Five killed in fiery Los Angeles standoff

Five killed in fiery Los Angeles standoff

Police say five people, including one SWAT officer and the gunman, are dead after a nightlong standoff at a Los Angeles home.

Los Angeles police killed a man who had shot two officers and barricaded himself in a house after telling police he had killed three relatives. Ten hours after he initially called police, the house caught fire.

After the man and police exchanged gunfire just after midnight, he apparently remained in the house.

Flames shot out of the windows and smoke was coming out on several sides of the house.

Firefighters sprayed the house with water, but did not go into the home. It was unclear how the fire started, although tear gas had been used.

The standoff began at 9 p.m. Wednesday and continued into Thursday morning as the home was surrounded by more than 200 officers. Watch police cars swarm around home

The officers were shot inside the home shortly after they arrived, Assistant Chief Jim McDonnell said at a news conference.

Authorities had not been able to determine whether the man had killed his family members.

Shortly before 6 a.m., police lobbed tear gas into the home. Wind blew the gas back toward some officers, who retreated from the cloud.

Police could be seen in footage from a television helicopter using a battering ram to break into the home.

Both officers were taken to Northridge Medical Center, where one of them, 51-year-old Randal Simmons, died just after 1 a.m., McDonnell said.

Randal Simmons

The other, 51-year-old James Veenstra, was undergoing surgery, and was expected to survive, McDonnell said.

James Veenstra

Several blocks of the San Fernando Valley neighborhood were sealed off with yellow crime tape. A police helicopter circled overhead, its searchlight on.

Los Angeles Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa said he had visited with the family of the officer who was killed. Simmons leaves a wife and two children. Veenstra's wife is a captain on the force.

"This is a very horrible tragedy and our hearts go out to all the members of the LAPD who also are grieving at this time," Villaraigosa said.

Father To Be Charged In Bridge Case

Father To Be Charged In Bridge Case

A father faces homicide charges as police continue searching the Patapsco River for the body of his 3-year-old son, who reportedly was thrown off the Francis Scott Key Bridge, police said Tuesday.

Stephen Todd Nelson, 37, was in police custody at the University of Maryland Medical Center Tuesday night, said Cpl. Jonathan Green, a spokesman for the Maryland Transportation Authority Police. Nelson was in critical condition Tuesday night, a hospital spokesman said.

"Our investigation leads us to believe that he is involved," Green said. "We have been consulting with the city state's attorney's office about this case and homicide charges are pending against Nelson."

The body of the victim, 3-year-old Turner Jordan Nelson, has not been found. Green said police will continue search efforts in the area of the bridge in Baltimore.

Police have been investigating the case since late Sunday, when they received a 911 call about the possibility that a child had been thrown from the bridge.

"We have interviewed several witnesses that observed a vehicle matching the suspect's vehicle on the Key Bridge within the time frame in which this incident occurred," Green said.

The vehicle, a 2001 silver Mitsubishi Gallant, is in police custody, Green said.

"We have that vehicle in custody and it has been processed to locate any possible evidence," Green said.

Nelson's mother reportedly called Baltimore police after hearing from her son about what had happened, police said.

Nelson had been in a custody battle with his wife, according to records in Baltimore County Circuit Court. There was also a domestic violence complaint against Nelson that was dismissed.

In September 1999, Richard Spicknall, against whom his wife had obtained a restraining order, confessed to killing his 3-year-old daughter, Destiny, and 2-year-old son, Richard, near Cambridge. He originally told state police a carjacker attacked him, threw him off a bridge over the Choptank River and drove away with the children. The story fell apart under questioning by state troopers and Spicknall later said he killed the children and tried to commit suicide. They were found in the car.

Spicknall was killed in prison in 2006.

Police Probe Report Of Child Thrown From Bridge

Police Probe Report Of Child Thrown From Bridge

Helicopters and marine units scoured the surface of the Patapsco River Monday after authorities received a report that an adult threw a 3-year-old child off the Francis Scott Key Bridge.

Police received a 911 call shortly before 11 p.m. Sunday, and rescue workers from several agencies quickly searched the waters near Baltimore's outer harbor, Maryland Transportation Authority police spokesman Cpl. Jonathan Green said.

Green did not say how long the search continued Sunday night, but it was resumed after dawn Monday, then suspended again Monday afternoon until they get new leads.

Green said the fact that there were not as many helicopters at the scene Monday morning is not a sign that authorities believe the call was a hoax.

Authorities found no physical evidence confirming the report, but they were taking it seriously, Green said.

"At this point, we're treating it as a credible report," Green said. "As long as there's any question that this happened, then we need to make every effort to investigate the matter fully."

Green said police were interviewing a person of interest, but he declined to provide additional details about who made the initial report, the age of the child, or the relationship between the child and the person being questioned.

Authorities issued an appeal for motorists on the Key Bridge between 8:30 p.m. and 10:30 p.m. to contact transportation police if they saw anything unusual or suspicious.

Anyone with information is asked to call 410-537-7600.

Philadelphia Police Commissioner Ramsey Held First City Meeting

Philadelphia Police Commissioner Ramsey Held First City Meeting

KYW -Philadelphia police commissioner Charles Ramsey has held the first of six town meetings around the city.

It was a mostly friendly crowd of a couple of hundred people that showed up Monday night at South Philadelphia High School.

Commissioner Ramsey took questions on a broad range of issues including the number of patrol officers - he says it will go up - to gun control, community policing and lighting at certain locations. At times he had commanders talk with citizens immediately. But when one questioner referred to two fatal shootings by police over the weekend as murders, the commissioner responded.:

"If you are referring to the two police shootings they were not murders. Those were fatal shootings that involved police and we are investigating them right now. But to refer to them as murders is just flat out wrong. And I don't accept that. Ma'am, you got your opionion. I just flat out don't accept that."

The mother of one of the men killed by police later addressed the commissioner, drawing applause as she asked for a thorough investigation from the police department as if it was one of their own.