One man died and a teenage boy was critically injured Sunday in a suspected arson fire at an abandoned house on the 100 block of West Longden Avenue in Arcadia.
A 38-year-old Los Angeles man, accused of setting four arson fires in Arcadia and of carjacking a woman trying to move her car away from one of the fires, is arrested. The first fire was in a rear corridor on the second floor of The Shops at Santa Anita mall, at 400 South Baldwin Avenue at 11:40 A.M. on Friday. The other three fires were in the vicinity of the 900 block of Arcadia Avenue.
A blaze that gutted a house at 78 W. Las Flores early Saturday morning appears to have started accidentally. The blaze left a man and a woman dead, and a 7 year old boy in critical condition.
25 year old Pomona man, Josh Connole, was arrested in connection with the vandalism and arson attacks on high priced SUVs and Hummers at several San Gabriel Valley dealerships.
Arcadia resident in the 700 block of Camino Grove Avenue finds the body of a stranger in his swimming pool. The dead man is 35-year old Greg Tser-Ming Chen of Arcadia. Foul play was not initially suspected in the death. Chen's dog, a golden retriever, which was not on a leash, was found in the backyard too. Chen leaves behind a wife Maggie, who is pregnant with the couple's second child, and a toddler-aged son. See also Pasadena Star News, p. A3, August 9, 2013.
Arcadia woman was hurt in apartment fire in 900 block of West Huntington Drive on August 7. The 50-something year old woman was taken to Arcadia Methodist Hospital in critical condition.
38-year-old Jose Ruiz of San Gabriel was struck by a sport utility vehicle while crossing the street at Huntington Drive and Baldwin Avenue. He remains in critical condition.
William Cottrell's (aka Billy Cottrell), a former Caltech physics student who was in prison for participating in firebombing 100 vehicles in the San Gabriel Valley (Duarte, Arcadia, West Covina) in 2003, will be resentenced. The federal court has dropped arson charges against him but he remains convicted on a conspiracy charge. He could be released or face more prison time.
Firefighters rescued a 7-year old boy from an upstairs bedroom as fire engulfed the home at 70 W. Las Flores Ave. They were unable to save a man and woman inside the house, who were found dead.
The FBI will settle a lawsuit brought by Josh Connole for $100,000. He was wrongly jailed for the SUV (sport utility vehicle) arson attacks in the San Gabriel Valley, including a dealership in Arcadia, in August 2003.
A man with a stun gun shot and tried to kidnap two 16-year old girls walking down Golden West Avenue, but resident Dale Raine's yells scared the man away.
Bowen Du, 19, an Arcadia man who was charged with felony vehicular manslaughter in the death of 16-year-old Arcadia High School student Alice Zhang, has pleaded not guilty. Du faces up to 6 years in state prison for vehicular manslaughter and up to 3 more years for causing serious injury to Zhang's friend Priyanka Patel, 16, of Upland.
Caltech graduate Tyler Johnson, who had been identified as a suspect in the firebombing and vandalism of more than 130 sport utility vehicles (SUVs) at automobile dealerships in the San Gabriel Valley in 2003, has died in an avalanche while hiking in the Corsian mountains in France on December 26, 2009. Johnson has been a fugitive for the past six years. Surveillance cameras captured Johnson and William ("Billy") Cottrell spray painting environmental slogans on the cars at Rusnak Mercedes Benz in Arcadia in 2003. Cottrell was convicted.
Juan Lorenzo, 33, of San Gabriel, was sentenced to 12 years in prison in the 2011 stabbing death of 18-year-old Pomona man Anthony Berry. Lorenzo was working at Money Pot Shabu Shabu Restaurant in the 1300 block of S. Golden West Avenue, when he got involved in an argument with Berry.
A 19-year-old man Matthew Zamora, could face a 25 year prison sentence for shooting and killing 24-year-old Joseph Romero of Arcadia, on June 16, 2012, on the 5200 block of Tyler Avenue in unincorporated county area near Arcadia and El Monte.
Bobcat Fire, on its 9th day in the San Gabriel Mountains, continued to grow north of the San Gabriel Valley. It had charred 38,299 acres Monday with containment at 3%. The fire has crossed to west side of Santa Anita Canyon. On Sunday, residents in Arcadia and Sierra Madre who live north of Elkins Avenue and east of Santa Anita Avenue were ordered to evacuate. About 305 homes were in the evacuation zone. Most are in Arcadia and 32 are in Sierra Madre.