Thursday, November 18, 2010

Manhunt

As I compose today's post, this helicopter is still circling South Pasadena. At 3:15 PM yesterday, I noticed it hovering near Orange Grove Park. I had planned on taking Little Bit to the playground before dinner, but the loud speaker warned citizens to stay indoors. Then, I heard words that reminded me of when I used to see police helicopters a lot -- back when I lived in Venice Beach and Hollywood. "Come out with your hands up," the officer in the helicopter said, "and you won't be harmed."

Not such a good day for a park trip.

The Pasadena Police and South Pasadena Police departments were/are looking for suspects involved in a jewelry store robbery in Pasadena. Several have been apprehended, but more are still at large. You can read all about it here at South Pasadena Patch.

May I just add that it is so nice to finally have a local news source with up-to-the-minute reporting on exactly what is happening in South Pasadena. (And I'm pretty darned lucky to be writing a column for this great website!) Editor Sonia Narang was on this story within minutes of the helicopter going up, making updates as she gained more information. Local photo journalist James F. Carbone included some incredible shots of arrests being made and SWAT teams walking with guns drawn through South Pasadena yards.

Scary stuff, but glad to have a savvy local media outlet giving us the scoop as it becomes a scoop, and letting us in on details that directly affect our community.

10 comments:

Judy Williams said...

I like the minimalism of this shot. Off to read all of the details at SPP.

Anonymous said...

I agree about South Pasadena Patch. Finally I can find out about something that's going on here. There have been other times with police activity that I wondered about. I used to see if Pasadena Star News was covering it, and if not I would just wait to see if it showed up in The Review.

Trish said...

pretty amazing. SoPas doesn't get this kind of excitement but once in a while...thankfully. That's why people live in SoPas!

Glad there's a news source---so often, despite these days of up-to-the-minute blogs/tweets, there's no info at all unless you're listening to a police scanner.

Good job on deciding to stay home with LB....time for some indoor games!

TheChieftess said...

when I lived in Long Beach, I was leaving for work one day, opened my front door to find the steet I lived on blocked off at both ends and a cop at my end of the street....I asked him what was going on...he told me that a bank had been robbed on Second Street and that they'd chased the robber to our street and hehad crawled under a house down the street...I told him I had to leave for work...what should I do? He told me to go ahead and get in my car and go through his end of the street (I was two houses away from the end) I ran to my car and peeled out!!! I think back on that now and am amazed that he let me do that!!! And that I did it!!!

Jean Spitzer said...

It's great to have a news source for this stuff of high local import that simply fails to make it to even city news.

Laurie Allee said...

I will never forget my first years here, living in Hollywood. Once my street was barricaded with SWAT guys perched behind cars pointing guns at my fourplex. The guys downstairs were running a meth lab or something and little innocent me and my roommate were crouched in our stairwell. She was holding a paring knife and I was holding a can of Aqua Net and a lighter. Hey, that would have made a great blow torch!!! Ah, youth.

TheChieftess said...

A meth lab downstairs??? My downstairs neighbor was eccentric, but certainly no meth lab!!!! She had plastic flamingoes and turned me on to the joys of collecting vintage flamingoes!!!

You're lucky you guys didn't blow up!!!

Laurie Allee said...

Our landlady was shocked. They were UCLA frat guys!

Pasadena Adjacent said...

I like the photo. Makes me want to do a painting of it.

Feel kind of sorry for the kid in cuffs. So young; think of the time he'll get for such a dumb unthought out action.

TheChieftess said...

I'm surprised DB hasn't chimed in about the UCLA frat guys...

Can't say as I feel sorry for the guy getting arrested...I'm much more concerned for the guy who's store was robbed and display cases destroyed....but then, I'm the wife of a cop and I also worked for almost 20 years with "at risk" kids who already risked and ended up in Juvenile Hall, then in residential placement where I worked. I have empathy for their family histories, because it usually was pretty bad and contributed to their choices. But the best way to deal with them is to confront their choices and help them learn from and get past the consequences. Robbery is a serious offense, and if you're the store owner, it can be devastating. I'm just glad no one was hurt...especially our Laurie and Little Bit!!!