Sheriff's deputies shot and wounded a man in Lakewood on Tuesday afternoon, officials said.

The shooting took place about 2:34 p.m. in the 12400 block of 215th Street, according to a news release by the Los Angeles County Sheriff's Department. Deputies went to the location after receiving a call that an estranged family member refused to leave their house.

When they arrived, the 50-year-old male suspect approached them from across the street, with a knife in his hand. They ordered the suspect to drop the knife, but refused, and said they would have to kill him.

He refused to drop the knife and was shot when he became aggressive. He was struck multiple times in the upper torso and transported to a local hospital, where he was in fair condition.

No deputies were hurt, officials said. The knife was recovered at the scene

An off-duty Los Angeles County sheriff’s deputy was hurt Tuesday in a Norwalk crash involving a motorcycle, officials said.

The crash took place at 4:24 p.m. at the intersection of Pioneer Boulevard and Rosecrans Avenue, officials said.

The deputy was taken to the hospital, where he was in stable condition, sheriff’s officials said.

It was unclear whether the deputy was riding the motorcycle or in another vehicle.

The deputy is assigned to the sheriff's Norwalk station.

Refresh this page for updates on this developing story.

Nearly two years after bombs exploded at the finish line of the Boston Marathon, killing three and injuring more than 260 others, Dzhokhar Tsarnaev is going on trial in the city, accused of making the bombs with his brother and detonating them in a crowd of spectators cheering on the runners.

Tsarnaev, who has pleaded not guilty, faces the death penalty if found guilty of some of the charges.

Who is Dzhokhar Tsarnaev?
Tsarnaev, 21, is an ethnic Chechen who came to the United States about a decade ago. His family, parents Anzor and Zubeidat, his brother, Tamerlan, and two sisters settled in Cambridge, Massachusetts.

He was well liked at Cambridge Rindge and Latin School, where he was captain of the wrestling team and took honors classes, and he was enrolled at the University of Massachusetts Dartmouth.

Tamerlan Tsarnaev was killed after the bombings during a shootout with police, after he received gunshot wounds and was apparently run over by his brother.

The charges he faces

Tsarnaev faces a 30-count indictment that includes 17 charges that carry the death penalty. He is accused of improvising bombs from pressure cookers, explosive power and shrapnel, and detonating them at the finish line of the Boston Marathon.

Among the charges: conspiracy to use a weapon of mass destruction resulting in death, possession and use of firearm during and in relation to a crime of violence resulting in death and malicious destruction of property resulting in personal injury and death.

Dodging the death penalty?

A prominent addition to Tsarnaev’s defense lawyer is Judy Clarke, a defense attorney noted for keeping her clients off death row.

Her infamous clients have included Ted Kaczynski, known as the Unabomber; Susan Smith, the mother who drowned her two children; Jared Loughner, responsible for killing six people and injuring then-U.S. Rep. Gabby Giffords; and Eric Rudolph, the Olympic Park bomber. All received life sentences.

Clark, a staunch opponent of the death penalty, knew at a young age that she wanted to be a lawyer, according to a profile by The Associated Press. She told an audience at Loyola Law School in 2013 that many people charged with capital crimes have suffered severe trauma.

"They're looking into the lens of life in prison in a box," she said. "Our job is to provide them with a reason to live."

Courthouse protests

Supporters of Dzhokhar Tsarnaev could be outside the federal courthouse in Boston protesting throughout the trial — over the objections of his lawyers. Tsarnaev’s defense team had argued that he would be unfairly associated with their outrageous conspiracy theories and wanted them kept a reasonable distance away.

“Survivors, jurors, witnesses, and members of the public must be able to attend court without being assaulted by inflammatory accusations from any source,” the lawyers wrote. “If they cannot, the fairness of the defendant’s trial is likely to be gravely harmed.’’

But U.S. District Judge George A. O’Toole Jr. ruled against them, though he gave no written explanation for his decision.

Tsarnaev's supporters include the mother-in-law of Ibragim Todashev, a friend of Tsarnaev’s brother, Tamerlan, who was shot and killed in Florida while being questioned by law enforcement officials. Elena Teyer traveled to Boston in December to shout encouragement to Tsarnaev during one of his court appearances.

Some of the protestors insist that the bombings were the result of a government conspiracy, and that Tsarnaev was framed with flimsy evidence.

Unhappy in Boston

Tsarnaev’s lawyers have tried repeatedly to move the trial out of Boston, arguing that it would be impossible to find an impartial jury in a city so affected by the bombings, but O’Toole has rejected all of their requests.

The lawyers appealed to a three-judge panel of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the First Circuit in Boston, but on Feb. 28, a divided panel rejected their petition.

The majority wrote that Tsarnaev had not met the well-established standards for the court to intervene. The dissenting judge wrote that the media coverage had been unparalleled in American legal history, making the idea that Tsarnaev would receive a fair and impartial trial absurd.

A 21-year-old man faces murder and other charges in connection with an illegal street race that led to a crash that killed two people and left another injured last Thursday.

Henry Michael Gevorgyan pleaded not guilty in connection with the deaths of Eric Siguenza, 26, of Los Angeles, and Wilson Thomas Wong, 50, of Torrance.

The race happened on a stretch of road popular among street racers in Chatsworth Feb. 25 when Gevorgyan's Mustang went out of control, hopped a curb and struck a crowd of spectators.

The Mustang was one of two cars racing west on Plummer Street when the vehicle crashed into the victims, who were among an estimated 60 people watching the cars race, police said.

Authorities allege Gevorgyan was behind the wheel of the Mustang, which had been modified for illegal racing and which was abandoned at the scene. He surrendered to police on Saturday night, police said.

Gevorgyan's attorney, Kate Hardie, said outside court on Tuesday that her client was not behind the wheel of the car during the street race.

She said she didn't know who was behind the wheel and advised her client not to talk. Hardie said cellphone video shows her client standing on the street between the two vehicles at the starting line.

"Charging him with murder for just being there is a stretch," she said.

Gordon Tokumatsu contributed to this report.

A water main break flooded a street in East Los Angeles Tuesday night.

The incident happened at the 5100 block of  Dartmouth Avenue, Los Angeles Fire Department said.

The six-inch main break caused water to gush at a high rate of speed.  Water was turned off just after 12 a.m. The estimated repair time is at 2 p.m , with up to 30 customers affected.

Crews were deployed to Lombardy Boulevard and Dartmouth Avenue, with LAFD saying the road might be compromised, though there was no obvious damage. A house on Dartmouth Avenue suffered unspecified damages.

A girl allegedly coordinated the kidnapping of her friend, watched her being raped and killed by gang members 12 years ago and now faces charges at age 27, authorities said.

Rosemary Chavira pleaded not guilty to kidnap and murder charges Tuesday in connection with the slaying of Brenda Sierra, who was snatched off the sidewalk on her way to school on Oct. 18, 2002 and whose body was found in the mountains the next day.

"She actually was a friend of Brenda at the time and coordinated the kidnap itself," said Lt. Dave Coleman, of the Los Angeles County Sheriff's Department. "Evidence indicates to us that she was present during the rapes and during the murder."

Chavira also faces the special circumstances of felony murder during the commission of a kidnapping and rape and gang allegations, according to the Los Angeles County District Attorney's Office.

Because she was 15 at the time of the slaying, she will not be eligible for the death penalty and instead faces life in prison without the possibility of parole if convicted as charged, prosecutors said.

Coroner's officials said Sierra had suffered blunt force trauma. Sierra, who had no gang affiliation, was killed by a gang as a warning to others about cooperating with police, officials said. Sierra's brother had testified in a gang case, investigators said.

Chavira was arrested Friday at her Lancaster home, officials said.

Three others are being sought in the case.

Two women were stabbed at a house in Burbank late Tuesday.

The knifings occurred at the 720 block of Roselli Street and were reported just after 11 p.m., the Burbank Police department said. Neighbors reported hearing screams coming from the home.

It was initially reported to police as a battery call over a domestic dispute, and that those involved were family members.

The victims were taken to a local hospital in stable condition with moderate wounds.

It was previously believed a dog had also been injured however it was not, and is being looked after by animal control. It was also previously reported that three instead of two women had been stabbed,

A male suspect was arrested and taken into custody. He was being treated at a hospital for wounds he had when found.

A United States Paralympic hopeful is asking the public for help in finding his running blade -- a prosthetic leg he said was stolen from his car in San Francisco.

Ranjit Steiner woke up on his birthday Tuesday morning to discover thieves smashed his car window and took his laptop and his leg.

"It's just so low," Steiner said. "You never think anybody would take something like that."

Steiner, who runs for City College of San Francisco, needs the leg to continue his training. He is a hopeful for the 2016 Paralympics in Brazil after placing third in the 200 at nationals last year. By sheer coincidence, a San Francisco police officer found a $7,000 prosthetic leg with a brown lace-up shoe on the same day last week at Eighth and Market streets.

"For me, that's my way of life," Steiner said. "The most exciting part of my day is when I get to go to track practice."

Prosthetist Garrett Hurley, who co-owns the prosthetic clinic that employs Steiner, said the stolen leg will not benefit the thief.

"The value it has for Ranjit far exceeds anything that anybody could get for it on the black market," Hurley said. "I mean, we're talking 100-fold."

The leg, or running blade, has yellow stripes. Steiner said the thieves also stole his backup blade.

The prosthetic legs are expensive and specific to Steiner's body.

"Two blades and then a knee and a socket comes out to $30,000," Steiner said.

Steiner is now hoping the public will give him a birthday present by helping him find his running blade and continue his dream.

"Right now, I'm just waiting for that and then I'll continue my season whenever the time comes," he said.

Steiner's next meet on his road to hopefully making the Olympic team is scheduled for this weekend.

A 65-year-old woman was critically hurt with a fractured skull and pelvis after being struck by a hit-and-run driver in Los Angeles, police said.

The crash happened Sunday about 7:35 a.m. near Pasadena Avenue and Avenue 21 in Lincoln Heights when an older-model BMW swerved into the next lane, Los Angeles police said Wednesday.

The dark gray BMW then struck the woman as she was crossing the street outside of the marked crosswalk, police said.

The woman had numerous injuries including a fractured pelvis, dislocated leg, abrasions to her right knee and fractured skull, police said. She was hospitalized in critical condition.

Detectives are asking for the public's help to find the driver.

Anyone with information is asked to contact the LAPD Central Traffic Division Detectives at 213-833-3713 or Detective Michael Kaden at 213-486-0750 or Central Traffic Division Watch Commander at 213-486-8344. During non-business hours or on weekends, calls 1-877-LAPD-24-7 (877-527-3247). Anonymous callers can contact Crime Stoppers at 800-222-TIPS.

The trial of the Boston bombing suspect got underway Wednesday morning with a crush of media and a lone protester outside the Moakley United States Courthouse in Boston.

Joe Kebartas stood before the proceedings began with a sign reading “Death penalty is murder.”

“The government should not be in the business of putting people to death,” he said before slipping away.

Security was tight with a blockade on Northern Avenue and a bomb-sniffing police dog along the barricade holding back journalists from as far as Russia and France. The U.S. Coast Guard was patrolling Boston Harbor behind the courthouse.

Survivors of the April 2013 bombings arrived by Massport buses, normally used to shuttle travelers to Logan International Airport, and were taken into the courthouse through the back.

The federal death penalty trial of Dzhokhar Tsarnaev, 21, begins nearly two years after two bombs exploded seconds apart at the finish of the Boston Marathon, killing three and injuring more than 260 others. He is accused of detonating them with his brother, Tamerlan Tsarnaev, who was killed afterward in a shoot-out with police. Dzhokhar Tsarnaev was later found hiding in a boat.

The courtroom was crowded with relatives of victims and of Tsarnaev and others. When Tsarnaev walked across the courtroom shortly after 9 a.m. some of the survivors stared intently.

Jury selection took nearly two months, with Tsarnaev’s legal team arguing repeatedly that it would be impossible for their client to receive a fair trial in Boston.

In opening statements, his lawyers are expected to portray him as an impressionable 21-year-old in the sway of his older, radicalized brother. He followed the 26-year-old Tamerlan Tsarnaev’s lead, the lawyers hope to show.

The prosecution counters that Dzhokhar Tsarnaev was as much a participant as his brother.

Alysha Palumbo contributed to this report.

Five men are in custody after an officer-involved shooting and high-speed chase in Boyle Heights Tuesday night.

The incident began after officers spotted a van at around 11:20 p.m that was linked to three separate potentially gang-related shootings that took place over the weekend, according to the Los Angeles Police Department.

The men were followed to an alley, where one of the men who got out of the vehicle had a gun, police said. He was then shot by an officer, but it is not known if he shot at the cops first.

He and another person were taken into custody near Malabar Street and Ficket Street, police said.

The man who was shot was in stable condition with a non life-threatening wound. A weapon was recovered at the scene, but no officers were hit, officials said.

Another person was taken into custody after leading police in a high-speed pursuit which lasted 15 minutes. The driver blew through stop signs, spinning out several times, before jumping out of the still-moving van in a residential neighborhood, aerial footage showed.

As a group of LAPD officers gave chase, he jumped fences and ran through several yards — losing his shirt in the process — before being tackled by an officer in a driveway. Two other men who interfered with the arrest were also taken into custody.

One man faces a minimum of a charge of possession of a firearm. The driver who led officers on the pursuit is facing a minimum charge of evading.

Willian Avila contributed to this report

A Southern California girls basketball team has been reinstated after it was denied participation in the playoffs for donning uniforms with pink lettering promoting breast cancer awareness.

A three-person panel reinstated the Narbonne High School team after they were disqualified from the City Section Open Division playoffs and forced to forfeit a Feb. 28 semifinal win over View Park.

The team was forced to forfeit the win because they wore illegal pink-lettered uniforms. The decision to prohibit the team from playing in the state playoffs was lifted Tuesday, the California Interscholastic Federation Los Angeles City Section announced.

The Gauchos were originally removed from the playoffs on Monday because their uniforms did not meet City Section rules. According to Article 1305 in the LA City Section Goldbook, "Uniform colors may only be a combination of the official school colors." The school was in violation of this rule because Narbonne’s official school colors are green and gold.

"Pink is not a school color at Narbonne," a CIF statement read.

The team wore the colors in support of breast cancer awareness, and team officials, players and parents said they had no idea they were in violation of any rule.

"We were unaware that honoring cancer victims with uniforms was against California Interscholastic Federation rules," Principal Gerald Kobata said in a Los Angeles Unified School District statement.

The high school appealed the CIF’s decision and won.

"In the spirit of the game and for the kids, the appeals committee has decided to grant Narbonne’s request for reinstatement into the 2015 CIF LA City Section basketball playoffs," CIF LA City Section Commissioner John Aguirre said in a statement.

"We will continue to review Narbonne’s athletic program and compliance with the Section policies and bylaws over the next year."

Although the team will play the championship game on March 7 against Palisades Charter High School, the appeals committee issued three penalties.

Head Coach Vicky Sanders will be suspended for the remainder of the season, Narbonne High School will not be allowed to host any home playoff contests in 2016 and the school will remain on probation for the 2015-2016 calendar year.

The girls basketball team will compete in the championship game Saturday at 6 p.m. at Cal State Dominguez Hills.

A dog was killed when flames erupted in a Baldwin Park home Wednesday morning where firefighters described "packrat conditions," officials said.

The fire erupted about 5:45 a.m. in a single-family home in the 4300 block of Alderson Avenue, according to the LA County Fire Department.

Firefighters described the blaze as a "fully-involved structure fire" that was put out by 6 a.m.

Three adults and two dogs were displaced after the fire, and one dog died, officials said.

Additional details were not immediately clear.

Refresh this page for updates on this developing story.

Voters overwhelmingly rejected a proposal for additional oil drilling in Hermosa Beach Tuesday night.

However La Habra Heights residents shot down a measure that would have banned the drilling of new wells and restricted drilling techniques such as fracking.

Hermosa Beach's Measure O would have allowed a drilling project proposed by E&B Natural Resources Management Corp, however final results showed 78.9 percent of voters had voted against.

The defeat of the proposal will prove costly however, as it means the city will have to pay E&B $17.5 million stemming from a lawsuit over drilling. 

Supporters said in a ballot argument the project would have generated "hundreds of millions of dollars of new revenue,'' that could be used to hire firefighters and police officers, while also providing funds to upgrade the city's aging infrastructure.

The drilling proposal would also not involve fracking or off-shore drilling platforms and "no permanent equipment visible above the walls at the currently contaminated city maintenance yard."

Opponents of the project claimed the project would have included a roughly nine-story-tall drilling rig, 30 oil and gas wells and miles of dangerous underground pipelines that would "threaten our quality of life and our health."

They said the project will lead to increased air pollution, and also claimed any accidents at the drilling site could have endangered lives.

"By rejecting Measure O, Hermosa Beach votes are protecting underground aquifers, which supply water for 11 cities in Los Angeles County, from the threat of toxic wastewater, which would, had Measure O passed, have been dumped into four injection wells," said Breanna Norton, Southern California organizer with Food and Water Watch.

In La Habra Heights, meanwhile, voters on Tuesday defeated Measure A, which would have barred the drilling of new wells and the use of certain drilling techniques, most notably fracking. 

Proponents claimed fracking presents a health risk to residents, but opponents said such a ban would have meant a severe limiting or end to any drilling in the city, costing the municipal coffers about $370,000 a year, or about 13 percent of the general fund.

City News Service contributed to this report

Two men are dead and five people injured after shootings at a nightclub and a gas station in San Bernardino early Wednesday.

One of the men killed was gunned down at Stingers Bar and Nightclub on the 190 block of West Club Center Drive just before 1:47 a.m, San Bernardino Police Department said. Up to 30 shots were fired into a crowd of around 200 people in the parking lot. Investigators said the club has been linked to criminal activity in the past.

Minutes later after another person was fatally shot at a nearby ARCO. A car that had previously been seen at the club was located at the second crime scene, police said. Several vehicles were also hit during the shootings.

An additional five people were hurt, with two in a critical condition. Police believe the shootings are gang related. 

Investigators were combing the crime scenes for evidence, and will also be seeking to obtain surveillance footage.

A teenager was arrested Tuesday for allegedly making threats over a social media account to "shoot up" a high school in Lake Elsinore, police said.

The 17 year old allegedly sent out the messages a few days before his arrest and detailed the criminal threats against Lakeside High School with a plan to possibly commit suicide.

School officials were notified of the messages Tuesday when they contacted police.

Is was unclear how school officials became aware of the messages.

He was arrested at his Lake Elsinore home, according to the Lake Elsinore Police Department. His parents were cooperative in the investigation, authorities said.

He was arrested on suspicion of making criminal threats and taken to juvenile hall.

Anyone with information is asked to call police at 951-245-3361.

There's a rather satisfying "click" of sorts when two puzzle pieces slide together, but the click also occurs when two disparate happenings dovetail together in a delightful way over a single weekend.

Daylight Saving Time is on approach, on Sunday, March 8, which makes the evening before a prime moment to contemplate darkness, sunshine, and the falling of evening, which, of course, falls later, to the joy of many, come the spring.

Holding a lantern is a lively way to bid the final early evening adieu, an activity you can take part in at the Chinese American Museum's Lantern Festival. The downtown museum's free event is the last, last wrap-up, as in the very last, of the Lunar New Year celebrations, a happening that "occurs annually on the fifteenth day of the first lunar month to mark the closing of the Chinese New Year festivities."

The Lantern Festival is on Saturday, March 7.

It's a gathering that also looks to "foster a deeper understanding and appreciation of American's diverse heritage by sharing the history, cultural legacy, and continuing contributions by Chinese Americans ..." through the free festival.

The cultural traditions, kidly activities, and general try-your-hand-at-this opportunities are plentiful: Calligraphy, the making of abacuses, the building of sheep (in honor of the new year), the creating of red envelopes, the fashioning of kites, and, you bet, lantern-making.

Food trucks and community booths will dot the grounds, which are just a tuck up from Olvera Street.

Everything starts at noon, well before the time lanterns take center stage, and end at 7 p.m., which gives you plenty of time to get home and set those clocks forward. 

Will the Lantern Festival inspire more contemplation in the areas of light, evening, endings — the closing of the Lunar New Year — and the start of brighter nights? We suppose it can, but every traditional happening always works on a few levels: the fun had there, with the kites and lanterns, and the meaning we take when we leave.

A homeless man stole aircraft warning lights from Boston's Zakim Bridge and left them at historical sites around the city, state police said Wednesday.

Clifford W. Beckford, 34, who was arrested Tuesday evening, has been charged with breaking and entering, larceny, receiving stolen property, malicious destruction of property, committing injury to a bridge and defacement of property.

Massachusetts State Policesay they began investigating after Beckford stole a red beacon — measuring 18 inches in diameter and 3 feet tall and weighing at least 60 pounds — around 9 p.m. on Feb. 3.

Beckford allegedly walked up a ramp to reach the Zakim Bridge, broke into the bridge's south tower, climbed a ladder to the top and took the beacon. Police say he then came down the ladder and left the beacon in the snow bank on the side of I-93, went to his car parked nearby, drove to the side, put it in his car and drove away.

Beckford, who police say lives out of his car, was arrested near a relative's Melrose home, but police still had to find the beacon.

Authorities say their investigation led them to the Warren Tavern in Charlestown, the state's oldest tavern, which counts famous figures such as George Washington and Paul Revere as past customers.

State troopers went to the tavern and, after speaking with the manager, found the beacon in the establishment's cellar. Beckford had left the beacon outside the tavern recently, and an employee took it inside without knowing what it was, authorities said.

This wasn't Beckford's first time stealing a Zakim Bridge airplane warning beacon, state police say their investigation showed.

He stole another beacon sometime in the early 2000s during the bridge's construction, when the beacon was property of an electrical contractor and was never reported stolen, police said.

As state police investigated further, they found that the beacon stolen in the 2000s was recently left at the office of The Bostonian Society, which currently operates out of the Old State House Museum in Boston, another historical site in the city.

Police say neither the Warren Tavern, The Bostonian Society nor the Old State House Museum knew where the beacons had come from and were not involved in the thefts.

Information on a lawyer for Beckford was not immediately available.

Beckford was arraigned Wednesday and was ordered to undergo a 20-day mental health evaluation. 

Two police officers were hurt in a struggle with a homeless man after he attacked a TV cameraman on Los Angeles’ Skid Row Wednesday, authorities said.

A KTTV cameraman was filming outside the Midnight Mission around noon when the homeless man assaulted him, according to an officer with LAPD’s media relations section.

At least one witness said the man bit an officer on the arm.

Officers tried to subdue the man, and during the confrontation, the man reached for an officer's holstered gun, according to police spokesman Officer Jack Richter.

Two officers received minor injuries in the scuffle, but police were able to subdue the man with a Taser, the LAPD said.

The man was uncooperative and would not immediately give his name to police after his arrest.

Despite a request from D.C.'s congresswoman, there will be no sledding on Capitol Hill during the snowstorm expected to sock the D.C. area tomorrow.

The Capitol Police Board issued a statement late Wednesday that said it would not grant Rep. Eleanor Holmes Norton's request to allow sledding.

In a statement, Frank Larkin, chairman of the Capitol Police Board, said, "for security reasons, the Capitol grounds are not your typical neighborhood hill or playground."

The statement also said it was the job of Capitol Police to protect the Capitol grounds from being damaged. And, read the statement, sledding isn't that safe, anyway.

"According to recent media reports, at least 20,000 sledding injuries occur in the U.S. each year," Larkin's statement read.

Wednesday, Norton had asked for a one-time waiver of the ban.

"This could be the last snowstorm the D.C. area gets this winter, and may be one of the best for sledding in years," Norton said in a statement. "Children and their parents should able to enjoy sledding on one of the best hills in the city.

"Have a heart, Mr. Larkin," Norton wrote, "a kid’s heart, that is.”

Playing on Capitol Hill in the snow is a goal of many kids in the District. During a late February snow, News4's Tom Sherwood got tweets from a skier who managed to hang on the Hill long enough to capture a video. That same skier later tweeted Tom that a "sad boy" had just been turned away from the tempting, pristine powder.