news canyon news august 26, 2018 · aretha franklin, the "queen of soul," passed away at...

paGe two News Canyon news septeMber 09, 2018

"er" aCtress Vanessa Marquez kiLLed by poLiCePA S A D EN A—A c t r e s sVanessa Marquez, 49,known for her recurringrole as Nurse Wendy Gold-man on the NBC series“ER” was shot and killedduring a police confronta-tion on Thursday, August30, at around 11:50 a.m.Officials confirmed theidentity of the deceasedon Friday, August 31.According to reports, a

landlord called authoritiesfor a welfare check on theactress. South PasadenaPolice Officers went toMarquez’s home in the 110block of Fremont Avenue.When officials arrived,Marquez was sufferingfrom a seizure.“She was suffering from

some problems, [an] eatingdisorder,” said Sgt. JoeMendoza of the Los Ange-les County Sheriff’s De-partment.

Sheriff sources said aclinician accompanied theSouth Pasadena officersand talked to the actressfor close to an hour. Mar-quez armed herself with aBB gun, a weapon officerssaid resembled a semi-au-tomatic handgun, andpointed it at the officers, at

which point the officer-in-volved shooting transpired.The actress was shot inthe torso and taken to anearby hospital where shewas later pronounced dead.No officers were injured atthe scene of the con-frontation.Marquez appeared on the

TV series “Wiseguy” and“Seinfeld.” Her last actingcredit was as Drink Con-noisseur #2 in the 2017short “The Problem withEvolution.” The actress ap-peared on the A&E series“Intervention” where shediscussed her shopping ad-diction.

By Alexandra Del RosariopoLiCe pursue driVer on MuLtipLe Freeways

MALIBU—On Sunday, Sep-tember 2, officers from theLos Angeles Police Depart-ment followed a motoristwho they suspected to bedriving under the influencefrom the San Fernando Val-ley through Santa Monicaand the Pacific Coast High-way in Malibu. The chaseended in the San FernandoValley.News helicopters with

NBC4 Los Angeles capturedvideo of the police pursuit ofa 4-door white sedan start-ing at around 9:35 p.m. Thevehicle was traveling west-bound on the 101 Freeway.The LAPD North HollywoodDivision confirmed that thedriver of the car was awoman that they believed tobe suicidal at the time of the

chase.Officers followed the

woman at a safe distancefor most of the pursuit. Sheexited the 101 Freeway atLas Virgenes Road in Cal-abasas and continued onto

Mulholland Highway. Ac-cording to officers, thewoman continued onto thePacific Coast Highway inMalibu. At times, the driverwas speeding and passingother vehicles on the road

unlawfully.Once on the PCH, the

driver passed the Santa Mon-ica Incline and moved ontothe 10 Freeway. The vehicleentered the 405 Freewayheading northbound, head-ing back towards the SanFernando Valley, 15 min-utes later the driver exitedthe 101 at White Oak Avenueand and made an unexpect-ed U-turn and re-enteredthe 101 Freeway.According to NBC4 Los

Angeles, law enforcementcontinued to keep their dis-tance from the vehicle, andpulled off of the chase ataround 11:20 p.m. The CHPwas reportedly in contactwith the driver’s family.

By Katie Trojano

sunset bouLeVard CoLLision kiLLs MotorCyCListHOLLYWOOD—A motorcy-clist died on Wednesday, Au-gust 29 following a collisionwith a car on Sunset Boule-vard.The collision was report-

ed about 8:15 p.m., and oc-curred near the intersec-tion of Sunset Boulevardand Cherokee Avenue. The

motorcyclist, whose identi-ty has not be disclosed, wasa man in his 30s, NBC 4 LosAngeles reported.The victim was pro-

nounced dead at the scene.A portion of Sunset Boule-vard was closed to traffic asauthorities investigated thecrash.

By Alexandra Del Rosario

A collision on Sunset Boulevard left a motorcy-clist dead.

suspeCted street raCer CrasHes into Fedex storeSTUDIO CITY—On Wednes-day, August 29 after 3 a.m.,a white Lexus crashedthrough the front window ofa FedEx store located inStudio City. The crash oc-curred at the intersection ofLaurel Canyon and VenturaBoulevards. Debris coveredthe inside of the store and

the sidewalk outside.A Los Angeles Police Offi-

cer at the scene told KTLAthat the driver was suspect-ed to be involved in streetracing. Authorities con-firmed that the driver of theLexus fled the scene uponbreaking through the glasspanels of the FedEx store.

Video footage also shows agroup of people, assumed tobe the driver and his pas-sengers, leaving the area.One person inside the FedExstore was transported to thehospital following the inci-dent.According to the LAPD,

detectives found informa-

tion inside the abandonedLexus and are currently us-ing it in an attempt to iden-tify the driver. Canyon Newsreached out to the FedExstore on Ventura Boulevardfor possible comment, butcalls were not returned be-fore print.

By Katie Trojano

MattHew JonatHan weaVer Jr. reported MissinGTOPANGA—The Los AngelesPolice Department’s MissingPersons Unit is asking forthe public’s help to locate21-year-old MatthewJonathan Weaver Jr. Ac-cording to the LAPD Blog,Matthew was last seen onAugust 10, at 9:30 p.m., onthe 2600 block of StearnsStreet in Simi Valley. His ve-hicle was located on August11.It was abandoned on the

Topanga Tower Motorway,near Rosas Overlook, andabove the Backbone Trailand Hondo Canyon areas.Weaver is described as aCaucasian male with brown

hair and brown eyes. Hestands 5 feet and 9 inchestall and weighs approxi-mately 140 pounds.Anyone with information

on the whereabouts ofMatthew Jonathan WeaverJr. is asked to contact theLAPD’s Missing Persons Unitat (213) 996-1800. During

non-business hours or onweekends, calls should be di-rected to 1-877-LAPD-24-7(877-527-3247). Anyonewishing to remain anony-mous should call the LA Re-gional Crime Stoppers at 1-800-222-TIPS (800-222-8477) or go directly towww.lacrimestoppers.org.Tipsters can visit www.lap-

donline.org, and click on“Anonymous Web Tips” un-der the “Get Involved-CrimeStoppers” menu to submitan onlinetip. Tipsters maydownload the “P3 Tips” mo-bile application and selectthe LA Regional Crime Stop-pers as their local program.

By Donald Roberts

The LAPD is asking for the public’s help to lo-cate Matthew Jonathan Weaver Jr.

eLeCtriC Motorized VeHiCLes banned FroM bike patHsSANTA MONICA—TheSanta Monica City Councilunanimously voted to banall non-human poweredvehicles from the city’sbeach bike path, the SantaMonica Pier and municipalparks on Tuesday, August28.In a statement released

on the city of Santa Moni-ca website, the ban on thevehicles, including elec-tric scooters, Segways andbikes, and motorized skate-boards and all other de-vices that are not human-powered. The ban is meantto promote public safety.The Santa Monica PoliceDepartment in addition tothe Code Enforement Di-vision will enforce illegaluse of electric devices onthe beach bike path, theSanta Monica Pier and inparks.In addition to banning

the electric vehicles in itspopular thoroughfares, theSanta Monica City Councildirected staff to study apossible speed limit on the

beach bike path.The city council voted to

approve a use of publicright-of-way fee for shared

mobility devices of $1.00per device, per day. Rev-enue from this fee will beused for infrastructure im-provements like expand-ing sidewalks, green lanesand other changes thatmake walking, biking,scooter riding, and mobil-ity around city easier andsafer.“Last night’s Council ac-

tions around shared mo-bility devices are focusedon public safety,” saidDeputy City Manager AnujGupta. “The City Council iscommitted to advancingsustainable new trans-portation options, whilemaintaining safety as a toppriority. The public right-of-way fee will fuel infra-structure investments forsafe streets, while pro-hibiting devices on thebeach bike path is aimed atreducing collisions and in-creasing safety for all usersof this popular bike path.”

By Alexandra Del Rosario

The city of Santa Monica banned electric mo-torized vehicles, like electric scooters, from theSanta Monica Pier, beach bike path and parks.

The LAPD followed a suspected DUI driver on achase from the San Fernando Valley throughSanta Monica and Malibu.

Vanessa Marquez, who played Nurse Wendy Goldman on "ER," was killedby South Pasadena officers on Thursday, August 30.

JeFF Muir naMed direCtor oF FinanCeBEVERLY HILLS—The cityof Beverly Hills named JeffMuir, as the Director of Fi-nance. He served as theChief Financial Officer forCulver City since 2010.According to a press re-

lease from the city of BeverlyHills, Muir started his careerin the city of Inglewood as abudget analyst and held theposition of the Assistant CityAdministrator and Chief Fi-nancial Officer before join-ing Culver City.“Jeff brings a wealth of di-

rectly relevant experienceto our City,” said City Man-ager Mahdi Aluzri. “His workwith multiple cities inSouthern California has pre-pared him to strategicallyand successfully manage ourfinancial portfolio.”

As Director of Finance,Muir will be responsible fora budget of $475 millionand a General Fund budgetof $236 million. He willserve as fiscal advisor to theCity Manager Mahdi Aluzri,the Beverly Hills City Coun-

cil and City Departments.During his career, Muir

oversaw all aspects of city fi-nance and led a variety ofprojects such as financialsystem implementations,ballot tax measures, devel-oping financial forecast

models, debt issuance anddebt refinancing.“I am honored to join the

City of Beverly Hills,” saidMuir. “I have dedicated mycareer to serving the publicand look forward to workingclosely with the finance teamto maintain the long-termfiscal health of BeverlyHills.”He earned a Bachelor of

Arts in Economics from Oc-cidental College and later anM.B.A. from the University ofSouthern California. Hecurrently serves as the chairfor the South Bay Chapter ofthe California Society of Mu-nicipal Finance Officers.Muir will begin workingwith the city of Beverly Hillson Monday, September 10.

By Donald Roberts

Jeff Muir has been named the Director of Fi-nance for the city of Beverly Hills.

HoMiCide suspeCt GreGario GarCia arrestedBRENTWOOD—At around5 p.m. on Wednesday, Sep-tember 5, officers from theLos Angeles Police Depart-ment were in pursuit of ahomicide suspect who wasdriving a dark green pick-uptruck with two other pas-sengers in Woodland Hills.LAPD officials indicated

that the chase started at the19,000 block of DelanoStreet. A news chopper withNBC4 Los Angeles followedthe police chase from above.The suspect entered the 101Freeway near the 405 inter-change at around 5:15 p.m.During the chase, one of

the individuals inside thetruck got out and was ar-rested by police, as the twoother suspects stayed inside

the vehicle. The truck bare-ly missed several other ve-hicles during the chase.During the chase the sus-

pect exited the 405 at 4thStreet in Santa Monica. Au-thorities tailed the truck on

the streets in downtownSanta Monica before thesuspect drove up Pico Boule-vard and Olympic Boule-vard before heading east-bound to West LA.The suspect turned back

and headed towards thebeach on Santa MonicaBoulevard before travelingnorthbound where he de-cided to turn onto MontanaAvenue eastbound. The sus-pect turned into a Ralphsparking lot on WilshireBoulevard and South BundyDrive in Brentwood. Heparked the vehicle in front ofthe store entrance, exitedthe pickup truck, and sur-rendered to authorities.Both suspects were taken

into custody. The driver ofthe vehicle has been identi-fied as, Gregorio Garcia, 39,who was wanted by theLAPD for a double homicidethat transpired in February2018.

By Katie Trojano

The LAPD followed a murder suspect throughWoodland Hills, Santa Monica and Brentwoodon September 5.

Lion Cubs Found in sM MountainsSANTA MONICA—A litter ofmountain lion cubs werefound in a remote area of theSanta Monica Mountains.The four lion cubs are sus-pected to be the result of in-breeding, an ongoing issueoccurring with the mountainlion population living in theSanta Monica Mountains.National Park Service re-

searchers found the lion cubsand are conducting genetictests to determine the fatherof the kittens. The cubs,known as, P-70, P-71, P-72,P-73 are the offspring of P-19and P-56, researchers be-lieve. P-56 is the grandson ofP-19. He is also the result ofinbreeding, after his mother,P-23 mated with her fa-ther/grandfather, P-12.According to the National

Park Service website, re-searchers have studied P-19, who is now eight years

old, since she was approxi-mately four weeks of age. Ofthe seven known kittensfrom her previous three lit-ters, four have died (P-23, P-32, P-33, and P-34), twowere never outfitted withGPS collars (P-24 and P-46), and only one is con-firmed to be alive (P-47).

Research done by the Na-tional Park Service indicatesthat inbreeding has been oc-curring within the mountainlion population in the SantaMonica Mountains due tothe highways surroundingthe mountains. Caltrans,along with other partnersare currently working on a

plan to build a wildlife cross-ing over the 101 Freeway inthe Liberty Canyon area andreleased the environmentalcompliance document earli-er this year.“We have documented

multiple cases of inbreedingduring the course of ourstudy,” said Jeff Sikich, biol-ogist for Santa MonicaMountains National Recre-ation Area. “The 101 Freewayis a major barrier to move-ment, which restricts theability of mountain lions tocome into and go out of thearea, and unfortunately leadsto a lack of breeding op-tions.”The new kittens, two

males and two females, havebeen marked with ear tags byresearchers and are currentlybeing studied.

By Nina Garza and Donald Roberts

A litter of four mountain lion kittens werefound in the Santa Monica Mountains. Photocourtesy of the National Park Service website.