East County News Service

October 20, 2016 (Santee) — Public help is sought to locate a suspect wanted in connection to an attempted kidnapping of an 18-year-old woman at Mast Park in Santee on October 6th around noon.  Now the San Diego County Crime Stoppers and Santee Sheriff’s station investigators released a sketch of the suspect.

October 18, 2016 1 p.m. --Update:  Paul David Carr, 61, has been arrested for this crime.  The victim has been identified as Rev. Craig Hodson, 55,  from Grace Baptist  Church in Jacumba, father of 11 children. Cause of death was a penetrating gunshot wound to the torso.  The death has been ruled a homicide.  NBC 7 reports Rev. Hodson was serving an eviction notice on Carr when he was shot.

East County News Service

October 17, 2016 (Boulevard) – Sheriff’s deputies responding to a call of a shooting last night at 7:22 p.m. in rural Boulevard.  They found a 55-year-old white man with multiple bullet wounds to his torso, lying on the ground in front of a garage at 36536 Old Highway 80.  The man succumbed to his injuries at the scene despite medical aid rendered by deputies and later, paramedics who arrived.

Story and photos by Byron Croft

Shooting sparks broader conversation on police-citizen relations in East County and San Diego,  facilitated by Showing Up for Racial Justice (SURJ)

October 14, 2016 (El Cajon) -- The recent shooting of Alfred Olango in El Cajon has sparked a surge of conversation on the topic of how police handle people in some sort of mental distress, and how that handling may sometimes be different when the people police encounter happens to be with someone with skin darker than “white.” What for many, until recently, was viewed as a concern for those in larger cities, such as Chicago and New York, has now become a topic of discussion in East County, and surrounding San Diego.

East County News Service

October 11, 2016 (Guatay) — The Medical Examiner has identified Guatay resident Robert Ceasar Mancini, 54, the victim of a September 18, 2016 motorcycle crash in Alpine.

Mancini was riding his motorcycle westbound on Wildwood Glen Lane in Alpine when he reached the end of a county maintained road and struck a gate.  A resident heard the collision and called 911.

By Miriam Raftery

Warning: vulgar language

October 8,2016 (San Diego) – San Diego Mayor Bob Filner resigned in disgrace and was convicted of sexual harassment for forcibly kissing women and putting his hands on their buttocks.   Now , the Washington Post has released audio of presidential candidate Donald Trump making boasts in crude language of kissing women  and putting his hands on their genitals without permission---actions that constitute criminal sexual assault.

As an attractive woman approached, Trump described her as ”hot as shit” then said he needed ”Tic Tacs, just in case I start kissing her. You know I’m automatically attracted to beautiful—I just start kissing them.  It’s like a magnet…I don’t even wait. And when you’re a star, they let you do it. You can do anything.  Grab  them by the pussy.”

He also boasted of attempting unsuccessfully to have sex with a married woman shortly after his own wedding to his third wife, Melania. 

East County News Service

October 8, 2016 (Santee) — The woman found dead by her roommate on October 4^th in Santee has been identified as Leticia Arroyo, 34. “The manner of death has been ruled a homicide,” said Lieutenant Kenneth Nelson with the Sheriff’s homicide unit.  “The autopsy for this case has been sealed.”

By Miriam Raftery

October 7, 2016 (El Cajon )—El Cajon Police provided extra security today at Montgomery Middle School after a series of threats circulated on Instagram by a user named “elcajonclown.”

 ECM obtained a copy of one threat, which read, “Who wants to get hired killing teachers?” 10 News reports an additional threat posted, which stated, "Tomorrow we attacking Montgomery at 9:30 AM send this [expletive] to montgomerys teachers we will kill all teachers and kidnap students we will have 19 people age 17+ be ready.”

By Miriam Raftery

October 3, 2016 (El Cajon) – Saturday night, El Cajon Police declared an unlawful assembly and arrested 14 people at a makeshift memorial site at 800 Broadway, where Alfred Olango was fatally shot last Tuesday by a police officer.

According to Lieutenant Rob Ransweiler, on Saturday night a vehicle was stopped for a traffic infraction leaving the protest area. The driver, who was under 21, was arrested for driving under the influence. Two passengers were also arrested for being drunk in public.  After the arrest, a small group of protesters gathered near800 Broadway.

East County News Service

October 2, 2016 (Spring Valley) - Community outreach is a top priority of the San Diego County Sheriff's Department. The Rancho San Diego Sheriff's Station will provide an opportunity for the public to discuss issues related to safety and security at Coffee with the Community on Thursday, October 27 from 8-10 a.m.at Butler’s Coffee House,9631 Campo Road in Casa de Oro.

By Miriam Raftery

October 1, 2016 (El Cajon)—No arrests were made overnight as protests continued for a fourth night and into today, following the shooting of Alfred Olango by El Cajon Police on Tuesday.

Tensions remain despite video released yesterday and a photo showing Olango in a shooting stance, aiming a vaping device at Officer Richard Gonsalves, who has said he believed it to be a gun. 

By Miriam Raftery

Photo: Cal-Fire

September 30, 2016 (Ramona) — Firefighters discovered a body inside a burned home near Dos Picos County Park in Ramona yesterday morning.

Women officers have fewer use of force incidents, but only 9% of ECPD officers are women. Could more females on the force have prevented death of Alfred Olango?

By Miriam Raftery

September 29, 2016 (El Cajon)—Mayor Bill Wells has confirmed that the officer who fired the fatal shots in Tuesday’s controversial shooting of Alfred Olango was  Richard Gonsalves—the same officer embroiled in a sexual harassment scandal last year. 

Could a culture that encouraged women officers to join the force have perhaps prevented Tuesday’s tragedy, before Olango pulled out a vaping device mistaken for a gun?

Multiple studies over 40 years have shown  that women police officers  are better at defusing tense situations and have significantly lower use-of-force rates than male officers,  the Washington Post recently reported.

For example, A 2002 study by the National Center for Women & Policing of excessive force incidents in seven major city police departments found that “the average male officer is over eight and a half times more likely than his female counterpart to have an allegation of excessive force sustained against him … [and] two to three times more likely than the average female officer to have a citizen name him in a complaint of excessive force.”

But the El Cajon Police Department has long drawn criticism for tolerating sexual harassment  and other sexual misconduct by male officers toward women on the force--hardly a history conducive to attracting women seeking careers in law enforcement.

By Miriam Raftery

Jonathan Goetz also contributed to this report.

Photo, left, by Rebecca Williamson, during vigil at shooting sight this evening

September 28,2016 (El Cajon) –Amid mounting tensions and protests this evening,  El Cajon Police released updates in yesterday’s fatal shooting of Alfred Okwera Olango.  

The updated information reveals the Olango, an El Cajon resident, drew a vape smoking device from his pocket and pointed it at officers. The release also indicates a Psychiatric Emergency Response Team was unavailable due to being dispatched to another call.

A 10 News investigation found  Olango had a criminal record including  a 2005 arrest in Colorado as a felon in possession of a firearm—a semi-automatic pistol in the vehicle he was driving. He also pled guilty to receiving stolen property and driving under the influence in 1999, as well as selling cocaine in 2001.

In this confrontation, however, Olango did not have a gun or any other weapon.  The Ugandan refugee who came to America  after death threats to his famliy was shot and killed after his sister called officers for help due to her brother's erratic actions.

Tonight, crowds clashed with police.  While organizers of a march and vigil sought to keep the peace, some protesters reportedly threw bottles at police and chased a counter-protester wearing a Trump hat after he shouted racial slurs.

By Miriam Raftery

Photo, left: El Cajon Police

Photos (rest) by Robert Gehr (c)

September 28, 2016 (El Cajon)—A shooting of a mentally ill African-American man by El Cajon Police yesterday  has sparked anger among some community members, though police have released a photo suggesting the man assumed a “shooter’s stance” before he was shot and killed.

Following a press conference this morning by police, civil rights leaders spoke at a press conference calling for a federal investigation.  Marches were held downtown and a candlelight vigil is planned tonight at 6 p.m. the El Cajon Police Station forAlfred Olango, 38.

Source:  Press release, SDSU Homeland Security graduate program

September 24, 2016 (San Diego) -- What can be done to stop active shooter incidents such as the one at the Washington Mall this week?  Two San Diegans who recently graduated from San Diego State University’s Homeland Security Program, have developed an innovative mobile app solution for preventing, mitigating and responding to active shooter situations. The Active Shooter Identification (ASI) application has the ability to detect a gunshot that supersedes 125 decibels.