If you're thinking about posting a resume on Monster.com or selling an item on Craigslist.com, there's a scam Los Angeles police warn is costing victims thousands of dollars.

The troubles started for Lee Ryder soon after he posted his resume on Monster.com. He was contacted about a sales job, but something seemed odd when he received a paycheck for more than expected.

"It was a $7,500 check - $2,500 for the first week's pay," Ryder said.

Then, they asked Ryder to return the rest – a refund request of $5,000.

"What ends up happening is the seller will actually send the money, their own personal money, and then realize later that the check was fraudulent," said Officer Julie Sohn of LAPD's Digital Media Unit.

Internet scams, like this one, are happening often, Sohn said. The police department has dedicated a team of officers to fight the growing wave of Internet crime and identity theft.

The scam artists are targeting job hunters and sellers on popular websites, posing as employers or buyers and send a check for more than the agreed amount.

"It could be a couple hundred to a couple thousands of dollars to the seller,” Sohn said. “So you're thinking, 'Wow this is great!' and then the buyer backtracks and says, 'Hey, I gave you too much money can you send me the difference?’"

Once that happened to Ryder, he became suspicious and checked with the bank. He learned the check number was out of sequence, so he didn't send any money. He also realized the offer was a scam.

"I was really disappointed. I wanted a job. I needed a job," Ryder said.

Police say Internet users can protect themselves by asking for references to make sure the buyer is legitimate. If you receive a check, police say it's wise to call the bank to verify the funds.

If you or your family have been the victim of a scam, it's important to report it. Call police or visit the Internet crime reporting website IC3.gov.

A man died after being shot in the head in a yard in Los Angeles Wednesday night.

He was gunned down outside a house on the 6400 block of Fulton Avenue in Valley Glen at around 8 p.m, a Los Angeles Police Department spokesman said.

The victim, who is believed to be in his 20s, died before he could be taken to hospital.

Witnesses reported hearing one or two shots, and up to two suspects were involved. They did not use a getaway vehicle and may have fled on foot. No description has been released of the gunmen.

A perimeter was set up when investigators arrived, however the gunman was not captured. Police believe the shooting is an isolated incident.

A biker was killed after crashing on the westbound 10 Freeway in Alhambra Wednesday night.

The man in his 50s died at the hospital after his motorbike collided with another vehicle near South Fremont Avenue at around 11:45 p.m, a California Highway Patrol spokesman said.

Three of the freeway's four westbound lanes were closed for an accident investigation.

Indiana lawmakers on Thursday morning announced changes Gov. Mike Pence had promised were coming to clarify the state's new Religious Freedom Restoration Act.

"What was intended as a message of inclusion was interpreted as exclusion," House Speaker Brian Bosma said of the law at a morning press conference. 

He said the new measure clearly states that discrimination against any class of citizens is not tolerated in the Hoosier state.

The new bill with the updated language can be found here.

Gays and lesbians are not a protected class under Indiana’s civil rights laws, and critics of the law Pence signed last week allege it could provide some businesses the opportunity to refuse providing services or selling goods to some people based on religious grounds.

The Republican governor on Tuesday said he found that claim "offensive," and called upon the state's General Assembly to send him legislation to clarify the law's intent.

The new agreement, first reported by the Indianapolis Star, comes as the clock ticks toward legislators' Easter recess, which begins Friday, and the weekend's NCAA basketball games.

"For the first time ever the words sexual identity and gender identity will appear in Indiana statute," said former Indianapolis Mayor Bart Peterson.

Bosma, Pence, Senate President Pro Tem David Long, other legislative leaders and business executives have met behind closed doors for hours working on an agreement on how to clarify the law.

"Hoosier Hospitality had to be restored," said Bosma.

It was Filipoos Saternus’ dream to travel from his native Poland to Silicon Valley to see his favorite wrestling heroes grace the stage of Levi’s Stadium in Santa Clara.

But the 21-year-old tourist, who had scraped together $6,000 he earned as a receptionist to travel to California, was robbed by a man he thought was helping him during Sunday’s massive Wrestlemania 31 extravaganza attended by more than 75,000 people and took in $12.6 million.

“When I realized I was robbed,” he said Wednesday night, “I go to the corner and I fall with my tears. Oh my God.”

San Jose Police Officer Albert Morales said that Saternus was befriended by a person at the VTA parking lot, offering to get him a discounted ticket, adding that he could save money on public transit by using his hotel card – something that is obviously not true. He gave the stranger his card to the San Jose Airport Inn, where he was staying. Police believe the suspect switched key cards with Saternus and went to his hotel room, taking a computer and cash.

““I lost my tablet with my personal data,” Saternus said. “ I don’t have souvenirs for my family my girlfriend.”

When told of what happened to Saternus – who loves Wrestlemania so much he created a home ring in his backyard – organizers at WWE said they are aware of the situation and are looking into how they might be able to help the fan who traveled around the world to come to Silicon Valley to fulfill a dream.

The Palo Alto Unified School District Board of Education will allocate funds to hire more therapists, a decision prompted after seven students have taken their own lives this year.

Trustees on Tuesday voted to allocate $250,000 for mental health services, which will bring in a pair of full-time counselors to help students dealing with depression.

"We need to really get a handle on this," said Chandrama Anderson, a mother of a senior at Palo Alto High School.

Anderson said her son and his friends all feel pressure to succeed and be liked.

"I talk to him about it," Anderson said. "I ask him a lot of questions -- how he's doing, how he's feeling."

And that's exactly what mental health experts said parents should be doing. Dr. Philippe Rey with Adolescent Counseling Services, or ACS, said students often feel the same pressures as their parents, with many not having the tools to cope with the stress.

"The pressure to be better to succeed more, be innovated and so forth -- we all feel it," Rey said. "Our students are feeling it too."

The district said the new therapists will start as early as next month and will be added to the counseling staff at its high schools. The additions will bring the total number of counselors in the district to five.

"We just make sure that when they need to turn to someone, someone is there," Superintendent Max McGee said.

McGee noted there is a public health crisis at Gunn and Palo Alto high schools.

"The best prevention strategy for depression, mental health issues is peer vigilance," McGee said. "So the students are supporting one another."

The average home price in San Francisco is now just below $1 million.

San Francisco Business Times cited a February study from Redfin Research Center reporting that the median sale price for a home in San Francisco is $979,750, a 16.2 percent increase from last February's findings.

In the report, Redfin stated that the figure will surpass $1 million in April.

The firm also found that the median sale price in Oakland is $449,400 and $842,000 in San Jose.

At the other end of the spectrum, Indianapolis, IN had the lowest reported median sale price of $135,000.

A former SeaWorld trainer caught on camera five years ago saying the N-word has called his actions stupid, saying: “I’m definitely not a racist.”

The back-and-forth battle between ex-trainer John Hargrove -- who recently published a book critical of the park’s practices -- and SeaWorld came to a head with the park sharing the inflammatory video with reporters.

In the video, Hargrove is seen drunkenly talking on the phone with a woman who claims she was assaulted by a group of black men. Hargrove is heard repeatedly referring to the men using the derogatory term.

On Tuesday, La Jolla bookstore Warwick’s announced it was canceling a book signing with Hargrove in response to the video.

The former trainer, who once worked at SeaWorld San Diego, was featured in the documentary “Blackfish,” which took a critical view of the park’s treatment of killer whales in captivity. He released a book last month called, “Beneath the Surface,” scrutinizing the park's practices.

In response on Wednesday, Hargrove gave a lengthy phone interview with KPBS in which he calls the video embarrassing and not a reflection of his character.

“Certainly it’s offensive language and it should never have been used,” Hargrove said in the interview. “If we could all go back in time and change the stupid things we did and said when we drink.”

“I hope it doesn’t discredit me and I don’t think it will,” he added.

Hargrove went on to call SeaWorld’s leaking of the video a “smear campaign.”

“What’s more shocking is that SeaWorld would then push that video out to media outlets when it has nothing to do with my book, the content of my book, my career as a trainer – it was just a smear campaign,” he said.

In a statement, SeaWorld said: “As we have said all along, ‘Blackfish’ star John Hargrove repeatedly provided statements that were misleading, false or in conflict with statements he made previously. As someone who might report on Hargrove and his book, we believe it is important you see this video we received from an internal whistleblower.”

Hargrove told KPBS that he rarely drinks now.

"That night when I used (the N-word) and was heavily intoxicated I thought I was being funny at the time," he said. "Clearly it’s not funny, it’s obnoxious and you should not use that word."
 

Surveillance video captured a horrific car crash that killed a 50-year-old South Bay man suspected of street racing.

A surveillance camera from Amenta's Bowling alley in Gardena shows a white Honda Accord crossing the intersection of Vermont Avenue and 155th Street when it was apparently broadsided by a speeding Ford Mustang, which police say may have been racing another car at the time of the crash.

The impact sent the Accord flying into a nearby car wash and the Mustang tumbling into parked cars.

The driver of the mangled Mustang, identified as Brian Douglas Dion, was killed. Investigators said he may not have been wearing a seat belt.

A 19-year-old passenger in the Mustang, who was wearing a seat belt, and the driver of the Accord were hurt, but expected to be OK.

Debris from Tuesday night's fatal crash remained scattered along a stretch of Vermont Avenue. Candles and flowers marked the spot where Sam Amenta tried desperately to save Dion.

"A number of us leaned into the van and got the van up off a little bit so we could free his arm out and get him some freedom," Amenta said. "Hopefully at the time he knew we were there. He wasn't alive."

Dion's adult children urged the driver of the other car that may have been racing their father to come forward to help police investigate.

Dion's son, Brian Dion, said his father loved to go fast in his car.

"He just loved his car," the son said. "Basically that's all he liked to do is go fast."

Witnesses said a white Audi, possibly a 2008 or news A4, left the scene after the crash.

"Witnesses are telling us that the speeds of the two vehicles, the white Audi and the black Mustang, were in excessive freeway speeds - 65 plus - very, very dangerous for that street," said Lt. Steven Prendergast of the Gardena Police Department.

"They were racing, clearly racing," said car wash owner Susan Clark Dickens.

Amenta says he's been begging city leaders for a light at the intersection for years.

"I'm pretty pissed off, frankly," Amenta said. "I don't know what it's going to take. You always say it's going to take a death for someone to get something done - no. There's been multiple deaths out here and nothing is getting done."

A fourth suspect has been identified in connection with the attempted murder and robbery of an 87-year-old man near the Rose Bowl.

Idalene Yvannia Alvarado, 19, of Rowland Heights is currently wanted by the Pasadena Police Department for the attack on the 87-year-old man, which occured as he was exercising in the early hours near the famous football stadium in Pasadena last week.

Concerned citizens contacted investigators to identify the woman, who is also being sought by members of the Pacific Southwest Regional Fugitive Task Force, police said.

A third person was arrested on suspicion of attempted murder Tuesday night. A 19-year-old Rowland Heights resident turned himself in to Pasadena police. Two other 19-year-old men surrendered earlier this week and were booked on suspicion of attempted murder, robbery and elder abuse.

The victim was hospitalized in critical condition after the attackers confronted him on a popular recreational walking route on West Drive, north of Salvia Canyon Road. He suffered head injuries and was robbed of a pouch that police said contained personal information.

Police reviewed surveillance video as part of the investigation that showed three men and a woman in their teens and 20s at a Pasadena service station attempting to use the victim's credit card shortly after the attack, officials said. It was not clear whether the woman is still sought.

Anyone with information regarding Alvarado’s whereabouts is asked to contact Det. Timothy Bundy at  626-744-3953.

I.R.S.

There are no more frightening letters in the alphabet in the month of April as tax time generally comes with anxiety and a desire at all costs to avoid being audited.

But, oddly enough it’s the IRS - with some help from students at Southwestern School of Law - that is taking the fear out of tax preparation, making it easy to get your taxes finished for free.

The program has existed for years, and pairs people who need someone to help them with their taxes with future tax attorneys, whose only payment is the experience they get helping you.

Turning a lecture hall on campus into a tax prep office, taxpayers gather for a crash course in finishing the annual paperwork.

"When you do someone’s taxes you are learning about their lives," says Kirsten Brown, a third-year law student, who is one of this year’s volunteers through Southwestern’s Tax Law Society.

The students are participating in the Volunteer Income Tax Assistance program run by the IRS, and everyone is a certified tax preparer.

The program is targeted to provide free tax assistance to prepare tax assistance for low income families and individuals.

The program lasts about 8 weeks each year, in February and March each year. Many of the clients are repeat customers.

"This is, I think like my third or fourth time," says Alex Chernyshev.

Chernyshev says students are getting the benefits of real life tax experiences, while he gets the expertise of bright young minds.

"If i didn’t have a place like this, everything would be rough," he says.

Jaleah Como is using it for the second year. Clients have options to have refunds mailed or deposited electronically.

"It’s free, it’s reliable and then I like the fact that it has the IRS behind it," he says.

Southwestern is not the only school participating in the program. To find free tax prep near you, visit the IRS website.

Two women accused of plotting to plant bombs in the United States, one of whom allegedly called Osama bin Laden her hero and praised the World Trade Center attacks, were arrested on terror charges in Queens by the Joint Terrorism Task Force early Thursday, federal officials familiar with the investigation tell NBC 4 New York.

The women, identified in court papers as 28-year-old Noelle Velentzas and 31-year-old Asia Siddiqui, are accused of conspiring to detonate an explosive device somewhere within the United States. The two suspects allegedly discussed possible targets online but there was no specific terror plot and no active explosive device, one official familiar with the case said. The women were alleged to have met with undercover officer posing as a would-be jihadist on many occasions since 2014.

Investigators allege Siddiqui was in possession of multiple propane tanks, as well as instructions for how to transform those tanks into explosive devices, at the time of her arrest, according to a criminal complaint. Less than two weeks ago, Velentzas, asked whether she had heard the news about the recent arrest of a former U.S. airman from New Jersey who tried to travel to Syria to join ISIS, said she didn't understand why people were traveling overseas to engage in jihad when there were more opportunities of "pleasing Allah" in the U.S, according to the complaint.

Both women, U.S. citizens who were until recently roommates in a Queens apartment, appeared in Brooklyn federal court later Thursday. Siddiqui's attorney, Thomas Dunn, said earlier his client planned to plead not guilty.

"I know it's a serious case, but we're going to fight it out in court," he said. 

Neither suspect had a bail package to present Thursday. Shawn Maher, the attorney for Velentzas, has requested medical treatment in prison for his client. 

Siddiqui has repeatedly contacted members of al-Qaida overseas to offer her support, the complaint alleges. She also sent a letter of support to Mohammed Mohamud, the man arrested in November 2010 after trying to blow up a Christmas-tree lighting ceremony in Portland, Oregon; the return address was linked to York College in Jamaica.

In 2006, Siddiqui allegedly became close with Samir Khan, who later moved to Yemen, became the editor of the propagandist magazine Inspire and moved up the ranks of the terror group on the Arabian Peninsula. In 2009, Siddiqui wrote a poem published in Jihad Recollections, Inspire's predecessor, that called for readers to engage in violent jihad and destroy enemies of Islam, court papers allege.

According to the complaint, she wrote that she "drop[s] bombs" as she swings on a hammock, "taste[s] the Truth through fists and slit throats" and that there is "[n]o excuse to sit back and wait -- for the skies to rain martyrdom."

Khan was killed in Yemen about three weeks after the 2001 World Trade Center attacks, having published articles outlining his grievances against the United States, championing himself as a "traitor" and detailing the challenges of suicide bombing, Kahn published bomb-making manuals, including an article titled "Make a Bomb in the Kitchen of Your Mom."

When federal investigators interviewed Siddiqui at LaGuardia Airport in July, she denied having any contact with Khan or other terrorists or terror networks. She also denied contributing to or having been published in any jihadist magazines.

Velentzas allegedly praised the Sept. 11, 2001 terror attacks and told the undercover officer that being a martyr through a suicide attack guarantees entrance into heaven. According to the complaint, Velentzas showed the officer her phone, which included a background picture of bin Laden holding an AK-47, and called the infamous terrorist and his mentor, Abdullah Azzam, her heroes, the complaint says.

Siddiqui told the undercover agent Velentzas "has been obsessed" with pressure cookers since the 2013 terror attack at the Boston Marathon, according to the complaint. Velentzas told the agent she had recently gotten a pressure cooker as a present.

"You can fit a lot of things in [the pressure cooker], even if it's not food," Velentzas told the agent, apparently referencing explosive materials, according to the complaint.

In June, Velentzas allegedly told the undercover agent she and Siddiqui needed to learn how to take someone's weapon from them and fight multiple people at once.

According to the complaint, she told the agent, "If we get arrested, the police will point their guns at us from the back and maybe from the front. If we can get even one of their weapons, we can shoot them. They will probably kill us but we will be martyrs automatically and receive Allah's blessing."

In recorded conversations between Velentzas, Siddiqui and the undercover agent, the women talked about learning "science" in order to build a bomb, the complaint says. Velentzas allegedly told the other two to deny being good at science if they were ever asked about it, because that could tip off investigators to their plans. She warned about other ways they could get caught, and complained that one man who was allegedly planning to attack Manhattan's Herald Square subway station was caught because he scouted out the location.

Velentzas asked the agent why an individual would attack the subway station. When the agent replied, "Because there's a lot of people," Velentzas said, "Yeah, but just regular people," the complaint says. Court documents say the agent believed that statement indicated she would prefer to attack military or government targets rather than civilians.

The women also looked into chemistry beginner books at a public library and talked about using communications like pre-paid phones that would not be traced back to them. Siddiqui took a course on electricity and met with Velentzas and the undercover agent in a park in September to talk about how they could use wires to cause an explosion remotely, the complaint says. They also discussed how to make homemade grenades, pipe bombs and pressure cooker bombs.

In that same meeting, Velentzas said they needed to learn the science behind bomb-building to avoid being like Faisal Shahzad, the man who drove an SUV full of explosives into Times Square on a warm Saturday night in May 2010. He wasn't able to detonate the bombs. Shahzad later pleaded guilty to a 10-count indictment and was sentenced to life in prison with no chance of parole.

Siddiqui recently told the undercover agent she didn't want to talk to the officer about her progress in learning how to build a bomb, according to the criminal complaint, though it wasn't clear if that expedited Thursday's arrests.

Police Commissioner Bill Bratton condemned the suspects' alleged "sustained efforts" to obtain bomb-making materials and instructions and applauded the multi-agency team that brought them in, calling the squad a "model for early detection and prevention of terrorist plotting."

"The defendants allegedly plotted to wreak terror by creating explosive devices and even researching the pressure cooker bombs used during the Boston Marathon bombing,” said Assistant Director in Charge Diego Rodriguez.

"We remain firm in our resolve to hold accountable anyone who would seek to terrorize the American people, whether by traveling abroad to commit attacks overseas or by plotting here at home," added U.S. Attorney Loretta Lynch of the Eastern District of New York.
Both women face life imprisonment if convicted.

The case comes less than two months after three Brooklyn men were arrested for allegedly plotting to join ISIS overseas. Those three men -- Abdurasul Hasanovich Juraboev, 24, Akhror Saidakhmetov, 19, and 30-year-old Abror Habibov, have pleaded not guilty to an indictment charging them with conspiracy to provide material support to a foreign terrorist organization and travel document fraud.

Juraboev and Saidakhmetov allegedly planned to travel to Syria through Turkey, and Habibov allegedly funded the operation.

According to court documents, Juraboev first came to the attention of law enforcement in August, when he posted on an Uzbek-language website that propagates ISIS ideology. His plans included attacks against President Obama or planting a bomb on Coney Island, officials said. Another suspect discussed shooting FBI agents and police officers, the indictment alleged.

It wasn't immediately clear if authorities believed there to be a connection between the arrest of the Brooklyn men in late February and the arrest of the women Thursday.  

Both women are expected to next appear in court May 4. 

Los Angeles — referred to as the broken sidewalk capital of the country — today agreed to spend $1.4 billion over thirty years to fix thousands of cracked, buckled, and dangerous sidewalks.

As the NBC4 I-Team has exposed, LA’s sidewalks result in scores of accidents, costing the city $5 million a year in payouts.

After spending nearly two hours behind closed doors today, the LA City Council approved a settlement to a 2010 lawsuit brought by disabled residents and advocates, who said the city’s sidewalks were impassable and violate the Americans With Disabilities Act.

City leaders, including Mayor Eric Garcetti, called the settlement "historic" and said it was the biggest agreement of its kind ever.

"It’s something that will improve access, public safety, boost property values and neighborhood pride," Mayor Garcetti said at a news conference after the council vote.

Under the proposed settlement, which still must be approved by a federal judge, the city will start spending $31 million a year in the next budget year to fix broken sidewalks, with the amount going up over years, adjusted for inflation.

Lawyers for the disabled plaintiffs who sued the city, praised city leaders for hammering out the settlement. "This settlement will create a sidewalk system that will make life better for the disabled and for all people in LA," said Guy Wallace, attorney for the plaintiffs.

City leaders also acknowledged that an untold number of mature trees will be uprooted to replace buckled and uplifted sidewalks, so they say the settlement includes money for “tree replacement” as well.

Mayor Garcetti told reporters that the city will first use money earmarked by the settlement to fix sidewalks in front of city buildings, public transportation, and hospitals. Then, Garcetti says, the city will make a priority list of other bad sidewalks to fix, based partly on input from citizens.

But it remains unclear if $1.4 billion over thirty years is enough to fix the every-growing backlog of damaged sidewalks, that are causing an increasing number of accidents to pedestrians.

"This (settlement) addresses all the sidewalks that are causing damage and the ones that can cause damage," Garcetti said.
 

In a move that exposes a deep fault line through one of the most high-profile and elite units in the Los Angeles County District Attorney’s office, two deputy district attorneys filed a sexual harassment lawsuit against a supervising prosecutor Tuesday, alleging in graphic detail a raft of offenses that they claim occurred both in and outside the office.

In court documents, Beth Silverman and Tannaz Mokayef allege Gary Hearnsberger subjected them to unwanted touching and lewd remarks and behavior while he was head of the Major Crimes Division, which is responsible for trying the high profile cases.

The two women also allege that Hearnsberger favorited female attorneys who provided sexual favors to him, allowed him to touch or grope them or engaged in sexually explicit banter with him by giving them better assignments and opportunities for career advancement.

Hearnsberger, a 34-year department veteran, was overseeing the division in 2011, when the lawsuit alleged transgressions began.

Silverman has tried cases that included the "Grim Sleeper" serial murder trial of Lonnie Franklin Jr., and she and Hearnsberger co-prosecuted the trial of the men who beat Bryan Stow in the Dodgers Stadium parking lot.

The unit handled cases including the trials of Conrad Murray in connection with the death of Michael Jackson and the murder trials of Phil Spector and Robert Blake.

It is currently handling the murder case against real estate heir Robert Durst and the murder trial against former rap mogul Suge Knight.

The lawsuit also names Los Angeles County and is seek unspecified damages.

Hearnsberger vehemently denied the claims, and said he has not yet seen the lawsuit.

"It makes sense that it was filed on April Fools' Day. I don’t conduct business that way. You can ask anyone that’s worked for me. It’s very disappointing that lawyers who you would expect to be of the highest caliber professional prosecutors would make such claims. It’s total retaliation and completely untrue," Hearnsberger told NBC News.

After the women filed complaints with the state, Hearnsberger was reassigned to another high-profile specialized unit, the Public Integrity Division, which prosecutes public officials charged with crimes. The state issued a "right-to-sue" notice to both plaintiffs. Hearnsberger was not disciplined in any way.

The suit alleges Hearnsberger made sexually explicit gestures toward Silverman and would sit close to her on a couch he had in his office.

Hearnsberger regularly walked behind Silverman so he could then place his hands on her hips or buttocks while leaving the office or crossing the street, the suit alleges.

After Silverman rejected Hearnsberger's advances, he cursed at her in front of colleagues, criticized her work ethic and personality and denied her case assignments, the suit alleges.

"The case has just begun and we are going to be looking deeper into the allegations," Gregory W. Smith, an attorney for the plaintiffs, told NBC4 hours after the lawsuit was filed.

Mokayef joined the Major Crimes Division in 2014 and also was subjected to similar unwanted touching by Hearnsberger, the suit alleges.

"On multiple occasions, Hearnsberger approached (Mokayef) and told her that she smelled good, or words to that effect,'' the complaint said.

Mokayef alleges that after she rejected Hearnsberger's advances and touching, he assigned her only stale investigations, subjected her to verbal abuse and screamed at her.

The suit also alleges that Hearnsberger was inappropriate even outside the office, at gatherings including other DAs and their families.

A photo included in the complaint appears to show Hearnsberger at a hillbilly-themed party dressed in denim overalls.

The lawsuit says "with nothing underneath and a stuffed sheep attached to his crotch."

The District Attorney’s Office did not immediately return calls seeking comment.

A man was killed and others were injured in a motel fire in Wilmington early Thursday that forced some residents to escape by jumping out of second-floor windows.

The blaze broke out just after 3 a.m. at the two-story Wilmington Hotel on 100 East C Street. It has been deemed a crime scene due to the speed with which the flames spread to both floors, with fire officials deeming the blaze suspicious.

Twenty-nine people were in the building at the time of the fire. Fifteen people were treated for injuries at the scene, 12 were hospitalized.

One of those hurt was a child.

When firemen tried to get in at the front of the building they were met by a fireball, and tried to climb a fence to get access through the back. People were trapped inside during the fire, with some jumping out of windows to escape in a scene described as "chaotic and scary."

"There was nothing we could really do... (there were) big men and big women jumping out. There was nothing we could do to cushion the fall or nothing," resident Manuel Sanchez said, "People were banging their heads on the ground (and) breaking their arms."

Paul Gordon was sleeping inside on the first floor when he was alerted to the fire by smoke alarms.

"I opened the door to see what was going on and flames just rushed into my room," he said, "I was able to close the door  to keep the flames out, but the smoke was getting lower and lower. The only thing I could do was... grab my phone and jump out of the windows."

Once he was outside he did his best to help victims who were injured when making their escape.

"It was total chaos, just crazy. There were people running everywhere screaming (and) jumping out of windows. It was terrifying," Gordon added.

The hotel has 20 units and 29 occupants, and the Red Cross and Los Angeles City Council member Joe Buscaino are assisting the non-injured displaced occupants.

The cause of the fire is still unknown. Los Angeles Fire Department firefighters called a knockdown on the blaze at 4:08 a.m. Fire officials described the fire as "suspicious."

Kevin LaBeach contributed to this report

The images below illustrate the severity of California's drought with past and recent images from around the state, now in its fourth consecutive dry year.

Some of the images are from north-central California's Lake Oroville, where receeding water levels over the past four years have revealed large swaths of lakebed. Other images from NASA show the dramatic snowpack reduction in the Sierra Nevada range, where springtime runoff provides water for an estimated 25 million Californians.

App Users: Scroll to bottom of article to access images on mobile site

Lake Oroville: July 20, 2011 - Aug. 19. 2014

The image below shows Lake Oroville near the Bidwell Marina in north-central California. The first image shows full water under the Green Bridge in July 2011. The second image from August 2014 shows a dramatic change as the lake reached 32 percent of its total 3,537,577 acre feet.

Folsom Dam: July 20, 2011 - Aug. 19, 2014

In the image below, full water levels are seen at Folsom Dam at Folsom Lake on July 20, 2011 in El Folsom, California. Significant lower water levels are visible behind the dam on August 19, 2014 in the next image, which shows the lake at 40 percent of its total capacity of 977,000 acre feet.

Bidwell Marina, Oroville: July 20, 2011 - Aug. 19, 2014

The images below show Bidwell Marina at Lake Oroville in north-central California in July 2011 and August 2014. Lake and reservoir water levels across the state are at historic lows.

Lake Oroville, Enterprise Bridge: July 20, 2011 - Aug. 19, 2014

The before-and-after images below provide an aerial view of Enterprise Bridge over Lake Oroville. The first image show full water levels in July 2011, the second image shows a significant water-level drop in August 2014.

Sierra Nevada Range: January 2013 - January 2014

These NASA images show the difference in Sierra Nevada range snowpack between January 2013 and January 2014. Springtime runoff from the snowpack provides water for millions of Californians.

Mount Shasta: Nov. 1, 2013 - Jan. 4, 2014

NASA's Operational Land Imager on the Landsat 8 satellite captured these images of California’s Mount Shasta. The first shows a snow-covered peak in January 2014, the second shows a naked landscape in November 2014 after a dry season.

A major Hawthorne boulevard was closed following a deadly vehicle crash Thursday morning, authorities said.

One person died in the fiery collision, which involved only one vehicle, at about 10 a.m. near 135th Street and Hawthorne Boulevard, according to the Hawthorne Police Department.

Firefighters and police officers surrounded a minivan that was wrapped around a traffic pole at the intersection at about 10:30 a.m.. The surrounding streets were closed to traffic.

Police closed Hawthorne Boulevard between Rosecrans Avenue and El Segundo Boulevard, and a Sig Alert was issued.

The person in the vehicle was trapped and pronouncecd dead on-scene, according to the Los Angeles County Fire Department.