Arrest made in alleged murder of female soldier on Army base

(LOS ANGELES) — At least one person is dead after a Los Angeles Metropolitan Transportation Authority bus was hijacked with the driver being forced to drive at gunpoint before police were able to apprehend the suspect, according to authorities.

The incident began at approximately 12:45 a.m. when the Los Angeles Police Department received radio calls to a disturbance on a bus in the area of Manchester Street and Figueroa Street in southern Los Angeles, said Deputy Chief Donald Graham in a briefing to the media Wednesday morning. Initial reports said that there was a potential assault with a weapon before officers discovered the bus stopped at 117th St and Figueroa St.

However, when the LAPD tried to make contact with the people on the bus, the bus started to pull away from the responding officers which led to an hourlong pursuit into the downtown area, officials said.

The bus eventually ended at Alameda St. and 6th Street at approximately 2:10 a.m. after police deployed multiple spike strips and were able to puncture a tire on the right side of the vehicle. On the bus there were two passengers, the driver and suspect.

A SWAT team was immediately called in to assist in the hostage situation and were able to get on the bus and rescue two people, the driver and a passenger, Graham said in his briefing to the media.

The suspect surrendered immediately and was brought into custody. However, when police were clearing the bus, a fourth person was found on with multiple gunshot wounds.

The victim was taken to a local hospital where he later died from his injuries. Two other patients declined treatment, authorities said.

The investigation is currently open and ongoing.

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(OAKLAND, Calif.) — A suspect has been arrested and charged with murder in connection to a Michigan home invasion in which two men are believed to have gained entry by posing as utility workers.

The Oakland County Sheriff’s Office identified him as Carlos Jose Hernandez, 37, and said they are seeking his extradition from Louisiana.

The second suspect remains at large, and the sheriff’s office is urging anyone with information that could lead to an arrest to get in touch.

On Friday, a 72-year-old man was found dead in the basement of his Rochester Hills home, according to the sheriff’s office. His wife, who called 911, had been tied up with her hands duct-taped.

It is not yet clear how the man, identified as Hussein Murray, was killed.

“Because of the gruesome nature of the injuries, it was not immediately clear if he had been shot or bludgeoned to death,” the sheriff’s department said in a press release.

The woman told law enforcement officials that the night before the attack, the two suspects had also shown up to the home claiming to be responding to a gas leak, but they were not allowed inside.

When they showed up again on Friday, they were let into the home, and her husband went with them into the basement, “ostensibly to look for the leak,” according to the sheriff’s department.

When they came back upstairs without her husband, they tied her up and taped her hands, the woman said. She did not see him come out afterward and “assumed he had been kidnapped.”

In home security camera footage released by the sheriff’s department, the since-arrested suspect can be seen wearing a utility worker’s uniform and a mask while holding a clipboard.

“We’re DTE. We’re checking for gas leaks,” the man can be heard saying in the video, naming the Michigan-based energy company.

In a statement after the incident, DTE urged customers to “be alert for DTE Energy impersonators.”

“If anyone arrives at your home or business claiming they are from DTE, please ask to see a badge with a photo ID. If the person refuses to show their badge, do not allow them entry into your home. If the person becomes agitated or acts in a strange manner, call 911 immediately,” the company said.

In an interview with a Detroit ABC affiliate WXYZ, Sheriff Michael J. Bouchard described Murray as “a loving guy, owned a business, cared about his neighborhood and his community.”

“[He] shouldn’t have been a target of this — no one should ever be a target of this,” Bouchard said.

Murray owned a jewelry and pawn shop, according to WXYZ.

Bouchard said they believe Murray’s killing was “very targeted.”

“It wasn’t random,” Bouchard said. “They’re not just knocking on doors and doing this.”

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(SUFFOLK COUNTY, N.Y.) The Suffolk County District Attorney’s office in New York lacks the resources to meet “ambitious” deadlines imposed by the judge overseeing the Gilgo Beach serial killing case, DA Ray Tierney said Wednesday.

Tierney called on the Justice Department to release some money tied up in an ongoing investigation into the office to help defray the cost of a prosecution that he said presents “a singularly unique strain on our budget.”

Alleged Gilgo Beach serial killer Rex Heuermann, a New York City architect, was arrested in July 2023.

Heuermann is charged in the murders of six women: Melissa Barthelemy, Megan Waterman, Maureen Brainard-Barnes, Amber Costello, Jessica Taylor and Sandra Costilla. The first victim was found in 1993 and the last victims were found in 2010.

He has pleaded not guilty.

Judge Timothy Mazzei said he wants to set a trial date at the next hearing, which is scheduled for Dec. 17.

Tierney called the schedule “ambitious” because of the large amount of evidence amassed in the case against Heuermann.

“I think the timeline right now is very ambitious and very compressed given the ridiculous nature of our discovery laws, where I have to provide every single piece of paper that was generated in a case that started in 1993,” Tierney said.

Tierney is asking for millions in federal asset forfeiture proceeds frozen by the Justice Department as part of an ongoing investigation into a previous district attorney. He estimated about $13 million is tied up in that investigation.

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