Author: CNN Newsource

By Jory Rand

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    SUN VALLEY, California (KABC) — An alleged thief was arrested after a wild takedown inside a San Fernando Valley Kohl’s store caught on police body camera video, but that wasn’t his only escape attempt.

According to the Los Angeles Police Department, officers were conducting extra patrol at the Sun Valley Kohl’s store located in the 8500 block of Laurel Canyon Boulevard on Aug. 1 due to a recent theft report.

Officers were walking through the store when they saw the suspect, 49-year-old Gregory Pekarek, in the men’s clothing aisle, kneeling while holding a large number of jeans in his arms.

Officers then approached Pekarek and began speaking with him, the suspect attempted to run. That’s when the wild takedown took place.

Pekarek hit his head on a clothing rack but continued to resist.

Officers eventually took the bloodied suspect into custody. Pekarek was taken to a local hospital for treatment on a cut above his right eye.

Once he was cleaned up, Pekarek tried to make another break for it. Again, he did not get very far.

“Get on the ground! Get on the ground!” an officer is heard in the video.

For a second time that night, Pekarek was taken into custody. He was transported to the Twin Towers Correctional facility where he was booked for burglary.

The next day, medical staff determined Pekarek was experiencing a medical condition related to the use of force with the officers and he was readmitted to the hospital for observation.

He was later charged by the district attorney’s office with three counts of grand theft, one count of attempted grand theft and two counts of resisting arrest.

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By KABC News Staff

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    LOS ANGELES, California (KABC) — Los Angeles Muslim Public Affairs announced the passing of Umar Hakim-Dey on Friday. He was a local activist, muslim religious leader and longtime advocate for the homeless.

Born and raised in Compton, Hakim-Dey was the founder of Inkerij, a community organization helping local leaders and grassroots organizations in matters of diversity and community building.

Hakim-Dey also played key roles in the L.A. Muslim Affairs Council and served as board chair for L.A. Voice, which is a multi-racial and multi-faith community organization working to empower local residents pushing for positive changes in their communities.

No cause of death was given. Hakim-Dey was 55 years old.

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By Sonia Rincón

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    BROOKLYN, New York (WABC) — A man was injured after being hit by a car while standing on a curb in Brooklyn. Police say a 15-year-old was behind the wheel — too young to drive legally.

The crash happened at the corner of Pennsylvania and Hegeman Avenues in East New York just before 10 a.m. Sunday, leaving debris all over the street.

Video shows a black Honda Accord going the wrong way and then going airborne, slamming into a utility pole so quickly that the victim had no chance to move. The pole absorbed most of the impact.

The teen driver then got out of the car running, just as the police vehicles that had been looking for him arrive. The officers chased after the teen as the mangled car bursts into flames.

Police say they did find the driver, and that they are questioning him as a person of interest.

The 71-year-old victim was taken to the hospital in stable condition.

Ali Ahmed, a worker at a nearby deli says he wasn’t there at the time of the crash, but he and neighbors who saw the video of what happened in that split second are so glad it was not much worse.

“It was two guys standing there. One of them got hit, one of them got lucky. He moved back. Thank god the other one who got hit is alive right now,” Ahmed said.

The teen was later charged with grand larceny, leaving the scene of an accident, criminal possession of stolen property, reckless endangerment and obstructing governmental administration.

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By Cyera Williams

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    MONTGOMERY COUNTY, Maryland (WMAR) — September is Service Dog Awareness Month, and WMAR-2 News is taking a closer look at the incredible bond between veterans and their service animals. One veteran’s four-legged partner not only helps her heal, but also saved her life.

Molly O’Connell spent 20 years in the U.S. Air Force. Her job was among the most challenging — she deployed multiple times and was often assigned to mortuary duty. Years of lifting the bodies of the fallen damaged her spine so severely that she had to learn to walk again while coping with the trauma of everything she had seen.

She admits there were moments she thought about ending her life. But then came Bryce… her service dog.

“He was, he was my reason to stay, fully my reason to stay. I don’t know where I’d be or if I would have come through it if they hadn’t given me him, because I wasn’t sure what I was going to do with the rest of my life. But he gives me a purpose,” said O’Connell. Molly’s access to Bryce was made possible by Warrior Canine Connection, a national nonprofit that pairs specially trained service dogs with veterans.

The organization’s process begins with volunteer puppy raisers who teach the basics, such as potty training and socialization, before the dogs advance to service dog training.

At the heart of the program is Mission-Based Trauma Recovery, or MBTR, where veterans, active-duty service members, and their families volunteer to help train those future service dogs.

“We like to, you know, think of it as puppy college, so to speak, you know, they, they go through all their, all their early education and then they come and live here for a little bit, and, um, you know, they’ve got a little bit more rigorous of a course load before heading off into their full-time career,” said Mar Leifield, Assistant Director of MBTR at Warrior Canine Connection. Katie Hearn, a senior service dog training instructor with Warrior Canine Connection, says the training is intensive.

“We’ve got wonderful volunteers who help with enrichment, but the dogs get trained for at least 2 hours a day, every day, Monday through Friday, and we’re doing things like outings and teaching them to retrieve objects, to open doors, things like that,” said Hearn. For Molly, those skills have meant survival.

“It’s more than just an animal. It’s a, it’s a mechanism to cope. It’s like having a therapist by your side all the time because I’ll have good days, I’ll have bad days, but I can look over and I can call his name and he’ll come running and jump on top of me and I know. That somebody’s always by my side and somebody’s always gonna be there for me, and I think that’s the important part of it,” said O’Connell. As Service Dog Awareness Month shines a light on programs like Warrior Canine Connection, veterans like Molly hope more people understand that service dogs aren’t just pets — they’re lifelines.

Puppy raisers are also needed. Warrior Canine Connection is looking for volunteers to foster puppies from four to 18 months and is willing to teach them the basics before they’re placed with a veteran. To learn more information or sign up to volunteer, click here.

Organizations like SaluteToDuty are also stepping up to help. The nonprofit donates 100% of its proceeds from selling LaPins to provide veterans with service dogs and supports groups like Warrior Canine Connection. Learn more at salutetodutyusa.com.

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By WTMJ Web Staff

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    MILWAUKEE (WTMJ) — Six children ranging in age from 2 months to 9 years were found locked inside a storage unit on Milwaukee’s north side early Tuesday morning, leading to the arrest of two adults.

Milwaukee police responded to the storage facility at 27th Street and Silver Spring Drive at 1:36 a.m. on Tuesday, Sept 16, after receiving a report of children being locked in a unit.

There, officers discovered the children — ages 2 months, 2, 3, 5, 7, and 9 — inside the unit, according to police.

A 26-year-old woman and a 33-year-old man were taken into custody in connection with the incident. Police said all of the children were unharmed.

A neighbor who did not want to appear on camera told TMJ4’s Jenna Rae that she had seen what appeared to be a family with children walking in and around the storage unit since the summer. The neighbor said she observed the group leaving every morning and returning at night.

“I’m confused, like, you don’t see kids in here ever, so how is that possible?” said Donnie Earl, who keeps his RV at the storage facility.

Earl questioned how the situation could have occurred given the presence of security cameras at the facility.

“I’m confused. How is that possible with the cameras here? Wouldn’t they have noticed that?” Earl said.

Rae has reached out to Stor Safe to ask who monitors the site and its cameras, and how this happened, as the investigation into the incident continues.

Charges will be reviewed by the Milwaukee County District Attorney’s Office.

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By Hannah Hilyard

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    PORT WASHINGTON, Wisconsin (WISN) — It’s a freeway murder mystery.

Ozaukee County investigators said someone shot and killed Joshua Terry, of Cedarburg, on Interstate 43 five years ago. Now, for the first time, his widow is speaking publicly in hopes of garnering more leads in the unsolved case.

“Josh worked from home, so the way he relaxed at night was to take rides,” Renee Terry said.

That’s what he was doing the evening of Oct. 30, 2020, but as time ticked away, Renee knew something was wrong.

“He’d usually be gone for an hour, hour and a half, and it was, you know, two and a half hours,” she said. “I just felt like it was taking way too long.”

While on his nightly ride, investigators believe Joshua Terry and another driver may have gotten in a minor crash. As Terry pulled over in the northbound lanes and got out of his car, someone shot and killed him around 6:40 p.m. Investigators said the other driver took off from the scene.

“The first couple of weeks, I, honestly, think I was in shock. And it was going through the movements because all of a sudden, you’re planning a funeral for someone who is 41,” Renee Terry said.

Five years later, the shooter remains at large. Renee Terry expressed her determination to find justice, stating, “I don’t feel like I have hate in my heart. I want this person caught. I will not stop, and as hard as it is to talk about, I will keep having my husband’s back.”

On Monday, Renee Terry sat with investigators as they brought the case back into the public eye. They said the interstate was dark and heavily traveled at the time of Joshua Terry’s death, making it tough to find eyewitnesses. It’s a case they return to often, as investigators look for a connection with any firearms case that comes across their desks.

The sheriff emphasized the need for information, saying, “This could have happened to anyone, and it happened to Renee Terry sitting beside me, and we just need answers.”

With a $15,000 reward for answers, Renee Terry wants justice for her beloved husband.

“I believe in heaven and hell, and even if you’re not caught in this lifetime, you know, you will have to answer for this,” she responded when asked what message she had for the shooter.

Anyone with information about the incident is urged to contact the Ozaukee County Sheriff’s Office. To do that, call 262-284-7172, email ozaukeecountysheriff@co.ozaukee.wi.us, or text “OZSO” to 847411. The sheriff’s office says tips can remain anonymous.

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By Nick Bohr

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    HARTLAND, Wisconsin (WISN) — A Milwaukee man is accused of stealing a comic book collection worth more than $10,000 from a Hartland storage unit, including a rare X-Men issue valued at $9,000.

Even in the age of e-readers and digital books, paper comic books haven’t lost their allure. Mitchell George at The Turning Page comic book store in Milwaukee said Monday he can only imagine the shock a Hartland man is feeling after his comic book collection was stolen from his storage unit in Hartland, including the first issue of X-Men, No. 1, from 1963, valued at $9,000.

“Yeah, that’s a big one,” George said, noting the special place X-Men hold in the hearts of many comic book collectors.

“The X-Men was one of the first comics to touch on, like, social issues a little bit, all the X-Men, they get their powers being born different,” George said. “A lot of the older stuff like the original X-Men and stuff, that was the first appearance of those characters, people really didn’t take care of them because they didn’t know they were going to be valuable or anything in the ’60s and ’70s, so a lot of them were destroyed, lost to time, so now all those books end up being a hundred to a thousand, to many thousands of dollars.”

The victim in the Hartland case called police when he realized 20 of his valuable X-Men comics and the first five issues of Firestorm were missing after he retrieved his collection from FreeUp Storage on Highway 83.

According to the criminal complaint, he was able to identify them in listings on Facebook and eBay, which led to the storage unit manager, 32-year-old Justin Hefter Wieloch.

According to the criminal complaint filed in Waukesha County Circuit Court, when confronted by police, Wieloch said, “Burglary? Burglary? I didn’t burglar anything!”

The complaint maintains he went on to say, “Don’t you have to break in for it to be a burglary? Like, that unit was open!”

He’s now facing felony burglary and theft charges.

According to the complaint, detectives found many of the missing comics at Wieloch’s Milwaukee home — but not the crown jewel, X-Men No. 1, which had already been sold.

Due to the high value of the stolen comic books, he could face more than 20 years in prison if convicted.

When reached by WISN 12 News Monday, FreeUp Storage’s director of operations, Randy Trapanick, released a statement reading in part, “When we were alerted to the accusations against and arrest of Mr. Weiloch over a year ago, he was terminated as a FreeUp Storage employee effective immediately. Our team cooperated with local law enforcement. We cannot provide further comment on this ongoing investigation.”

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