Category: CNN Regional

By Jeff Nguyen, Caden Sullivan

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    LOS ANGELES (KCAL, KCBS) — Neveah Aguilar was 7 years old when a Los Angeles police officer opened fire on her family’s dog inside their Hollywood apartment. She was just a few steps away when Kush, a pit bull, was shot in the jaw.

Almost eight years later, CBS California Investigates has looked into the Los Angeles Police Department’s use-of-force reports involving dog shootings. The team found dozens of cases in which officers opened fire, which raised questions about when officers use deadly force against animals and whether some of these shootings could have been prevented.

The investigation comes months after a family dog in Canoga Park was fatally shot by LAPD officers. For Aguilar and her mother, Norma Lopez, hearing about the incident brought back memories of what happened to Kush.

Lopez sued the police for unlawfully entering their home during an investigation into a shooting that happened outside their apartment complex. Lopez said officers detained her and her former partner before the apartment search, even though her family had nothing to do with the shooting in the area.

Aguilar alleged that officers tricked her mother, who only speaks Spanish, into letting them in without giving her a chance to secure Kush.

Lopez and Aguilar said they not only want to shed light on their own case, but also on the case of the 2-year-old Golden Saint Bernard Doodle, named Jameson, in Canoga Park. Aguilar said, “I don’t want it to happen again.”

In June, LAPD officers answered a call about a woman screaming during the NBA Championship game, celebrating a victory.

Body-worn camera footage shows Jameson’s owner answering the door when two officers knocked on her door. The officers asked the woman to secure Jameson, but he walked out of the apartment, barking. As Jameson moved toward the officer, he opened fire.

Lopez’s attorney, Theida Salazar, said police shootings against dogs were common when he worked on her case in 2018.

CBS California Investigates looked at the LAPD’s Use of Force reports over the past 10 years and found the LAPD had 19 cases in which officers shot at dogs in 2016. Of those incidents, 12 dogs died. In 2015, there were 11 shootings, eight of which were fatal.

The numbers have been going down, with only one in 2024. But so far, in 2026, there have been four, resulting in three deaths.

According to LAPD reports, over the past 10 years, officers have shot 67 dogs; 45 have been pit bulls, including Kush.

CBS California Investigates reached out to the LAPD for comment, but the department declined a request for an interview. Instead, a spokesperson emailed a statement saying in part: “At this time, the Department is conducting a comprehensive review of tactics, training, and best practices.”

Salazar said his clients settled their lawsuit, but he is unable to share the specific terms.

“If just a little more patience had been exercised, the dog would not have been shot, and I believe in the same instance in Canoga Park,” Salazar said.

In the case of Kush, Lopez said the police told her the dog was dead after the shooting. That wasn’t true.

She said after the shooting Kush snuck into the bathroom and hopped into the tub. Four hours after the shooting, animal control walked Kush out to their truck. She alleges that “they just let her bleed out.”

Kush lived for another couple of years. But Lopez and Aguilar said their once energetic and playful dog was never the same. Lopez said her daughter has had to undergo years of therapy for what she witnessed.

Photos of Kush still hang on Aguilar’s bedroom wall. There’s also a paw print by her bed. Her mother said she raises her children to respect police, but the now high school freshman said, “It’s not that I don’t trust them, but I’m still afraid of them, and I feel like they still scare me.”

Following the deadly shooting of Jameson, Los Angeles Mayor Karen Bass ordered a review of dog encounters when it comes to deadly force.

The department said it has not made formal changes to its ‘Dog Encounters’ Directive that went into place in 2023.

Please note: This story was provided to CNN Wire by an affiliate and does not contain original CNN reporting. This content carries a strict local market embargo. If you share the same market as the contributor of this article, you may not use it on any platform.

By Shardaa Gray

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    CHICAGO (WBBM) — The woman charged with stabbing a 7-year-old girl to death in Chicago’s Chatham neighborhood in broad daylight last weekend will remain behind bars.

Shavon Gayden, 48, appeared in court Friday after two previous hearings had been postponed. She is charged with first degree murder in the death of Eddimar Hernandez Chacon.

The judge called her “a danger to the community and pure evil,” saying she clearly suffers from severe mental health issues after an outburst in court that caused her public defender to recall her release.

Eddimar was walking with her teenage sister to a store on South Cottage Grove Avenue last Saturday morning when she was attacked, stabbed and killed. Afterwards, multiple bystanders battered Gayden to prevent her from escaping, and other bystanders held her down until police arrived.

According to prosecutors, Gayden had been inside a cell phone store trying to pay her bill. They said she became impatient and yelled at a sales associate for a refund, then left. While walking out, prosecutors say she passed the two sisters and, unprovoked, ran towards them with a knife, attacking the older sister and stabbing Eddimar.

Prosecutors said Eddimar had four stab wounds to the back. They said after her arrest, police found a two knives in Gayden’s tote bag, including a five-inch blade with the victim’s blood on it.

“She’s sick,” her public defender Brett Balmer said. “The prosecutor said she’s evil. I would counter by saying she’s mentally ill.”

In court, as Balmer was talking, Gayden interrupted her, saying disturbing things like “you’re not my attorney,” “y’all all gonna die,” and “all y’all got AIDS.”

Balmer asked for a psychiatric evaluation and the judge signed an order of examination. The public defender said Gayden’s mother has been asking for this.

“She has said repeatedly had she of gotten the help that she needed, that she was trying to get for her daughter, this would not have happened,” said Balmer. “I believed she used the words ‘tick-time bomb.'”

Prosecutors said this into the first time Gayden has attacked someone with a knife. In 2016, the state said she stabbed her boyfriend with a knife. In 2019, prosecutors said she pulled a knife on her son. And in 2023, she threatened to stab a CTA bus driver with a knife.

“The judge in the CTA case ordered anger management,” Balmer said. “A pysch evaluation could have been ordered then and that was not done. They ordered anger management and that was it, but I think what you saw in court today was just indicative of just how sick she is right now.”

The judge said her violence started 10 years ago and said her choice of weapon is knives and she’d have access to them at home. He said Gayden is “as dangerous as a person could be” and denied her release before signing the order for psychiatric evaluation.

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By Ricardo Tovar

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    SALINAS, California (KSBW) — Thursday marked the end of watch for a Salinas police K-9.

K-9 Tyson had been battling cancer and recently passed away.

Tyson had served with the department for more than four years. His loud, distinctive bark was memorable, and he will be dearly missed, Salinas police said.

“Tyson has faithfully served alongside his handler, helping protect our community and keeping his fellow officers safe. His dedication, loyalty and unwavering commitment to service have made him an invaluable member of our department and our family,” police wrote.

K-9s from neighboring agencies gathered Thursday in front of the Salinas Police Department to honor Tyson.

“While we wish his retirement could have been filled with years of well-deserved rest, we take comfort in knowing that his time with us was filled with purpose, service and love.

“To K-9 Tyson, thank you for your dedicated service, for the countless lives you helped keep safe, and for the loyalty and love you gave. We’ll take it from here. Rest easy, good boy,” Salinas police wrote.

Please note: This story was provided to CNN Wire by an affiliate and does not contain original CNN reporting. This content carries a strict local market embargo. If you share the same market as the contributor of this article, you may not use it on any platform.

By Felix Cortez

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    SALINAS, California (KSBW) — Authorities in Monterey County revealed new details Thursday about the death of a newborn found near a Moss Landing strawberry field, allegedly involving a 14-year-old mother and her father.

“People judge a little too quickly sometimes without knowing the facts,” said Monterey County Sheriff Tina Nieto during the press conference.

Detectives said the 14-year-old, referred to as Jane Doe, gave birth in the area and then ran over the newborn, identified by investigators as Baby Angelita.

“Deputies responded to the 100 block of Struven Road and found an infant with what appeared to be extensive crush-type trauma and tire impressions in blood-soaked soil curved towards and across the infant, which was lying on the dirt shoulder adjacent to an ag field,” said Deputy Richard Geng.

Investigators also examined Jane Doe’s online search history, which revealed searches related to hiding or terminating a pregnancy both months before and hours after the incident.

“’What happens if the cops find a newborn baby from a minor?’ This was timestamped the day of the incident, August 1, 2026, at 12:07 hours. So, about four hours after the incident. A search term shortly after that said how to turn off your iPhone location,” Geng said.

DNA evidence confirmed that Baby Angelita was fathered by Jane Doe’s father.

Investigators said there is no evidence indicating the father encouraged or was involved in the newborn’s death.

However, they said the father removed his daughter from a local hospital before she could be discharged.

Soon after, the father and daughter fled to Chihuahua, Mexico, where they were located last weekend.

The father has been charged with incest and child abuse.

“To try to bring justice both to the 14-year-old girl, and it’s horrific what happened to her. But also, we need not forget that there was a baby that was also—life was taken as a result of just a whole bunch of bad things that happened in our community,” Nieto said.

The FBI is working with Mexican authorities to extradite the father to Monterey County.

An arrest warrant has also been issued for the daughter, but prosecutors said the Department of Justice informed them that Mexico does not extradite minors.

Please note: This story was provided to CNN Wire by an affiliate and does not contain original CNN reporting. This content carries a strict local market embargo. If you share the same market as the contributor of this article, you may not use it on any platform.

By TJ Dysart

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    MILWAUKEE (WISN) — A Milwaukee woman said she was pinned between two reckless drivers at a BP gas station near 20th and College, along the border of Oak Creek, before they fled police and crashed near Oak Creek High School.

“As I was stopping, one of the vehicles rear-ended me, slammed into my back, and the other one came around and slammed in my front end,” Laura Grall said.

Grall explained that she had been trying to get home after picking up medicine for her sick daughter when she noticed two vehicles driving recklessly along 27th Street.

“I just thought, you know, ‘teenagers.’ Then I noticed there was an oncoming pickup truck coming, headed our way. Both cars went into the lane, basically playing chicken,” Grall said.

To avoid the drivers, Grall pulled into the BP parking lot, but surveillance video shows the vehicles following her and pinning her car.

“So, then I am thinking I am pinned, am I going to get shot?” Grall said.

Just over an hour after the gas station cameras captured the incident, Oak Creek police officers were chasing a group suspected of vehicle theft.

The chase ended when the suspects crashed near Oak Creek High School.

“They need to be held accountable. Every part of the police, the district attorney, the judges need to do their job and protect us because it’s their job to do so,” Grall said.

Oak Creek police arrested four suspects after Tuesday’s crash and a fifth suspect on Wednesday.

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By Jack Moore

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    DES MOINES, Iowa (KCCI) — MLS Next Pro, Sporting Kansas City and Hometown Soccer unveiled plans earlier this week for a $65 million soccer stadium in Des Moines.

The organizations told KCCI the stadium could host multiple types of sports, accommodate between 5,500 and 6,500 people, and set the stage for professional soccer expansion in Iowa.

“This would be a really, really great marriage, to be able to move the MLS Next Pro team, Sporting Kansas City, to Des Moines and make this team really a Des Moines team,” president of MLS Next Pro Ali Curtis said.

The proposed stadium would be built on the site of two large parking lots in the center of Des Moines near 9th and Crocker streets. However, the project still faces significant hurdles.

A corporate spokesperson for Principal Financial Group, the owner of the proposed site, said they have been contacted, but no agreement for a property sale has been reached.

“Hometwon Soccer Holdings (HSH) has inquired about property currently listed for sale; no agreement or commitment has been made,” the statement read.

This is not the first stadium proposal the city has considered. Des Moines spent seven years negotiating with another organization to build a stadium at the former DICO site, but those negotiations ended without a deal.

KCCI reached out to the city for comment, but were referred to a statement from Tuesday when the project was proposed. That statement from Mayor Connie Boesen said, in part, “The city is open to new possibilities, but it is our duty as a city to represent the best interests of our residents, taxpayers, and all of Central Iowa.”

Despite the challenges, Sporting Kansas City President Jake Reid expressed optimism about the project.

“I think it’s a great market, great fans already. We’ve been there from a club standpoint for over a decade. So, you know, again, I think for us, this is an amazing opportunity to just continue a lot of the momentum that Des Moines already has,” Reid said.

Curtis from MLS Next Pro said their next step is engaging with city leaders to work out the details.

“We’ve got to build upon some of those conversations with different civic leaders to advance the ball,” Curtis said. “That’s what we’re focused on.”

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By Randy Wimbley

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    DETROIT (WXYZ) — An 11-year-old boy is recovering at Children’s Hospital after undergoing surgery following an accidental shooting inside his father’s home on Detroit’s west side.

Detroit police report the boy’s younger brother got hold of an unsecured firearm at the home on Artesian Street near Tireman Avenue and accidentally shot him.

The victim is now in stable condition and improving.

Detroit Police Chief Todd Bettison announced a major development in the investigation, confirming that the boys’ father has been taken into police custody.

Following the shooting, the younger brother asked neighbor Norrice Turner for help.

“Well, I was laying in my bed, then I get up playing with my dog. I heard a gunshot,” Turner said.

When Turner rushed over to the house, he found the 11-year-old badly injured.

“I go in and the brother is on the floor with a bunch of blood on there,” Turner recalled. “So I’m telling him, ‘Just be still, be still.’ He was like, ‘Help me, help me. My mouth hurting.’ I said, ‘Where did you get shot at?’ He’s like, ‘I got shot in the mouth.'”

Turner immediately called 911 to get emergency medical personnel to the scene.

A source tells 7 News Detroit that there were several firearms inside the home, and all of them—except for the handgun involved in the shooting—were locked inside a gun safe.

As police continue their investigation, community stakeholders took to the streets. Detroit Police Commissioner Victoria Camille and members of FORCE Detroit canvassed the Artesian Street neighborhood, speaking with residents about responsible firearm storage and handing out free gun locks door-to-door.

Van McSwain, who lives just doors down from where the shooting occurred, welcomed the outreach after a traumatic night for the block.

“I have children, grandchildren, so just to see the parents and the child shook up, it was bad,” McSwain said. “I had nightmares last night.”

McSwain added that he hopes the outreach effort doesn’t stop here. “I hope they keep it going. I don’t want them to stop because it dies down, I want it to keep going.”

Wednesday’s shooting comes just a week after a Detroit Police officer and his wife were charged in Canton after their toddler son brought a loaded, unsecured handgun into a daycare facility in a backpack.

While no one was physically hurt in the daycare incident, community leaders say these back-to-back events highlight an ongoing, urgent crisis.

“It’s a reminder to all of us that if you’re exercising your right to own firearms, just keep them secure from our young people,” Commissioner Camille said.

Once Detroit Police finish their investigation, the case will be presented to the Wayne County Prosecutor’s Office to determine formal charges against the father.

Free cable gun locks are available to the public with no questions asked at any Detroit Police precinct and most local law enforcement agencies across Metro Detroit.

This story was reported on-air by a journalist and has been converted to this platform with the assistance of AI. Our editorial team verifies all reporting on all platforms for fairness and accuracy.

Please note: This story was provided to CNN Wire by an affiliate and does not contain original CNN reporting. This content carries a strict local market embargo. If you share the same market as the contributor of this article, you may not use it on any platform.