he California National Guard sent 200 troops to San Diego County to try to prevent violence three days after arsonists and people stealing from businesses destroyed much of a suburb’s quaint downtown area. Troops moved into La Mesa Wednesday night to protect police headquarters and major streets from possible protests about police use of force. On Thursday, sheriff’s Lt. Ricardo Lopez said there were about 25 troops in the city of 60,000 people. Guard trucks were parked outside city buildings but troops were not visible. Volunteers painted plywood boards on storefront windows with phrases such ..read more

A business owner already accused of inappropriate behavior outside his La Mesa store was arrested Tuesday morning after video captured him attacking journalists, authorities said. Peter Carzis, 76, is suspected of felony vandalism and misdemeanor battery after Monday afternoon's altercation with reporters and photographers, La Mesa Police Department confirmed to KTLA sister station KSWB in San Diego. Video from the incident shows Carzis pushing reporters and photographers, and shouting obscenities at them. One reporter said Carzis shoved her camera equipment to the ground before pushing her ..read more

A former California man who stabbed an acquaintance more than 30 times with a sword has been sentenced to 12 years in prison. Thirty-nine-year-old Zachary Bunney of Hillsboro, Oregon, was sentenced Wednesday. He was linked to the 2006 killing through DNA and pleaded guilty last month to voluntary manslaughter and use of a deadly weapon. Bunney attacked and killed 47-year-old Scott Martinez with a 3 1/2-foot-long sword in Martinez’s apartment in the San Diego suburb of La Mesa because he believed Martinez was sleeping with his girlfriend, prosecutors said. The woman had babysat for Martinez but ..read more

A Southern California hospital issued an apology to the women who claimed they were secretly filmed during gynecological surgeries. More than 80 women sued Sharp Grossmont Hospital in La Mesa last week, alleging they were recorded by motion-activated cameras set up in three operating rooms as part of an effort to catch a possible drug thief. As part of the class-action lawsuit first filed three years ago, one woman claimed she was recorded while giving birth by emergency caesarean section. “No one ever asked me to record one of my most tender, life-changing moments,” Melissa Escalera told the ..read more

A women's hospital in California used hidden cameras to secretly record approximately 1,800 patients without their consent, according to a lawsuit. The recordings filmed activity in three labor and delivery rooms at the Women's Center at Sharp Grossmont Hospital in La Mesa, California, over a period of more than 11 months beginning in summer 2012. Captured in the images: partially robed women on operating tables, cesarean sections, and newly delivered babies. At times, according to the lawsuit filed last week, the women's genital areas were visible, as were their faces. "It's the most fundame ..read more

For more than 12 years, police searched for a killer, one who ambushed and repeatedly plunged a sword into a La Mesa man, likely as soon as the victim walked into his own apartment. Police found blood from an unknown source — possibly from the killer — at the scene. But leads in the June 2006 slaying of Scott Martinez ran dry. Searches of DNA crime databases yielded no matches. Then last fall, armed with crime-scene DNA data, a team of four genetic genealogists working with Parabon NanoLabs took on the case. It took about a weekend of digging for them to come up with the name of a suspect: Za ..read more

Video footage of a La Mesa police officer slamming a handcuffed high school student to the ground has sparked outrage, with some community members calling for the officer’s removal. The incident happened at Helix Charter High School near San Diego about 1:30 p.m. Friday. The interaction between the police officer and the student — captured in a 30-second video that shows a portion of the altercation and was widely shared on social media — angered other students, parents and community members who plan to stage a protest at the campus Monday morning. Officers were called to the school when a 17 ..read more

A man has been detained after allegedly shooting and killing his ex-girlfriend, a CSUN student, and a father in Winnetka, the Los Angeles Police Department said Tuesday. Brian Anthony Gonzales is seen in a photo released by LAPD on Jan. 18, 2016. Brian Anthony Gonzales, 24, was detained somewhere outside of the city of Los Angeles, LAPD Officer Liliana Preciado said. Additional details were not available, and as of 9:30 a.m. Tuesday he had not been booked. Gonzales was accused of fatally shooting Emily Fox and Jerrad Cardae Scott around 4:20 p.m. Sunday in the 7600 block of Oso Avenu ..read more

Homicide detectives on Monday have identified a suspect in a double shooting that left the alleged killer's 22-year-old ex-girlfriend and a 24-year-old man dead in Winnetka, according to the Los Angeles Police Department. Brian Anthony Gonzales is seen in a photo released by LAPD on Jan. 18, 2016. Brian Anthony Gonzales, 24, was wanted in connection with the fatal shootings, which occurred about 4:20 p.m. Sunday in the 7600 block of Oso Avenue, LAPD said in a news release. Gonzales is the ex-boyfriend of the female victim, according to the release. Based on the preliminary investigation, poli ..read more

A medical clinic in suburban La Mesa was immediately closed Wednesday when five people arrived with symptoms of measles, a clinic spokeswoman said. The Sharp Rees-Stealy urgent-care clinic adjacent to Sharp Grossmont Hospital closed when the five arrived with rashes. The five were immediately isolated and seen by a physician. San Diego County health officials said they were investigating whether the cases were linked to the outbreak traced to people who visited Disneyland late last year. The number of confirmed measles cases related to the Disneyland outbreak continued to climb Wednesday. Six ..read more