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The mother of Syed Rizwan Farook has denied in a court document that she had any knowledge and did not participate in the San Beardino Dec. 2 terrorist attack by Farook and wife Tashfeen Malik that killed 14 people and wounded 22. Neither Rafia Farook nor her daughter Saira Khan took took part “in any way with the tragic attack,” the court document said. The statement was included in a claim of interest filed Wednesday in federal court for the $280,756.17 in life insurance benefits left behind by Syed Farook, who died with Malik in a shootout with law enforcement a few hours after the deadly, Islamic State-inspired attack. The disputed money has not been paid out. It is in the custody of th...

The downtown Long Beach intersection where an unknown shooter killed a woman and her young daughter Saturday night has been transformed into a place of public mouing. The intersection, where E. Ninth Street crosses Locust Avenue in a usually quiet neighborhood, was the scene of a Monday night vigil where several mouers gathered to grieve for Carina Mancera, 26, and daughter Jeabel Anaya, 4. Additionally, a gym called Epic Strong aounced plans to host a Saturday evening event called LB Love Your Community Walk. Plans, which organizers said are still pending, call for participants to mee...

LOS ANGELES — A 24-year-old woman charged with murder in the death of her grandmother in Bell remained jailed today in lieu of $2 million bail. Sarah Montoya was arrested Wednesday and appeared in a Downey courtroom Friday in coection with the death of Paula Montoya, whose body was discovered July 21 in her residence in the 6600 block of Pine Avenue. Her arraignment was continued to Aug. 18. Sheriff’s investigators said the 64-year-old woman was last seen alive at her home three days before her body was found by deputies conducting a welfare check. She was described by sheriff’s officials as an active member of her local church, a “doting grandmother of six children and an attentive great- g...

LOS ANGELES — The mother of an Anaheim teen who died of a drug overdose after attending a rave concert in the Whittier Narrows Recreation Area in 2014 is suing the promoters, contending there was insufficient security and medical persoel present. The complaint filed on behalf of Julie Tran, mother of 19-year-old Emily Michelle Tran, names Hard Events LLC, Live Nation Worldwide LLC, Live Nation Entertainment Inc. and security company Staff Pro Inc. and seeks unspecified damages. A Live Nation representative did not immediately reply to a request for comment on the Los Angeles Superior Court suit, which alleges wrongful death, negligence and premises liability. Emily Tran died at an El Monte ...

LOS ANGELES — The mother of an Anaheim teen who died of a drug overdose after attending a rave concert in the Whittier Narrows Recreation Area in 2014 is suing the promoters, contending there was insufficient security and medical persoel present. The complaint filed on behalf of Julie Tran, mother of 19-year-old Emily Michelle Tran, names Hard Events LLC, Live Nation Worldwide LLC, Live Nation Entertainment Inc. and security company Staff Pro Inc. and seeks unspecified damages. A Live Nation representative did not immediately reply to a request for comment on the Los Angeles Superior Court suit, which alleges wrongful death, negligence and premises liability. Emily Tran died at an El Monte ...

LOS ANGELES — A search was underway today for a 24-year-old woman described as a “person of interest” in the “suspicious” death of her grandmother in Bell and whose own four young children are also missing. Sarah Montoya is being sought in coection with the death of Paula Montoya, whose body was discovered July 21 in her residence in the 6600 block of Pine Avenue. Sheriff’s investigators said the 64-year-old woman was last seen alive three days earlier at her home. She was described in a sheriff’s statement as an active member in her local church, a “doting grandmother of six children and an attentive great-grandmother to four children.” Detectives did not release the cause of the woman’s d...

She played Chopin’s “Minute Waltz” before a capacity audience at the former Municipal Auditorium. The performance eaed Carole Faye White, then a 20-year-old recent graduate of Wilson High School, the first-ever title of Miss Long Beach in a competition hosted by the Junior Chamber of Commerce. White – who went on that year to take fifth place in the Miss Califoia pageant – later assumed the last name of her first husband, race car driver Leo M. Breithaupt, Sr., and remained active in the local pageant, along with several nonprofits. Breithaupt died of emphysema July 19 in Palm Springs at age 86, her daughter said. “She had a great, long life with no regrets,” said daughter Lynda Breithaupt ...

BARSTOW >> The first time Cathyleen Williams suspected anything might be wrong with her son was six weeks before he was bo. “(The doctor) called and said ‘there’s something wrong with his heart,” Williams said. Caleb Lucas was bo a month later with hypoplastic left heart syndrome, leaving him with half his heart doing the work of a whole heart. “You had three choices: heart transplant, which most kids die waiting for, three-stage heart surgery — Norwood procedure is what it’s called — or we let him die,” Williams said. “We were devastated. I remember walking out to the parking lot. We were so excited to have a baby and now we find out that it’s terminal. I would have to say that was on...

MEMPHIS, Te. >> A mother in Teessee has been charged with first-degree murder and child abuse and neglect in coection with the stabbing deaths of her four young children, authorities in Teessee said Saturday Shanynthia Gardner of Memphis was charged with four counts of first degree murder while committing aggravated child neglect in the deaths of four of her children — all under the age of 5 — whose bodies were found after deputies entered her apartment in east Memphis. Gardner also faces four counts of first degree murder while committing aggravated child abuse; four counts of aggravated child neglect or endangerment; and four counts of aggravated child abuse. Shelby County Sheriff B...

The stepfather and mother of former Cal State Long Beach student Nohemi Gonzalez want to make clear: They have nothing to do with a lawsuit filed by her biological father against three social media companies last week. Jose Heandez and Beatrice Gonzalez, the step-father and mother of the El Monte woman killed in the Nov. 13 terrorist attacks in Paris, said Tuesday they have been bombarded with calls from national media and have received negative feedback from people who say they are trying to profit from their daughter’s death. Heandez said the family didn’t even know about the lawsuit filed by Reynaldo Gonzalez, Nohemi’s biological father, against Twitter, Facebook and Google, which owns Y...

The stepfather and mother of former Cal State Long Beach student Nohemi Gonzalez want to make clear: They have nothing to do with a lawsuit filed by her biological father against three social media companies last week. Jose Heandez and Beatrice Gonzalez, the step-father and mother of the El Monte woman killed in the Nov. 13 terrorist attacks in Paris, said Tuesday they have been bombarded with calls from national media and have received negative feedback from people who say they are trying to profit from their daughter’s death. Heandez said the family didn’t even know about the lawsuit filed by Reynaldo Gonzalez, Nohemi’s biological father, against Twitter, Facebook and Google, which owns Y...

One of two men convicted of murder in a 76-year-old woman’s stabbing death during a burglary at her Long Beach home was sentenced Wednesday to life in prison without the possibility of parole. Daniia Lasean Davis, 26, was found guilty May 13 of one count each of first-degree murder, first-degree burglary with a person present and attempted residential robbery. Jurors also found true the special circumstance allegations of murder during the commission of a burglary and robbery against Davis, who is also known as Dontae Davis. Co-defendant Freddie James Battle, 27, was convicted of the same charges and allegations. He is set to be sentenced Thursday in Long Beach. The two were charged in the ...

A young man who was killed in a North Long Beach drive-by shooting early Thursday was a childhood friend of Geron Lacy, a 16-year-old who was shot to death less than a mile away at Ramona Park in early May. Wylee Pritchett, 20, of Lakewood, was visiting with friends near 64th Street and Coronado Avenue around 4 a.m. Thursday when a vehicle approached and shots rang out, said Dell Malone, the grandfather of another man who was shot but survived. Pritchett was standing in front of Malone’s home with the other victim when the shooting occurred. Malone said he had gone out to take his dog for a walk, then noticed a car approaching with its lights off. “I thought it was strange,” he said. Malone...

UPLAND >> A mother-son duo ballroom-danced their way onto “America’s Got Talent” Tuesday night, attracting a lot of online attention for having “moves like Jagger.” Judge and show co-creator Simon Cowell said Tuesday Alla and Daniel Novikov of Upland were the first mother-son dance duo he had seen. He’s pint-sized. She’s … sexy. “Two words: Hot Mom,” wrote one commenter on YouTube. • Video: Alla and Daniel on America’s Got Talent The two spun and gyrated to Maroon 5’s “Moves like Jagger,” eaing three yeses from the judges to continue on in the competition. The audition video has more than 100,000 views since it was posted Tuesday. While some found them adorable, others online were mor...