Back when we were seventh graders, we battled our enemies with clever name-calling, by stomping our feet on the ground and in rare cases, maybe a little hair-pulling. Students at Samuel Gompers Middle School in South L.A. have lowered their brawls to a darker level, resorting to knives and guns as weapons. more ›

Things are not looking good for the reputation of L.A. County's jails: a new report shows that at least 30 jail employees were disciplined for attacking inmates or covering up attacks in the past two years. The news comes on the heels of an FBI investigation into the prison system, and the revelation from a rookie jailer that he was forced to beat a mentally ill inmate. more ›

A young man who made online threats against a Riverside County high school has been arrested, reports KTLA. Omar Zepeda Garcia, 20, allegedly posted about his intentions to do something violent to Jurupa Valley High School. The Press-Enterprise notes that the threats were made in a chat room. T more ›

After one of its students was stabbed to death by her boyfriend during lunchtime on campus, the Los Angeles Unified School District is finally — after a decade in the works —expanding its program to tackle teen violence. On Tuesday, the board passed a $2 million program aimed at preventing teen violence, according to ABC 7. more ›

An atypical act of gang violence occurred on August 30 in Riverside County, and the culprits - three gang members of Jurupa Vallery - were finally apprehended Friday night. Riverside County sheriff's deputies arrested Daniel Delshawn Green, 19, Dequan Matthew Green, 26, and Daymen Qionel Tolbert, 20. more ›

Here's the thing about being an Angeleno born in Vancouver playing host to relatives visiting from Vancouver the week the Canucks lost the NHL Stanley Cup to the Boston Bruins and a bunch of trashy losers rioted in the streets of one of the world's most beautiful cities: It's upsetting. Really upsetting. Today's video lunch is an attempt to counter the ugliness with something inspiring. more ›

SoCal officers are are cracking down on Venice Beach in an effort to set a tone of "public order" following a recent series of violent incidents including a boardwalk shooting during a flash mob and a stabbing at a drum circle, reports the Associated Press. more ›

A travel warning, the highest caution the State Department can issue, has been expanded in Mexico due to an increase in violence over a wider area of the country, reports the OC Register. Northern Baja California is included on the lengthy list of violent regions... more ›

Following the vicious beating of Giants fan Bryan Stow at last week's opening game at Dodger Stadium, the LAPD has announced that it will institute a zero-tolerance policy at future home games, effective immediately. The Daily news reports that Police Chief Charlie Beck revealed some of the new security measures today, to be paid for in part by the Dodgers. more ›

Two of the 45 people arrested on June 17 in the vicinity of the Staples Center following the Lakers' NBA Championship win have been handed down sentences for their role in the violence that erupted on the streets, according to LA Now. 20-year-old Mark Hull and 22-year-old Carlos Fuentes face 90 days in jail and a year of probation, during which time they must not go near the Staples Center. Hull is in custody at Camp Pendleton, charged with deserting the Marines. During the post-game melee, Hull threw rocks through a Downtown business' window, and Fuentes broke the lights on a police car. more ›

The weekend left five dead in separate shootings, but one in particular caught the attention of civil rights leaders in the Hyde Park neighborhood of South LA. 17 year-old Brandon Jamal Perry was shot in the face after an occupant stepped out of a vehicle with a rifle and began shooting at him and others standing in front of a house late Saturday night. Three others were injured, but Perry died at the hospital. more ›

Students in LAUSD schools in Highland Park are already under a lot of pressure to do well, from test scores to less-than-ideal classroom environments. But the neighborhood is experiencing an increase in gang-related violence, mostly via gunfire, and that is making getting an education even harder, explains the LA Times' Steve Lopez. more ›

LAist recently met Elliot Darvick, the 'technical guru' behind the FreeConnie.com campaign launched by Adam Reich, a 25-year-old, second year law-student at USC. As the name implies, the fight is to free Connie Keel, a woman who has been imprisoned for 30 years for a crime she did not commit. more ›

It's a reasonable assumption that a film chronicling the inner workings of an actual mob syndicate would be interesting, engaging even. You would assume, as you saunter in with your too-large Coke and your caution-orange butter popcorn that, "hey, some of this is probably going to end up on the floor, because I'm going to get startled or have to turn myself away quickly from the bloodshed and gunplay". more ›

Today marks the 60th anniversary of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights (UHDR), adopted by the General Assembly of the United Nations. The 30 articles of this declaration were written after the Second World War and represent the first global expression of human rights worldwide. The UHDR is the most translated document in the world and has inspired many international treaties and laws. more ›

Father Greg Boyle is the director and founder of Homeboy Industries, a well respected Los Angeles organization that works to educate and provide job training for at-risk youth and former gang members. Connie Rice is the director of the Advancement Project Los Angeles and is a prominent civil rights activist and lawyer. They are featured speaking out against Proposition 6, a measure that could bring lengthier sentences for youth, try 14 year olds as adults for "gang-related" crimes, and increase our prison overcrowding problem in California (link to LAist profile of Prop 6) more ›

The murder of 17-year-old high schooler and football player Jamiel Shaw made headlines and had reverberations not only in his community, but city-wide. Now rapper Ice Cube has voiced his heartbreak over the death of a young man with a promising future--a death caused by senseless violence. His video for "Why Me?" uses the Shaw case a reference point for this kind of tragedy. The Daily News explains that "Cube says the Shaws are a powerful illustration of the pain that remains after a murder." The video "also features photographs of dozens of other crime victims blowing from a tree then across the sand in the desert north of Los Angeles. The video also depicts a young man in a football jersey being gunned down on a street. As he lays dying, he asks, 'Why me homie, why me?'" more ›

Everyday that goes by means it's getting closer to election day and for the first time, a Proposition A e-mail came into our e-mail inbox. Prop A is a City of Los Angeles measure that if voted on by two-thirds of the people, the city will add a $36/year special tax on each real property parcel for programs that address gang violence (to read through the language, Smart Voter has it). Tomorrow afternoon, LAPD Chief William Bratton, Sheriff Lee Baca and LAFD Chief Douglas Barry are all scheduled to publicly endorse the measure at City Hall.
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On Saturday morning, hundreds of Northeast LA residents marched for Peace in the Northeast. Crime, drugs and gangs have all been spotlighted in the community this past year and it was time to take back the streets. "It was amazing to see the people who came out and to have hundreds of folks standing for peace in their own community," explained Councilman Eric Garcetti, who represents part of the region, over the phone on Monday. more ›

Immediately after the Supreme Court's Thursday ruling allowing citizens to own handguns, gun advocates began to talk lawsuits against cities that have restrictions. more ›

Saturday night's officer involved shooting that led to the death of Roketi Mosesue, 46, has led to much controversy. Both sides tell their story. First, the Long Beach Police via the Mercury News: more ›

A man was shot and wounded last night after 2:00 a.m. behind the popular Ritual nightclub on Cahuenga just north of Hollywood Boulevard. more ›

The Pacific Beach Cities Stadium 16 movie theatre in El Segundo was the real-life scene of a police-involved shootout last night. more ›

To mark the 40th anniversary of the assassination of Martin Luther King Jr., Los Angeles author and political commentator Earl Ofari Hutchinson thought up the idea of having a 40-hour "murder moratorium" from 6:01 p.m., Friday, to 10:01 p.m. Sunday. Those 40 hours this past weekend saw three murders across Los Angeles county, two of which were in South LA, reported KNBC. more ›

Looks like some folks in the San Fernando Valley didn't get the memo about the city's 40 hour moratorium on violence. more ›

• In part to honor the 40th anniversary of the assassination of Martin Luther King Jr and in part to "increase the peace" a 40-hour moratorium on violence goes into effect for the City of Los Angeles starting at 6:01 p.m. tonight. Do your part!
• Because "You can't fire me...I QUIT!" lacks that certain je-ne-sais-quoi, perhaps? An employee in the midst of getting the boot today in Industry stabbed his boss with a pocket knife.
• 31-year-old Keven Lee Graff was sentenced to two life terms in prison today for two murders he committed in June 2004. Graff, a former Marine who is homeless, beheaded a 91-year-old screenwriter then murdered his 69-year-old neighbor.
• The mother of the dead baby found earlier this week near a home in Santa Ana has been arrested by US Marshals after a short stand-off in Henderson, NV. 20-year-old Michelle Pedroza used to reside in one of the houses near where the infant's corpse was discovered by a resident.
• A crowd of about 4,500 gathered today to honor firefighter Brent Lovrien, who died on the job last week in an explosion. His services were held downtown at the Cathedral of Our Lady of the Angels, and he was remembered as a man with "a true sense of loyalty."
• Actor Chris Rock took the stand for about 15 minutes this morning to testify in the trial of pro-snoop Anthony Pellicano, who allegedly used some shady methods to do is generally shady job. Rock hired the private dick to dig up dirt on a model who claimed the comedian knocked her up.
• Ever wonder if renting a garage is legit in the city? CurbedLA reminds us about housing and tenancy laws in their Ask Curbed column.
• In the days before WeHo, there was grub The Gay Way... EatingLA gives us a culinary chuckle and throwback with a photo of a 1940s era downtown eatery.

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If you take the above headline literally, then apparently murder is allowed all other times except for 40 hours this weekend if a Los Angeles city council motion is passed today. And some might say murder feels legal these days with the rise in violence in 2008. Four people were shot dead within minutes and miles of each other in East LA yesterday, police in two separate incidents shot and hit suspects within the last 24 hours (one in Glendale last night where the suspect was killed and one on the 105 freeway this morning) and the list could go on. more ›

The city seems to have gone completely mad. From a 16 year-old shot in Northridge to a 70 year-old stabbed to death in Hollywood, Sunday was just another day in what is starting to feel like an out-of-control crime wave. more ›

In the wake of last week's shooting death of 17-year-old Los Angeles High football star Jamiel Shaw, his community--and the community of LA at large--are mourning the loss and trying to make sense of how a kid who was on the right path in life was in the wrong place at the wrong time. more ›