Written by AARON CASTREJON
CityWatch Editor

REGION - Residents of Wrightwood and Pinion Hills are under evacuation orders as the unrelenting Bridge Fire continues to consume the San Gabriel Mountains and beyond.

Wrightwood residents were ordered to evacuate earlier this evening, including residents of Lone Pine Canyon from Wrightwood to Highway 138 and Lone Pine Canyon Road south to the forest, according to the U.S. Forest Service.

Pinion Hills from Wrightwood north to Highway 18 and Beekley Road west to Los Angeles County are also under mandatory evacuation.

Highway 138 is closed from Lone Pine to Beekley Road due to evacuations. Highway 2 is closed from Big Pine to Highway 138, according to Caltrans.

At 7:30 p.m., the San Bernardino County Sheriff’s Office issued an evacuation warning for the communities of San Antonio Heights and Upland from the Foothills down to the 23rd Street.

Specific areas of the cities of San Dimas, La Verne and Claremont are now under evacuation warnings:

San Dimas
(E-003-A): North of Sycamore Flats Motorway, south of Johnstone Peak Truck Trail, east of Blue Bird Road, west of Lodi Lateral Mtwy, North San Dimas Canyon Road

La Verne
(LVN-E001): North of Golden Hills Road, south of San Dimas Canyon Road, east of Charmont Road, west of Sunset Ridge Truck Trail.
(LVN-E002): North of Golden Hills Road, Vista De Oro, south of Sunset Peak Motorway , East of Sunset Peak Motorway, west of Stephens Ranch Road, Sunset Peak Motorway.

Claremont
(CLA-E003): north of Pomello Motorway, south of Cobal Canyon Motorway, Sunset Ridge Fire Road, Palmer Evie Motorway, west of Villa Padova, West Fork Palmer Motorway.
(CLA-E-006-A): North of Mount Baldy Road, south of Potato Mountain, east of West Fork Palmer Motorway, west of Mt. Baldy Road.

Video from KTLA 5 news showed insatiable flames destroying structures at Mountain High Resort. Video from KNBC 4 news showed what appeared to be a home well involved with fire at Mt. Baldy Village.

The Bridge Fire, which ignited Sunday, September 8, has consumed 34,240 acres and remains without containment, according to the U.S. Forest Service.

After finding some solace with a little overnight activity on September 9, fire crews had to deal with the mind-boggling exponential growth of the fire throughout Tuesday.

REGION - Law enforcement agencies are scrambling to identify the suspect or suspects involved in a series of 7-Eleven robberies that left a wake of violence across three counties.

The crimes all occurred, strangely enough, on 7/11. 

A clerk in Brea was shot and killed inside a convenience store, while a man outside a Santa Ana store was shot and killed.

An Ontario store was robbed just after midnight Monday at 636 N. Vine Ave.

A robbery in Upland occurred around 12:40 a.m. at 2410 W. Arrow Rte. An image taken from surveillance video shows a uncanny similarity to the Brea robbery and murder.

A Riverside 7-Eleven, 5102 La Sierra Ave., was robbed around 1:50 a.m. A customer was shot and was last listed in grave condition, according to the Riverside Police Department.

Investigators released two images taken from a surveillance camera inside the store, giving the public a clearer view of the outstanding suspect.

A man, identified as 24-year-old Matthew Rule, was shot and killed outside a 7-Eleven, 302 E. 17th St., just before 3:30 a.m. Santa Ana Police confirmed Monday afternoon their suspect was the man connected to the other 7-Eleven shootings.

Brea police officers and firefighters responded to the 7-Eleven, 109 W. Lambert Rd., around 4:18 a.m. to a report of an employee down, suffering from a gunshot wound. The clerk, identified as 40-year-old Matthre Hirsch, was pronounced dead by firefighters, according to the Brea Police Department.

Investigators believe the same suspect wounded two people at a La Habra 7-Eleven, 381 E. Whittier Blvd. La Habra police responded to the scene around 4:55 a.m. Both Victims were treated at a hospital where they were last listed in stable condition.

Anyone with information on this shooting is urged to call Brea Police Det. Alfred Rodriguez at 714-671-4438, or email [email protected].

It is unclear if a robbery at a 7-Eleven in Vincent July 9 is connected to this string of Monday violence. The suspect. a Black man with a thin build and dressed in dark clothing, took cash while brandishing a handgun.

Written by AARON CASTREJON
CityWatch Editor

LOS ANGELES - A Pomona man was arrested November 9 after fleeing police while driving a Humvee stolen from an Upland Army Reserve facility.

Armando Garcia, 29, a parolee convicted in 2019 in state court on theft and burglary charges, was named Friday in a criminal complaint filed in United States District Court. Garcia allegedly stole the semi-armored Humvee midday Monday before Pomona officers found the unlicensed vehicle, according to the U.S. Attorney’s Office.

Garcia was charged with theft of government property.

Garcia refused to stop and led officers on a four-minute chase, driving at excessive speed, running red lights, stop signs, failing to signal for turns and driving in opposing lanes, according to the criminal complaint filed in U.S. District Court.

Garcia eventually stopped in a residential neighborhood on East Kingsley Avenue and was taken into custody.

Inside the Humvee, valued at more than $200,000, was a large pair of bolt cutters and a cut army-approved padlock. The latter is fixed with a steel wire to prevent turning of the steering wheel, the criminal complaint stated.

If convicted as charged, Garcia faces a possible statutory maximum of 10 years in federal prison.

Written by AARON CASTREJON
CityWatch Editor

REGION - Authorities are piecing together the sequence of events that led the pilot of a fixed-wing plane to make an emergency landing on the 210 freeway Thursday.

No one was injured in the plane or in any vehicles on the westbound 210 freeway after the plane landed east of Mountain Avenue sometime after 3:30 p.m. A mayday call was made before the landing.

As of 6:45 p.m., the plane was still in the process of being moved, according to the California Highway Patrol Inland Center.

The single-engine, fixed-wing Cessna 182P is registered to G & N Enterprises, LLC in Sparks, Nevada.

A Sig Alert affecting the No. 3 and 4 lanes remains in effect for the 210 west east of Mountain Avenue.

Written by AARON CASTREJON
CityWatch Editor

REGION - Traffic will be hampered after a small aircraft made an emergency landing on the westbound 210 freeway east of Mountain Avenue, the California Highway Patrol said.
 
The aircraft landed in the No. 3 lane of the 210 freeway sometime after 3:30 p.m. The aircraft did not hit any vehicles, according to the CHP Traffic Management Center.
 
A Sig Alert was issued at 3:52 p.m. for the west 210 east of Mountain Avenue for an unknown duration.