Crime
Reputed Gang Member Charged in USC Student’s Slaying
LA WATTS TIME — A reputed gang member was charged today with killing a USC jazz student, who was the son of an Oakland city councilwoman, during an attempted robbery just blocks from campus.Los Angeles Superior Court Judge Teresa Sullivan ordered Ivan Hernandez, 23, to be held without bail while awaiting arraignment Aug. 7 at the downtown courthouse in connection with the March 10 death of 21-year-old Victor McElhaney.
By City News Service
A reputed gang member was charged today with killing a USC jazz student, who was the son of an Oakland city councilwoman, during an attempted robbery just blocks from campus.
Los Angeles Superior Court Judge Teresa Sullivan ordered Ivan Hernandez, 23, to be held without bail while awaiting arraignment Aug. 7 at the downtown courthouse in connection with the March 10 death of 21-year-old Victor McElhaney.
Hernandez is charged with one count each of murder and attempted second-degree robbery – the latter charge involving a friend who was with Victor McElhaney.
The murder charge includes the special circumstance allegations of murder during an attempted robbery and murder by an active participant in a criminal street gang, along with an allegation that he personally and intentionally discharged a handgun. Prosecutors will decide later whether to seek the death penalty against Hernandez, who was arrested Friday by detectives from the Los Angeles Police Department’s Robbery-Homicide Division.
Evidence and witness statements led detectives to believe that Hernandez was involved in the attack, Los Angeles police said in a statement.
Victor McElhaney was killed just after midnight March 10 near Maple Avenue and Adams Boulevard.
Authorities said the young man, who was a student at USC’s Thornton School of Music, was with a group of friends when they were approached by three or four men in their 20s during an attempted robbery that led to the shooting.
McElhaney was the son of Oakland City Councilwoman Lynette Gibson McElhaney. He was part of the USC jazz studies program with an interest in the relationship between music and social and political movements. He also mentored young musicians and taught at the Oakland Public Conservatory of Music.
Shortly after the killing, Lynette McElhaney said her son “believed that music could heal the world of violence and sickness and addiction.”
The young man’s shooting death marked the latest of several high- profile killings of students in apparent robberies or attempted robberies near USC’s campus in the past seven years.
Alberto Ochoa, the last of four defendants charged in the July 24, 2014, beating death of Xinran Ji, a USC graduate student from China, was sentenced in March to life in prison without the possibility of parole. Two others, Alejandra Guerrero and Andrew Garcia, had already been sentenced to life in prison without parole, while the getaway driver, Jonathan Del Carmen, was ordered to serve a 15-year-to-life state prison sentence.
Ji had been walking back to his apartment near campus after a study session when he was attacked, and managed to make it back to his apartment, where one of his roommates discovered the 24-year-old electrical engineering student’s body.
Two other USC graduate students from China – Ying Wu and Ming Qu – were shot to death during an April 2012 robbery as they sat in a car that was double-parked on a street near the USC campus. Javier Bolden and Bryan Barnes were sentenced to life in prison without the possibility of parole for their killings.
This article originally appeared in the LA Watts Times.
Activism
Oakland Post: Week of April 24 – 30, 2024
The printed Weekly Edition of the Oakland Post: Week of April 24 – 30, 2024
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Alameda County
DA Pamela Price Stands by Mom Who Lost Son to Gun Violence in Oakland
Last week, The Post published a photo showing Alameda County District Attorney Pamela Price with Carol Jones, whose son, Patrick DeMarco Scott, was gunned down by an unknown assailant in 2018.
Publisher’s note: Last week, The Post published a photo showing Alameda County District Attorney Pamela Price with Carol Jones, whose son, Patrick DeMarco Scott, was gunned down by an unknown assailant in 2018. The photo was too small for readers to see where the women were and what they were doing. Here we show Price and Jones as they complete a walk in memory of Scott. For more information and to contribute, please contact Carol Jones at 510-978-5517 at morefoundation.help@gmail.com. Courtesy photo.
California Black Media
Anti-Theft Bill with Jail-Time Requirement Gets Wide Ranging Support
Fed up with the alarming frequency of retail theft across California, including smash and grabs, a diverse group of business leaders, law enforcement officials, policymakers and public safety advocates joined their efforts in Sacramento on Jan. 24. Their purpose: to increase public support for Assembly Bill (AB) 1772, a bill that would make jail time mandatory for repeat theft offenders.
By California Black Media
Fed up with the alarming frequency of retail theft across California, including smash and grabs, a diverse group of business leaders, law enforcement officials, policymakers and public safety advocates joined their efforts in Sacramento on Jan. 24.
Their purpose: to increase public support for Assembly Bill (AB) 1772, a bill that would make jail time mandatory for repeat theft offenders.
Co-authored by Assemblymembers James C. Ramos (D-San Bernardino), Avelino Valencia (D-Anaheim) and Devon Mathis (R-Tulare), AB 1772 would require jail time “of one to three years for theft crimes depending upon the circumstances.
“Offenses would include grand theft, theft from an elder or dependent adult, theft or unauthorized use of a vehicle, burglary, carjacking, robbery, receiving stolen property, shoplifting or mail theft,” the bill language reads.
Ramos said the need to act is urgent.
“It’s time for us to reverse the spikes in theft crimes since the pandemic. Our law enforcement members and district attorneys need additional tools such as AB 1772. We must reverse the trend before the problem grows worse. Last year I requested a state audit of the impact of Prop 47 on Riverside and San Bernardino counties,” said Ramos.
Prop 47 is the California initiative, approved by voters in 2014, that reclassified some felonies to misdemeanors and raised the minimum amount for most misdemeanor thefts from $400 to $950.
According to a Public Policy Institute of California (PPIC) report, the rate of occurrence of petty crimes like shoplifting and commercial burglaries have increased by double digits over the last four years.
In Orange County alone, commercial burglaries have spiked by 54%.
“Our communities are experiencing an increase in retail crime and deserve appropriate action from their legislators,” Valencia said.
San Bernardino County Sheriff Shannon Dicus thanked Ramos.
“This bill, designed to impose stricter penalties on serial retail theft suspects, responds urgently to the escalating consequences of shoplifting and related crimes on our communities,” he said.
AB 1772 supporters who spoke at the gathering included Sacramento Sheriff Jim Cooper and San Bernardino Chief of Police Darren Goodman. Listed as supporters are the California State Sheriff’s Association, City of Riverside Police Chief Larry Gonzalez and Redlands Chamber of Commerce.
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