Gang Violence

Alejandro H. Garcia, OC Homicide No. 14: Bicyclist Shot in an Alley and Left to Die

flickr user crystl ​Alejandro H. Garcia was on a bicycle in an alley in the 400 block of north Bush Street, Anaheim, Monday night.Wrong place, wrong time.He was approached by three other guys on bikes. Someone asked Garcia which gang he belongs to. Don't belong to any, he replied.Wrong answer.The ... More >>

The Crucifixion of Juarez

On the front line of the U.S. war on drugs, a Mexican city bleeds to death

Just Another Orange County Murder: Rodrigo Martinez

View Larger MapRodrigo Martinez was taken off life support Thursday.The 21-year-old Riverside man was apparently driving alone in a residential neighborhood in the 1200 block of South Pacific Avenue, near Dahl Lane in Santa Ana around 7:45 p.m. Tuesday when gunfire erupted between members of rival g ... More >>

Just Another Orange County Murder: Joshua Steven Rodriguez

View Larger MapJoshua Steven Rodriguez, 18, of La Habra, was fatally stabbed on Nov. 1, but his death was not officially deemed a murder until a massive search warrant sweep Thursday morning led to several arrests.Joshua Steven Rodriguez with his mother Yolanda Mansillas and brother Reise Rodriguez ... More >>

Santa Ana-Based Street Gang Implicated in $25 Million Medicare Fraud Cases

​A Long Beach man and a Santa Ana street gang have been implicated in an alleged Medicare fraud schemes that resulted in approximately $25 million in fraudulent bills to the Medicare program, various federal authorities announced this morning. In all, 18 defendants, most of whom reside ... More >>

Lake Forest Man Accused of Being a Gang Banger and a Video Perv

Courtesy of Orange County Sheriff's DepartmentDavid Emanuel Ramos is an alleged double-dipper.​Gang members can no longer be content with mere thievery and thuggery and all-around skullduggery. In today's lightning-fast society, one must multi-task.Take David Emanuel Ramos. Please. The 22-year-old ... More >>

Just Another Orange County Murder: Ismael Garcia-Anaya

View Larger Map A Santa Ana police patrol unit was close enough to Warner Avenue and South Baker Street to hear the shots ring out just after 10 p.m. Saturday that also prompted worried residents to dial 9-1-1. Arriving at that corner, officers discovered the bullet-ridden body of 2 ... More >>

Crime Time: Fight Clubs, Stray Bullets, Car Bashings, Cop Gun Theft, 4 Jewelry Heists

  Jewelry heist fever spreads across Orange CountyIt's the Weekly's weekly round-up of local police calls--now with more street fights, bullets flying, dudes getting jumped, cops losing service revolvers and jewelry heists in towns with "Laguna" in the name across the county.   ... More >>

Just Another Orange County Murder: Renato Gaitan [UPDATED]

View Larger Map UPDATED WITH ARRESTS IN CASE.Suspected gang members were hanging out near an apartment complex in the 2100 block of West Alameda Avenue in Anaheim some time before 11 p.m. Sunday, Aug. 16, when a shot rang out. Police arrived to find Renato Gaitan, 29, of Anaheim, lying ne ... More >>

Letters From OC Weekly Readers

Just Another Orange County Murder: Jaime Anica Olvera

View Larger MapUPDATED: THIS REPLACES "ANOTHER SANTA ANA JOHN DOE" AS THE VICTIM HAS BEEN IDENTIFIED. Jaime Anica Olvera, 27, of Santa Ana, was standing on a sidewalk at Huylars Lane and West Fifth Avenue in Santa Ana around 7 p.m. July 23 when he was confronted by a robber, who was later identified ... More >>

Crime Time: Spot This Week's Celebrity Victim!

Hey, juvies, it's our weekly Weekly round-up of Orange County police calls . . .MONDAY, JUNE 29 The pre-vandalized Scott BorasAnyone Fitting the Description of a Major League Baseball Team Owner Spotted Outside Before the Crime? The windows of super-agent Scott Boras' Land Rover were vandalized whil ... More >>

Zee Avi Featured in Spin!

Brushfire Records artist Zee Avi is featured on page 50 of Spin this month. Prince is on the cover, in honor of the 25th anniversary of Purple Rain--the magazine is also offering a free tribute of the album, with Lavender Diamond, Chairlift and Riverboat Gamblers, among others.Her delightful cover o ... More >>

There Goes the Neighborhood: Cat Set Ablaze in Tustin

Weekly editorial assistant Amanda Parsons receives all kinds of phone calls during the day. On the other end of the receiver--generally--are your garden-variety nutbars, droolers and shim shamsters. But the call she received Wednesday afternoon was different. Angela Jolitz was distraught. She's live ... More >>

DA Serves Permanent Injunction To Those Whose Cases The DA Had Dismissed

The DA's office served a re-packaged permanent gang injunction this morning to dozens of people it has concluded are active gang participants in the Orange Varrio Cypress gang, including 62 individuals whose gang injunction cases the DA had already dismissed last month and who believed they were no ... More >>

Letters From OC Weekly Readers

In an Unprecedented Move, DA Dismisses Bulk of Gang Injunction Cases in Orange

The District Attorney's office stunned ACLU attorneys arguing the cases of five defendants named in the city of Orange's latest gang injunction when it filed yesterday to completely dismiss the lawsuit against their five defendants and 57 others. The cases were set to go to trial July 6 and the ACLU ... More >>

Letters From OC Weekly Readers

Letters From OC Weekly Readers

Letters From OC Weekly Readers

Orange Residents Gathering to Protest Gang Injunctions

A demonstration will be held in Orange Saturday to warn residents they could become victims of racial profiling by the city police department and gang injunctions by the county district attorney.Gang injunctions are similar to restraining orders courts issue to protect potential victims from someone ... More >>

Orange Gang Cops, Tony Rack Go After Emigdio Vasquez

The fight against Orange County's historic Chicano murals has opened up a new front against the man who virtually invented the genre: historic muralist Emigdio Vasquez.On Feb. 25, Orange County District Attorney Tony Rackauckas filed another of his wonderful gang injunctions, this time against the O ... More >>

Citizen of the Week!

While Angela May King liked to make people laugh, Edgar Omar Osorio loved to hurt people, and one night, less than 10 minutes from the Happiest Place on Earth, these two came face to face. It hadn't been a mutually agreed-upon meeting. Looking for guns and money and to enhance his reputation in the ... More >>

Friday's Headlines & Surprises: The Drake Two-Step

Dancing With the Fibber: UC Irvine Chancellor Michael V. Drake has inspired a new dance. We’re calling it the Drake Two-Step, and it goes like this: hire, lie, fire, lie, rehire, wiggle. For a story in today’s Times, Drake admits that he “bungled” the firing last week of Erwin Chemerinsky a ... More >>

A little too close to home

Growing up in Garden Grove- there are few places to grab a moment of solitude conveniently located next to one's home. Huntington Beach is kinda far. La Habra heights too. A park? Maybe. This may sound odd but when life was getting me down, or hell, even out of sheer boredom - my friends and I ... More >>

Harald Martin: Mexican Lover?

Turns out everybody's favorite Mexican-suing, rape-victim-blaming, Zapatistas-supporting school trustee is actually Anaheim's only defender of poor, hopeless Mexicans--and he's getting hell for it. At least that's how Harald Martin describes himself. In a long, rambling letter sent last Friday to an ... More >>

OC White Supremacist Killer Avoids Death Penalty

Just before lunch today, the jury in the Michael Allan Lamb murder case announced itself "hopelessly deadlocked" on whether the Public Enemy Number One (PENI) Death Squad member deserved the death penalty. The vote was nearly tied after almost three days of deliberating. Six jurors wanted death; f ... More >>

Disneyland Tourist Crime Alert

Don't be the amusement for a crook: As a public service to Disneyland's out-of-town visitors, we've compiled a summary of serious crimes committed in the city housing the "Happiest Place on Earth" for the period of July 3 to 9. Here are the reported crimes for the week: Stolen vehicles ......... ... More >>

Letters

'Stupid-ass crackers talk about gangs like they know something'

The Longest Yawn

Heavily padded football movie hits all the familiar notes

Deep Doo-doo

A modern-day Bonnie and Clyde are after your money again

Body Language

David LaChapelles dance doc Rize pops when its booty-shakin

Stranger Bedfellows

The Revamping of Assault On Precinct 13

The Year of the Gun

OC cops end 2003 with perfect record

Gansta Killa

Letters

Whiskey Night

An Open Letter to DA Tony Rackauckas

The Butcher and His Boy

Scorseses Gangs of New York

Hey, Professor!

UC Irvine snares renegade historian Mike Davis

All Rise Together

OCs first real independent hip-hop label is all about friends helping friends

Poor Mexico

The country where hope died

Around and Back

Delinquent Habits persistence of time

Excerpts: Part 1

California Voter Information Guide

March 7, 2000, Primary Election

The Weekly Guide to Doing Time

The (Imaginary) Plague

Rethinking crime and punishment

Percentage Issue

Pete Wilsons latest wedge issue: South County youth crime

Whats the Frequency, Sheriff?

OCs top cops should face facts about teen crime

Down These Mean Equestrian Trails

Middle-aged rage kills more kids than student gunners

Message in a Baton

OCN tags along for troubling police raid