Grandmother, disabled grandson are missing, LAPD says

Detectives in the San Fernando Valley are searching for a grandmother who disappeared with her mentally disabled grandson while the two were on their way to a Special Olympics baseball practice, LAPD officials said Sunday.

Barbara Berlin, 80 -- with her grandson, Justin Berlin, 21 -- left her Northridge home for the practice at Balboa Park on Saturday. Neither have been seen since.

Police say that family members told them Barbara Berlin was beginning to show signs of dementia and that her grandson has the mental abilities of an 8-year-old.

Both were last seen leaving in a maroon 2001 Nissan Sentra, license plate number 4TIV134. 

Anyone with information on the pair is asked to contact the Los Angeles Police Department’s Devonshire Division at (818) 832-0633.

ALSO:

Moreno Valley wildfire is fully contained

16 taken to hospitals during Hard Summer music festival

San Diego police officer dies after shooting

-- Kurt Streeter

Photos: At top, Justin Berlin, middle. Below, Barbara Berlin.

Moreno Valley wildfire fully contained

Firefighters said Sunday evening they had the 945-acre wildfire near Moreno Valley fully contained and expected control of the fire by midnight.

Riverside County Fire Department spokeswoman Cheri Patterson said cool weather and higher humidity had helped about 175 firefighters gain the upper hand on the blaze.

The fire briefly stranded 50 motorists after it broke out about 4 p.m. Saturday near Gilman Springs Road and the 60 Freeway and moved quickly through a rugged area known as the San Timoteo Badlands.

"The great news about the fire yesterday is it didn't threaten any property," Patterson said. "But it was inaccessible, and now we've had the time to get the firefighters in there."

Some eastbound lanes on the 60 Freeway remained closed Sunday morning.

The cause of the fire is under investigation.

-- Tony Barboza and Phil Willon

Plastic bags: Laguna Beach considers ban

Laguna Beach might be the next city to ban plastic bags.

The city's Water Quality Department has begun the process of enacting an ordinance in the wake of a California Supreme Court decision upholding Manhattan Beach's ban on the bags.

The court recently ruled that Manhattan Beach didn't need to issue an environmental impact report before imposing its ban, which had been challenged by the Save the Plastic Bag Coalition.

"Basically, the court said Manhattan Beach is a small town, and the restriction on plastic bags won't make a big difference, which was good for us," Laguna Water Quality Director David Shissler told the Coastline Pilot. "We are similar in size to Manhattan Beach, perhaps even a little smaller.

ALSO:

Attorney defends Fullerton officers in death of homeless man

Suspect charged in "All Ears Bandit" bank robbery case

3 medical marijuana dispensaries close in Newport Beach

-- Barbara Diamond, Times Community News

Photo: Plastic bags may be banned in Laguna Beach. Credit: Los Angeles Times

Reader photos: Southern California Moments, Day 219

Narrow chutes: Don Lloyd points his Android phone down an alley to catch two bikers riding in Santa Monica on June 25. This photo wraps up our go-mobile challenge.

Every day of 2011, we're featuring reader-submitted photos of Southern California Moments. Follow us on Twitter and visit the Southern California Moments homepage for more on this series.

3.2 earthquake strikes off Palos Verdes Peninsula

U.S. Geological Survey seismographs measured a small earthquake Sunday below the sea floor between the Palos Verdes Peninsula and the northwestern end of Santa Catalina island.

The magnitude 3.2 earthquake struck at 12:25 p.m. Sunday with an epicenter measured to be about 12 miles south-southwest of Palos Verdes Point, 18 miles from Torrance and 34 miles from downtown Los Angeles, according to an automatically generated report from the geological survey.

ALSO:

Small earthquake hits Central California

Search suspended for kayaker off Orange County coast

Valencia murder-suicide appears planned; motive sought

-- Rick Rojas

Image: Map shows the location of a magnitude 3.2 earthquake that struck Sunday off the Palos Verdes Peninsula. Credit: U.S. Geological Survey

 

16 taken to hospitals during Hard Summer music festival

Fire officials said Sunday that 31 people required emergency medical attention during an overnight music festival that started Saturday at Los Angeles State Historic Park near Chinatown.

The Los Angeles Fire Department said it responded to more than two dozen medical calls at the Hard Summer music festival, which featured more than 25 electro and alternative rock acts performing on four stages at the 32-acre site.

Of the 31 calls, 16 resulted in ambulance trips to local hospitals. The names, ages, conditions and circumstances of those who received medical care were not immediately available, said Brian Humphrey, a fire department spokesman. He said the calls were not related to one particular incident, but were spread across the eight hours the event took place.

ALSO:

San Diego officer dies after 'unprovoked' shooting

Suspect charged in 'All Ears Bandit' bank robbery case

Attorney defends Fullerton officers in death of homeless man

-- Rick Rojas

Photo: Left Brain of Odd Future Wolf Gang Kill Them All crowd surfs during a performance at the festival. Credit: Christina House, For The Times

 

3 held after suspected smuggling boat seized off Orange County

Authorities on Sunday intercepted a suspected smuggling boat that tried to land on a busy stretch of Huntington Beach about two miles down the coast from the U.S. Open of Surfing.

Lifeguards spotted the panga, a simple fishing vessel with an outboard motor, trying to come ashore at Huntington State Beach near Magnolia Street at about 8:30 a.m. Sunday, said Orange County Sheriff's Sgt. John Hollenbeck of the Newport Harbor patrol.

When the three men aboard noticed they were being watched, they steered the vessel back to sea, and lifeguards saw them throw a package overboard.

Orange County sheriff's boats chased the vessel to about one mile off the Newport Pier, where they stopped it at gunpoint and arrested 3 Mexican nationals on suspicion of smuggling and attempting to enter the United States illegally, Hollenbeck said.

The suspects and the boat were taken to Newport Harbor, where U.S. Customs and Border Protection agents took the men into custody.

Smugglers increasingly have been ferrying illegal immigrants, and sometimes drugs, by sea to Southern California in an effort to evade dragnets near the San Diego-Mexico border. In recent months immigration officials have discovered two or three smuggling operations a week from Orange County north, including boats of immigrants captured coming ashore at Crystal Cove State Park, Malibu and Santa Cruz Island.

"They usually come ashore at night, for obvious reasons," Hollenbeck said.

ALSO:

Attack on San Diego officer 'unprovoked,' police say

Suspect charged in 'All Ears Bandit' bank robbery case

Attorney defends Fullerton officers in death of homeless man

--Tony Barboza

Photo: Orange County Sheriff’s Deputy William Nelson pilots a fireboat as deputies Jim Slikker and Anthony Larios hold smuggling suspects at gunpoint about a mile off the coast at Newport Beach. Credit: California State Lifeguards

Actor Francesco Quinn, son of Anthony Quinn, dies in Malibu at 48 [Updated]

 Francesco Quinn, 48, the actor son of movie legend Anthony Quinn whose own journeyman career began with a supporting role in the Oscar-winning film "Platoon," died Friday in Malibu, his agent confirmed in a statement. The cause has not been determined, but Quinn was believed to have died of a heart attack.

[Updated at 2:10 p.m. Aug. 7: Sheriff's deputies responded to a "person down" about 5 p.m. Friday in the 21000 block of Rambla Vista in Malibu.

Quinn was walking home from a store at the bottom of a hill below his home with his son when he collapsed, said Lt. James Royal of the Los Angeles County sheriff’s Malibu-Lost Hills station.

One of Quinn’s sons went for help and Quinn’s wife and a neighbor called 911 and tried unsuccessfully to revive him.

Paramedics arrived and took him to Santa Monica-UCLA Medical Center, where he was pronounced dead.]

Besides "Platoon," Oliver Stone’s 1986 Vietnam War drama, Quinn appeared in more than a dozen other films including "Tonto Woman," an Academy Award nominee in 2008 for best live-action short.

He had recurring roles in such television series as "JAG," "24" and "The Shield," and portrayed Tomas del Cerro on the soap opera "The Young and the Restless" from 1999 to 2001.

He also played the young Santiago in a TV movie version of Ernest Hemingway’s "The Old Man and the Sea" that starred his father as the title character.

One of a reported 13 children of the Oscar-winning actor best known for his title role in "Zorba the Greek," Francesco Quinn was born in Rome in 1963. His mother, Iolanda Addolori, was an Italian wardrobe assistant who his father met on the set of the 1962 film "Barabbas" and later married.

Francesco Quinn's survivors include his wife, Valentina Castellini-Quinn, and three children, according to his agent, Arlene Thornton.

His father died in 2001.

More information will appear later at latimes.com/obits.

-- Claire Noland and Tony Barboza

Photo: Francesco Quinn in 2008. Credit: Annie Wells / Los Angeles Times

 

Search suspended for kayaker missing off Orange County coast [Updated]

The Coast Guard on Saturday night suspended its search along the Southern California coast for a 53-year-old kayaker who hasn't been seen since leaving Newport Beach on Wednesday.

The 52-hour search covered 2,446 square miles of water by boat, helicopter and airplane, reaching as far away as Catalina Island, but failed to find any sign of the missing man or his green kayak.

The man, whose name has not been released, told family members Wednesday he was taking his kayak out near Newport Harbor for a few hours and that was the last they heard from him, authorities said. The family told Coast Guard officials he is an experienced kayaker who rarely wears a life jacket.

[Updated at 12:11 p.m. Aug. 7: The Coast Guard has identified the missing kayaker as Marc Cross.]

The man's vehicle was found parked near a boat ramp on Newport Beach's Balboa Peninsula with his wallet still inside, said Coast Guard Lt. Sean Arumae.

The suspension does not mean authorities have given up on finding him.

"If the kayak shows up on the beach or if there's an indication of wreckage, we could continue that search," Arumae said. "As long as there's any sort of reason to believe that someone might be out there and can be found, then we will continue."

The missing man's family described him as "a mariner with a great respect for the ocean and an understanding of its power," Arumae said. "Basically he wouldn't go out there and do anything stupid."

ALSO:

Attorney defends Fullerton officers in death of homeless man

Suspect charged in "All Ears Bandit" bank robbery case

3 medical marijuana dispensaries close in Newport Beach

-- Tony Barboza

Photo: Kayakers paddle in Newport Harbor, a popular spot for the sport. Boating experts caution participants to wear flotation devices. Credit: Jamie Rector / For The Times

CHP officers fatally shoot man on Coronado Bay Bridge

San Diego police are investigating the fatal shooting by California Highway Patrol officers of a man on the Coronado Bay Bridge who said he wanted to commit suicide and threatened to shoot anyone who tried to help him, officials said Sunday.

The 54-year-old man  was pacing back and forth in the traffic lanes about 1:30 a.m. and yelling that he had a gun, said Lt. Ernie Herbert of the San Diego Police Department homicide squad.

When CHP officers tried to negotiate with the man to keep him from jumping off the bridge, "he suddenly reached into his pocket, quickly removing his hand as if he was producing the gun he had claimed to have," Herbert said.

Three officers opened fire. The man was pronounced dead at the scene. His identity had not been released.

The officers have been members of the highway patrol for one to three years, according to authorities. The dead man's name was not released until family members are notified.

ALSO:

Attack on San Diego officer 'unprovoked,' police say

Suspect charged in 'All Ears Bandit' bank robbery case

Attorney defends Fullerton officers in death of homeless man

-- Tony Perry in San Diego

Crime alerts for Koreatown, Brentwood and five other L.A. neighborhoods

Crime reports are up significantly for the latest week in seven L.A. neighborhoods, according to an analysis of LAPD data by the Los Angeles Times’ Crime L.A. database.

Four neighborhoods reported a significant increase in violent crime. Koreatown (A) was the most unusual, recording 21 reports compared with a weekly average of 9.7 over the last three months.

Brentwood (E) topped the list of three neighborhoods with property crime alerts. It recorded 19 property crimes compared with its weekly average of 11.3 over the last three months.

Alerts are based on an analysis of crime reports for July 27–Aug. 2, the most recent seven days for which data are available.

— Ben Welsh, Thomas Suh Lauder