to death an unarmed Black graduate student who suffered from a bipolar disorder. The student was shot during a fight with police inside a campus building.

Dec 12 2012

Two children freed

LOS ANGELES, Calif.—A standoff at a home in Baldwin Hills ended this morning with police fatally shooting a 28-year-old man and freeing his two children, whom he was holding hostage, authorities said.

The standoff in the 7100 block of Don Ricardo Drive began around 6:50 p.m. Tuesday, said Sgt. Robin Brown of the Los Angeles Police Department's Southwest Station.

Officers sent to the residence on a domestic violence call met a woman outside who reported she had been battered by her ex-boyfriend, police said.

Nov 5 2012

Donald Ray Dokins will be prosecuted as an adult

COMPTON, Calif.—A 15-year-old boy being prosecuted as an adult in connection with a June 4 gang shooting that killed a 14-month-old boy and wounded the toddler’s father in Watts pleaded not guilty today to murder and attempted murder charges.

Donald Ray Dokins was arraigned in Compton Superior Court on charges stemming from the death of Angel Cortez and the wounding of the boy’s father, Mauro, who was shot in the shoulder.

He was held to answer to the charges on July 16 and is due back in court Nov. 28 for a pretrial hearing.

Nov 1 2012

Suspect charged with murder

In one of two high-profile local crimes, a 30-year-old man suspected of killing three people and injuring two others during a shooting spree at a business and home in Downey was charged Monday with three counts of murder and other felonies.

The charges against Jade Douglas Harris include special-circumstance allegations that make him eligible for the death penalty, although prosecutors have not yet decided whether to seek his execution.

Across Black America

Here’s a look at African American people and issues making headlines throughout the country.
 

Alabama
Freeman A. Hrabowski, president of the University of Maryland, Baltimore County, will address the annual African American Business Council luncheon on June 28. Hrabowski, who is chairman of President Barack Obama’s Advisory Commission on Education Excellence for African Americans, has a national reputation for his work studying the performance of minority students in math and science. Hrabowski, named one of the 10 best college presidents in the country by Time magazine, was a child leader in the Civil Rights Movement in Birmingham in the 1960s.
 

Arkansas
The Liberty Counsel filed a motion and a brief in United States District Court for the Eastern District of Arkansas seeking to intervene on behalf of a Concepts of Life crisis pregnancy center to defend against a suit filed by the American Civil Liberties Union and the Center for Reproductive Rights. The groups seek to impose a permanent injunction before the Human Heartbeat Protection Act goes into effect July 18. Liberty Counsel also filed a brief opposing the ACLU’s request for an injunction. The “Heartbeat” bill states that when a woman seeks an abortion at or after the 12th week, doctors must test for a fetal heartbeat before an abortion is performed and inform the pregnant mother that the child in her womb has a heartbeat. If a heartbeat is detected, a woman cannot have an abortion, except in cases of rape, incest, and if a mother’s life is in danger. “As we promised when the legislation was introduced, Liberty Counsel will defend this law without reservation for the people of Arkansas, born and pre-born,” said Matt Staver, founder and chairman of Liberty Counsel. “No right is more foundational than the right to life. Without life, all other rights are irrelevant,” concluded Staver.