Articles written by stefanie dazio


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  • Police ID suspect in attack on doctor, nurses at LA hospital

    ROBERT JABLON and STEFANIE DAZIO|Jun 5, 2022

    LOS ANGELES (AP) — Police on Saturday identified the man who allegedly stabbed a doctor and two nurses inside a Southern California hospital emergency ward and remained inside a room for hours before police arrested him. Ashkan Amirsoleymani, 35, has been booked on three counts of attempted murder related to Friday's attack, the Los Angeles Police Department said on Twitter. He is being held on $3 million bail. It was not immediately clear on Saturday whether he had an attorney who could speak on his behalf and the district attorney's office d...

  • Police inaction moves to center of Uvalde shooting probe

    STEFANIE DAZIO|May 29, 2022

    The actions of a school district police chief and other law enforcement officers are at the center of the investigation into this week's shocking school shooting in Uvalde, Texas. Authorities acknowledged Friday that children and teachers repeatedly begged 911 operators for help while the police chief told more than a dozen officers to wait in a hallway at Robb Elementary School. The delay in confronting the shooter — who was inside the school for more than an hour — could lead to discipline, lawsuits and even criminal charges against pol...

  • Red flags trailed ex-UCLA lecturer across elite universities

    STEFANIE DAZIO|Feb 9, 2022

    LOS ANGELES (AP) — A trail of red flags about his behavior toward women followed Matthew Harris on an academic journey that took him to three of the nation's most prestigious universities — Duke, Cornell and then the University of California, Los Angeles. Former graduate classmates at Duke and Cornell, where he studied before becoming a postdoctoral fellow at UCLA in recent years, described him as inappropriate and creepy, with obsessive behaviors like sending excessive emails and text messages to some women that became harassment and, in at...

  • Family remembers 14-year-old's dreams before LAPD shooting

    STEFANIE DAZIO and CHRISTOPHER WEBER|Dec 29, 2021

    LOS ANGELES (AP) — The 14-year-old girl who was killed by Los Angeles police last week — she was struck while hiding in a dressing room as an officer was aiming rifle rounds at a man suspected of assaulting customers at a clothing store and a bullet went through a wall — loved skateboarding and had dreams of becoming an engineer to build robots, her family said Tuesday. Valentina Orellana-Peralta died in her mother's arms last Thursday at a Burlington store in the North Hollywood neighborhood in the San Fernando Valley. Soledad Peralta, durin...

  • Mental health online: Police posts of crises may traumatize

    STEFANIE DAZIO|Aug 22, 2021

    The videos are difficult to watch. In one, a man dangles over the edge of an Oklahoma City overpass, his legs swinging in midair as police grab his arms and pull him from the brink. In another, a woman hangs high above the Los Angeles Harbor as a half-dozen officers drag her, head-first, up the side of the bridge. The panicked voices of cops cry out, "We got you, we got you!" just before they pin her to the ground and pull out handcuffs. ____ EDITOR'S NOTE — This story includes discussion of suicide. If you or someone you know needs help, p...

  • California mass killer had arsenal of guns, ammo at his home

    JANIE HAR and STEFANIE DAZIO|May 30, 2021

    SAN FRANCISCO (AP) — The gunman who nursed a seething hatred of his California workplace amassed an arsenal and 25,000 rounds of ammunition at the home he tried to burn down before killing nine co-workers at a rail yard, authorities said after searching the residence. Samuel James Cassidy's home in San Jose was a hoarder's nest of clutter and weaponry that included 12 guns, nearly two dozen cans of gasoline and a dozen or more suspected Molotov cocktails, Santa Clara County sheriff's officials said Friday. The cache was in addition to the three... Full story

  • Lucky to be alive, Woods faces difficult recovery

    STEFANIE DAZIO AND DOUG FERGUSON|Feb 24, 2021

    LOS ANGELES (AP) — In a career filled with remarkable comebacks, Tiger Woods faces perhaps his toughest recovery of all. The golf star was driving alone on a sweeping, downhill stretch of road through coastal Los Angeles suburbs when his SUV struck a raised median, crossed into oncoming lanes and flipped several times. The crash caused "significant" injuries to Woods' right leg, and he underwent what was described as a "long surgical procedure" at Harbor-UCLA Medical Center. Dr. Anish Mahajan, chief medical officer, said Woods shattered bones i...

  • Utility: Winds too weak to cut power before California fire

    BRIAN MELLEY and STEFANIE DAZIO|Oct 28, 2020

    LOS ANGELES (AP) — Facing extreme wildfire conditions this week that included hurricane-level winds, the main utility in Northern California cut power to nearly 1 million people while its counterpart in Southern California pulled the plug on just 30 customers to prevent power lines and other electrical equipment from sparking a blaze. Pacific Gas & Electric Co. avoided major wildfires during its outage, while Southern California Edison is trying to determine if one of its power lines started a massive fire that drove nearly 100,000 people f...

  • California boat owners faulted for fire that killed 34

    STEFANIE DAZIO and TOM KRISHER|Oct 21, 2020

    LOS ANGELES (AP) — One of the deadliest accidents in recent U.S. maritime history was the fault of owners of a Southern California dive boat whose lack of oversight resulted in a fire that swept through the vessel and killed 34 people in their bunks below deck, federal safety officials ruled Tuesday. The National Transportation Safety Board said the Conception's captain failed to post a roving night watchman aboard the vessel, which allowed the fire to quickly spread and trap the 33 passengers and one crew member. The NTSB also faulted the C...

  • Feds probe men's rights lawyer in 2nd killing

    MICHAEL BALSAMO and STEFANIE DAZIO|Jul 22, 2020

    WASHINGTON (AP) — Federal investigators are examining whether a suspect in the ambush shooting of a federal judge's family in New Jersey also killed a fellow men's rights lawyer in California, a law enforcement official said. The federal agents are trying to determine whether Roy Den Hollander, who was found dead of a self-inflicted gunshot wound the day after an attack that killed the judge's son and wounded her husband, had any role in the killing earlier this month of Marc Angelucci. Angelucci, like Den Hollander, was involved in lawsuits a...

  • Elite US climber Gobright dies rappelling down rock face

    MARK STEVENSON and STEFANIE DAZIO|Nov 29, 2019

    MEXICO CITY (AP) — California rock climber Brad Gobright reportedly reached the top of a highly challenging rock face in northern Mexico and was rappelling down with a companion when he fell to his death. Climber Aidan Jacobson of Phoenix, Arizona, told Outside magazine he was with Gobright, and said they had just performed an ascent of the Sendero Luminoso route in the El Potrero Chico area near the northern city of Monterrey. Jacobson also fell, but a shorter distance, after something went wrong in the "simul-rappelling" descent, the m...

  • Motive a mystery in fatal California school shooting

    STEFANIE DAZIO and JOHN ANTCZAK|Nov 15, 2019

    SANTA CLARITA, Calif. (AP) — A 16-year-old boy planned the attack that killed two students and wounded three others at a Southern California high school, but investigators were so far unable to find out why he brought a gun to campus and opened fire, authorities said Friday. After more than 40 interviews and evaluation of evidence, no motive had been established, said Capt. Kent Wegener, of the Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Department’s homicide unit. He said no manifesto, diary or suicide note had been found. “It still remains a mystery...

  • Halloween terror: 4 killed at Northern California party

    STEFANIE DAZIO and DAISY NGUYEN|Nov 1, 2019

    ORINDA, Calif. (AP) — Four people were killed and at least four injured at a Halloween party shooting at a Northern California home rented by a woman who falsely claimed she wanted the Airbnb so her asthmatic family members could escape wildfire smoke, police and a person with knowledge of the transaction said Friday. Gunshots were reported at about 10:45 p.m. Thursday at the large home in the wealthy San Francisco suburb of Orinda where more than 100 people had gathered, police said. The home, surrounded by trees and up a steep driveway, h...

  • Wildfire rages on LA's northern edge, thousands evacuated

    STEFANIE DAZIO and CHRISTOPHER WEBER|Oct 11, 2019

    LOS ANGELES (AP) — A wildfire raged out of control along the northern edge of Los Angeles early Friday, forcing thousands of people from their homes as firefighters battled flames from the air and on the ground. The blaze erupted late Thursday along the northern tier of the San Fernando Valley as powerful Santa Ana winds swept Southern California, fanning several destructive blazes. The Los Angeles Fire Department said the fire had grown to more than 6 square miles (15.5 square kilometers) before dawn and an estimated 12,700 homes were under e...

  • Barron Hilton, hotel magnate and AFL founder, dies at 91

    Stefanie Dazio|Sep 22, 2019

    LOS ANGELES (AP) — Barron Hilton, a hotel magnate who expanded his father's chain and became a founding owner in the American Football League, died Thursday at his Los Angeles home. He was 91. Hilton's family said he died of natural causes. He transformed Hilton into the industry's top brand during his 30 years as its chief executive. The Blackstone Group bought the international chain's 2,800 hotels — including its famed Waldorf-Astoria — for $26 billion in 2007. "The Hilton family mourns the loss of a remarkable man," said Steven M. Hilto...

  • Crew was asleep when fatal boat fire ignited, officials say

    STEFANIE DAZIO and BRIAN MELLEY|Sep 13, 2019

    LOS ANGELES (AP) — A California scuba dive boat was operating in violation of Coast Guard regulations when crew members were sleeping and a pre-dawn fire killed 34 people, leaving grieving families wondering if a required night watchman could have saved their loved ones. Thursday brought a disclosure from the National Transportation Safety Board that all six crew members were asleep aboard the Conception on Sept. 2 when the deadly blaze broke out. The NTSB's findings could aid federal authorities conducting a criminal investigation into the f...

  • Teacher, Arizona couple among missing California divers

    STEFANIE DAZIO and JANIE HAR|Sep 4, 2019

    SANTA BARBARA, California (AP) — A broken-hearted mother posted on her Facebook page Tuesday that her three daughters, their father and his wife were among those presumed dead after flames engulfed a dive boat off Southern California over the holiday weekend. Susana Rosas of Stockton, California, thanked people for their prayers and support. The family of five, celebrating a birthday with an activity they enjoyed, was among 34 people presumed dead in the blaze. All were sleeping below deck when the fire started early Monday. Other victims i...

  • Flames blocked escape for 34 divers on boat, officials say

    STEFANIE DAZIO|Sep 4, 2019

    SANTA BARBARA, Calif. (AP) — Flames roared through a boat of sleeping scuba divers so quickly that it appears none of the 34 people below deck could escape, authorities said Tuesday as they ended their search without finding anyone who was missing still alive from the Labor Day tragedy off the Southern California coast. It's not known what started the fire early Monday aboard the Conception, which carried scuba diving enthusiasts on a three-day excursion. It spread rapidly and flames blocked both exits out of the lower deck, where passengers an...

  • FBI takes down Nigerian fraudsters in $46M case

    STEFANIE DAZIO|Aug 23, 2019

    LOS ANGELES (AP) — The relationship between a Japanese woman and a U.S. Army captain stationed in Syria started online, through an international social network for digital pen pals. It grew into an internet romance over 10 months of daily emails. It ended with the woman $200,000 poorer and on the verge of bankruptcy after borrowing money from her sister, ex-husband and friends to help Capt. Terry Garcia with his plan to smuggle diamonds out of Syria. In reality, there were no diamonds and there was no Garcia — they were part of an ela...

  • Police: Man killed father, brother, wounded mother in LA

    STEFANIE DAZIO and JOHN ANTCZAK|Jul 26, 2019

    LOS ANGELES (AP) — A man fatally shot his father, brother and two other people Thursday during a 12-hour rampage across Los Angeles' sprawling San Fernando Valley, eluding a manhunt until he was arrested after gunning down a bus passenger, authorities said. Police said they did not know what motivated Gerry Dean Zaragoza to launch the attacks in neighborhoods dotting the vast, largely suburban valley that is home to nearly 2 million Los Angeles residents. "It is obviously an individual that went on a violent spree," police Capt. William Hayes s...

  • Ex-USC gynecologist charged in sex assaults of 16 patients

    STEFANIE DAZIO|Jun 27, 2019

    LOS ANGELES (AP) — The former longtime gynecologist at the University of Southern California was charged Wednesday with sexually assaulting 16 women at the student health center, the first criminal counts in a case that already has seen USC offer to pay $215 million to settle potentially thousands of claims. Dr. George Tyndall, 72, worked at USC for nearly three decades, and news of his arrest on 29 felony charges that could send him to prison for 53 years was welcomed by women who accuse him of misconduct and lawyers representing them. S...

  • Schools turn to apps, other tech to guard against shootings

    STEFANIE DAZIO|May 17, 2019

    LOS ANGELES (AP) — Schools trying to protect kids from mass shootings are turning to gunshot detection systems, cellphone apps and artificial intelligence — a high-tech approach designed to reduce the number of victims. Technology that speeds up law enforcement's response and quickly alerts teachers and students to danger is a growing tool amid rising concerns over the inability to prevent shootings like the one last week at a suburban Denver high school. An 18-year-old student who rushed one of the gunmen died. While a focus on gun con...