Early this morning, a man with a gun pointed to his head walked into the LAPD's Hollywood Division station prompting a closure of the building and surrounding streets. At 12:30 a.m., when the incident began, a citizen alerted officers. "We met the individual in the lobby and it's been going on since then," Lt. Michael Donatoni told KNBC earlier in the morning. The suspect finally surrendered at 7:00 a.m., but local streets remained closed for......

It took less than 48 hours for a friend of LAist to bring the first V.C. 23123 infraction ticket into LAist HQ. And yes, 23123 is the much-vaunted "Hand-Held Wireless Telephone: Prohibited Use. "The phone rang and I naturally picked it up," said our friend. "My client said it'll be real quick. But it wasn't quick enough." The ticket doesn't indicate a dollar amount (and according to the driver, the phone was actually in his......

iPhone photo of people walking around the streets of LAX Update: View updated story and photo gallery here. Original post below.Traffic has been blocked and gridlocked at LAX at the upper and lower levels of the airport after a man, reportedly between the ages of 20 and 25, went up to police in front of the Tom Bradley International Terminal and claimed he was a terrorist with a bomb in his bag, according to......

Yesterday afternoon, LAPD SWAT stormed a house in Reseda believed to be where a 24-year-old man was being held for ransom. The man was rescued with non life-threatening injuries and seven men and one woman were arrested at the home on 18300 block of Schoolcraft Street near Etiwanda Avenue. It started at 7:00 p.m. on Monday evening when the man called his mother saying he had been kidnapped and money was being demanded. The family......

An LAPD Motorcycle Officer was sent to the hospital this morning when he was hit by a Toyota Camry at 5th Street and Stanford Avenue in Downtown LA between San Pedro St. and Central Ave. "The extent of the officer's injuries was not immediately known, but he was conscious and breathing when paramedics arrived," reports the LA Times. The cause of the accident or who is at fault is still not known.......

It's been all the rage and everyone is talking about it -- today is day one of the new cell phone law. No more putting that phone to your ear unless it's an emergency. Otherwise, it's all about ear pieces or in-car systems (for more info on help buying the system for you, check out this post from LAist). And if you choose to break the law, it will be depend on where you are,......

It's good to solve a cold case and what makes this one easier to deal with is the fact that the accused criminal is already in jail. From the LAPD: "The Robbery-Homicide Division’s (RHD) Detectives, obtained a warrant for the arrest of Michael Hubert Hughes, 51-years-old, charging four counts of murder with additional charges relating to sexual assault of the four female victims. The series of crimes occurred between 1986 and 1993. Three occurred in......

If you plan on breaking the hands-free cellphone law tomorrow and in the future, your chances of being pulled over will be determined by where you are the LA Times finds. The California Highway Patrol plans to be the most aggressive about it and with the annual beef up (80% of officers on the roads) in staffing around the 4th of July, the two will go hand-in-hand well together. As for the LAPD, enforcement will......

Confronting the paparazzi is one thing, but to confront a tagger always leads to the same headline: someone is shot trying to interfere with a tagger. Yesterday, a businessman confronted two taggers who were defacing a business near Hollywood and Vine. He's currently in the hospital in "critical but stable condition," according to Ruby Malachi at the LAPD. Detectives have some good leads and did serve one search warrant last night in Tujunga, but no......

Photo by Daquella manera via Flickr From the Northeast Valley to Northeast Los Angeles, actions against gangs by the city and feds is beefing up. This morning, a federal indictment was initiated and hundreds of gang members from the Drew Estara Click of the Avenues Gang were arrested (If you remember the big shootout in February, these are the guys). Starting at 4 a.m., police and federal officials swept down into Glassell Park and......

Photo by Happy Birthday to Joe Shlabotnik! via Flickr Two brawls between surfers and paparazzi over the weekend are leading Malibu officials to look more closely into the law regarding 1st amendment rights. "The city of Malibu will do all it legally can to protect and preserve the natural beauty and tranquillity of our town," Malibu Mayor Pamela Conley Ulich said in a statement, per the LA Times. Last month, the Times reported that......

When the power goes out, that means the traffic lights go with it, making it harder to tell if there is even a traffic light there to begin with (especially if you're unfamiliar the neighborhood). Despite that, signals that are out must be treated like a stop sign. The LAPD never seems to send these educational warnings out, but this friendly reminder comes from the Los Angeles Fire Department. "With power out to many traffic......

Photo by digitalshay via Flickr In January, the Los Angeles Police Commission agreed with an LAPD federal consent decree that said officers in specialized units dealing with narcotics and gangs must "disclose all of their sole and jointly owned assets, liabilities and income every two years. Refusal to disclose such information would bar officers from working in those units." And even though officers said they would quit, leave the department or request a transfer......

View Larger Map UPDATE: This was no small robbery (nor does it feel random). KCAL9 reports that the $200,000 was stolen -- $100,000 in cash and $100,000 in checks [via Daily News].Yes, Los Angeles has its Wall Street too. Today, it made the news (12th and Wall St.) after occupants in an SUV were robbed by three young males from another car. Around 8:00 a.m. this morning, the robbers first bumped into the SUV and......

Photo by stevelyon via Flickr After 11, 12, no 14 murders in Los Angeles County (10 of which that were in the city of Los Angeles) this past weekend, the LAPD blog publishes a post about it: Over the weekend, a number of crimes have occurred throughout the City of Los Angeles resulting in 10 homicides, all from separate incidents. Several of the 10 homicides have been confirmed as being gang-related, but investigations are......

Some report that 11 people were murdered over the weekend, some report 12. Whichever the number, it is greater than the normal homicide rate in Los Angeles County, an unfortunate two or three per day. At least nine of the deaths occurred within Los Angeles: four in South LA, four in the Valley and one in Northeast LA. Authorities suspect several were gang related. Photo by guamafro via Flickr......

A narcotics officer was shot and injured today when a suspect he was serving with a warrant fired shots at him and his partner just after 3 p.m. today in Boyle Heights. He was taken to the hospital with non-life threatening injuries. A perimeter has been set up around the 2600 block of Malabar St. where two suspects are possibly barricaded in the house. According to the LAPD, per KNBC, one other person has been......

Copper thefts in Los Angeles could no longer be the only crime of desperation surging the city. With gas prices increasing everyday (the latest: nearly $4.11/gallon of regular unleaded), so are sales of lockable gas caps at auto stores. "We're going to start seeing some people who are normally good do bad things in these tough economic times," said LAPD Senior Lead Officer Ron Carter at a neighborhood watch meeting a few weeks ago in......

Photo by Tom Andrews/LAist Update: The robbery occurred when an employee was approached by the suspect in a bandana and a gun at the garbage dumpster. He was forced back inside where five other employees were. The problem came when the employees and suspect couldn't speak each other's languages. That's when employees bolted, according to ABC7 11:00 a.m. news. Three ran upstairs and hid in the female bathroom and the other three hid downstairs.......

After a rash of shootings in the San Fernando Valley that left eight injured and two dead within four hours on Tuesday night, the Daily News mentions that Councilman Richard Alarcon and Councilwoman Wendy Greuel, who represent parts of the East Valley, "are doubling efforts to build Neighborhood Watch programs." In Greuel's district, many watch programs have been forming over the last year. Last Friday night, a group of residents in East Sherman Oaks gathered......

View Larger Map Within four hours last night, two people were shot dead and another eight were injured in a spree of gun violence that went from Northridge to North Hollywood to Sylmar, the Daily News is reporting. It began in Northridge between 6:00 p.m. and 7:00 p.m. where one 16-year-old boy was shot, but survived with non-life threatening injuries. Then one hour later, two men were shot and killed in related cases on Coldwater......

Randy Cruz was riding home from work when she was hit from behind by a motorist who then left her in the street as he drove off and hid in a parking lot. Randy was lucky. She wasn't alone. She was taken to the hospital in an ambulance and received stitches to her head. She's in pain but she's in good spirits and in great company! The motorist was apprehended as he hid and there......

After a month of study and protest, City Council put some closure on the budget for fiscal year 2008-2009. With a $406 million deficit, the biggest the city has ever seen, tough choices were made, but some of what was threatened was saved -- line items such as library hours, film festivals, the city's television Channel 36, homeless shelter beds and calligraphers to decorate city proclamations, according to the Daily News. And to save programs......

Photo of an arrest in Hollywood by paulvonspector via LAist Featured Photos on Flickr Daily News caused quite a stir last week at city hall when they released a database containing every city employee's salary, save for sworn employees (ex. police, fire). You can browse by department or look up by name. Have a friend who works too hard? Now you know they need a raise. Deal with an irritable city employee over the......

Photo by Stephen Box/LAist The Bike to Work Week celebration came to an abrupt end as Enci rode north on Western, turned left onto Hollywood Boulevard and then had a bus accelerate from behind, crossing her line and pulling to the right, forcing her to the curb as he pulled in to his last scheduled stop of the day. He then opened the door and screamed "Get the F@%& off the road!" and then......

Update: View photos from the May 10 Protest hereAs Anonymous launches their third big protest around the world, the local group of "legion" begin at 2:00 p.m. tomorrow afternoon in Hollywood near the Metro Hollywood/Vine Red Line Station. At the March 15 protest in Hollywood, an LAPD officer was praised worldwide after LAist took this video of an officer being friendly to protestors. However, as the protest moved to another Scientology site on Jefferson Blvd.,......

On March 9, 70-year-old Katan Khaimov went for a walk. He started at his West Hollywood apartment and was later found dead with stab wounds near Poinsetta Park, which is in Los Angeles at the WeHo border. For over an hour, Khaimov cried for help, according to the LA Times. The fact that Khaimov was slain has been hard enough for his neighborhood to accept. But the awful coda of his life has added to......

A man suspected of a DUI (influence of heroin that is) was driving on the 100 block of Washington Blvd. last night where officers on patrol witnessed him hit up to ten parked cars near the intersection of Strongs Drive. When officers approached the vehicle, the man resisted attempts by the officers to take him out of the van by allegedly poking them both with a syringe, according to KCBS. The officers then subdued the......

No, it was not Tom. MySpace founder Brad Greenspan's $2.9 million home was discovered burglarized on Saturday. Police say it may be related to all the recent cat burglaries in the Hollywood Hills. Greenspan's home is located at 2177 Sunset Plaza Drive. Other recent Hollywood Hills home robberies include Charlize Theron, who became victim to it in December, Tim McGraw & Faith Hill in February and Duran Duran's John Taylor in March. In 2006, the......

The difference between last year and this year was night and day. Last year, the police were in riot gear, got injured, shot rubber bullets into crowds full of innocent people including, children, the elderly and reporters live on air (see this video). This year, the LAPD retrained and chilled out... a lot more. By the end of the day, only five people had been arrested. Earlier May Day Photo Essays include: Portraits, Crowds and......