STOCKTON TURNS TO STATE FOR HELP AFTER SHOOTINGS: STOCKTON (AP) — Stockton police have called in the state Department of Justice after a series of weekend shootings left five people dead.
Officer Joe Silva says Stockton police resources were stretched thin by the three separate crime scenes, so the department requested help from DOJ forensic evidence technicians.
The technicians processed the last crime scene, where three people were shot and killed and a fourth wounded early Sunday morning in the parking lot of a shopping center.
Police have not identified the victims or released a motive for the attack.
It came just hours after a 28-year-old man was shot and killed in a family dispute. About ten minutes after that shooting, police received a report of another shooting that claimed the life of a 26-year-old gang member.
BARBER SUSPECTED OF SLICING CUSTOMER’S NECK: IMPERIAL BEACH (AP) — Authorities say a San Diego County barber has been arrested after slicing the neck of a man he was shaving with a straight razor.
Sheriff’s Sgt. Roberto Lopez tells U-T San Diego that the barber at Vic’s Barbershop in Imperial Beach left a four-inch cut on the customer’s throat Monday then ran away. He was later arrested about a block from his San Diego home on suspicion of assault with a deadly weapon.
Lopez says the victim was taken to a hospital and is expected to survive.
Witnesses say there was no argument before the man was cut.
Authorities have not released the names of the victim or the barber, but said both men are in their 20s.
3-YEAR-OLD IDENTIFIED AS MOTHER OF ABANDONED BABY: MERCED (AP) — Authorities in Central California say they have identified a 13-year-old girl as the mother of a newborn baby abandoned last week in a trash bin.
Merced Police Capt. Tom Trindad said Monday that investigators are still collecting all the facts before turning the case over to prosecutors, who will decide if the girl faces criminal charges or not. For now, the young mother remains in the care of authorities.
The hours-old baby girl was found Thursday by a man looking for cans and bottles in the trash bin near an apartment complex in the city of Merced.
Trindad says the baby is healthy and thriving and could eventually be put up for adoption.
Trindad says investigators are also trying to determine if the baby was the result of sexual abuse.
DISTRICT PLANS CHANGES AFTER BOY LOCKED IN HOT SCHOOL BUS: THERMAL (AP) — School officials in Southern California’s high desert are promising changes after investigating an incident in which a bus driver locked an autistic student inside a hot vehicle for half an hour.
The Desert Sun reports that Coachella Valley Unified School District officials acknowledge the driver and a bus monitor violated policy by failing to check for students still on board at the end of their Sept. 8 route.
The boy had apparently fallen asleep and did not get off at his school stop.
According to the newspaper, the district will look into technological solutions to prevent a recurrence. That could include on-board motion detectors or a system which would require a driver to scan tags at key points on the bus, including the back.
