The Los Angeles area has become a veritable crime zone under the policies of Los Angeles County District Attorney George Gascón.
It has gotten so bad that on July 11th (7/11), area 7-Eleven stores were encouraged to close by corporate leaders after a string of violent robberies that resulted in multiple deaths.
“Our hearts are with the victims and their loved ones,” 7-Eleven corporate leaders said in a statement Monday, according to KTTV. “We are gathering information on this terrible tragedy and working with local law enforcement. Right now, our focus is on Franchisee, associate and customer safety. With that in mind, we have encouraged stores in the Los Angeles area to close tonight.”The statement comes after multiple gunpoint robberies were reported at 7-Elevens across the Los Angeles area Sunday night into Monday morning, which resulted in the deaths of a store clerk in Brea and a customer in Santa Ana.Police say four other franchises were either robbed at gunpoint or had gun violence break out at their locations throughout the night, including Ontario, Riverside, La Habra and Upland.Three other people were reported to have serious injuries resulting from the robberies, though their conditions were still unclear.
Los Angeles police are also examining whether a series of store robberies several days earlier in the San Fernando Valley may be connected to these incidents. Meanwhile, the victims’ families are grieving.
The girlfriend of the victim who died at the Brea store identified him as Matthew Hirsch, 40.”He was just the most caring and compassionate person and you just wouldn’t expect that from somebody who looked the way that he looked,” said Kristen Ewan….One of the La Habra shooting victims has been identified as 60-year-old Manuel “Manny” Cruz, a married father of four and grandfather of eight.His family says he worked as a clerk on the overnight shift at the same store for 25 years.One of his favorite parts of his shift was when friends would come to the store and they would talk about sports. He was a big Dodgers fans, and enjoyed spirited conversation with friends in Orange County who liked the Angels.
7-Eleven is offering a $100,000 reward for information in the case.
The convenience store company encouraged anyone with information to contact Orange County Crime Stoppers at 855-TIP-OCCS.The reward is being offered for anyone who provides information that leads to an arrest and conviction, officials said.
Meanwhile, the LA County DA is injecting himself into an infamous case.
Los Angeles County District Attorney George Gascón said transcripts from the testimony from a former prosecutor connected to the Roman Polanski case should be released — more than 40 years after the director fled the US after he pleaded guilty to having sex with a minor.In a statement released on Tuesday, the embattled prosecutor said unsealing the grand jury testimony of retired prosecutor Roger Gunson is necessary to conduct an investigation into alleged judicial misconduct in the decades-old case.“This case has been described by the courts as ‘one of the longest-running sagas in California criminal justice history,’” Gascón said. “For years, this office has fought the release of information that the victim and public have a right to know.
I hope Los Angeles doesn’t completely morph into the Thunderdome before November.
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