Homicide detectives late Thursday were investigating the shooting death of a man in Lynwood. The gunfire was reported around 6:45 p.m. in 10900 block of Long Beach Boulevard, according to the Los Angeles County Sheriff's Department. The man was slain in a strip mall, according to television news footage. The victim was taken to a hospital, where he was pronounced dead. His name and age were not released. Since January 2007, at least 171 homicides have been reported in Lynwood, according to The Times Homicide Report database.  Anyone with information in Thursday's killing is asked to call detectives at (323) 890-5500. Follow @LAJourno for breaking news

Triple-digit heat scorched parts of Southern California for the second day in a row on Thursday as a warm air mass remained locked over the region and was expected to result in warm weather into the middle of next week. The National Weather Service said that temperatures Friday would still be above normal as high pressure over the desert would continue to create significant warming and heighten the risk of wildfires. In Los Angeles County on Thursday, Acton was 108 degrees, Woodland Hills was 105 and Pomona was 103, the weather service said.  In the Inland Empire, Riverside and Hemet hit 108 degrees. A record high for the day was set in Lake Elsinore, which reached 112 degrees. That broke a record of 109 set in 1943, according to the weather service.  Campo in San Diego County also set a daily record, topping out at 107 degrees. That broke a record of 102 degrees set in 1959. The weather service said that high temperatures would last through the middle of next week. Highs were expected...

A three-car crash in Granada Hills on Thursday night left one person dead, prompting all westbound lanes of the 118 Freeway to be closed for three hours, the California Highway Patrol said. All lanes were reopened at midnight. According to the CHP, a collision west of Balboa Blvd. caused a Honda to become engulfed in flames, killing the driver trapped inside. No other drivers or passengers were injured. The accident was reported around 9 p.m. No other details were immediately available. Follow @LAJourno for breaking news

The Orange County Sheriff's Department said Thursday night that investigators had located the person responsible for leaving porcelain dolls at the homes of several young girls in an upscale San Clemente neighborhood. In a statement on Twitter, the department said the "intent was goodwill" and did not provide any further information. Earlier in the day, officials said they had launched an investigation into the mysterious appearance of the dolls. "The porcelain dolls have been collected as evidence and are being examined in an attempt to identify their origin or discover clues as to who may be responsible for leaving them," the Sheriff's Department said in statement.  The dolls were found on the doorsteps of at least eight homes in the Talega community of San Clemente, the Sheriff's Department said. Residents said some of the dolls may have been crafted to resemble the girls, Orange County Sheriff's Lt. Jeff Hallock told KTLA. “It's peculiar, strange and weird and all that stuff,”...

A Compton school board member was charged Thursday in connection with the sexual assault of an unconscious victim, according to law enforcement officials. U.S. marshals arrested Skyy Fisher, 31, on Wednesday around 2 p.m. at the Engineer and Architect Assn. in downtown Los Angeles, according to Dante Salazar, a deputy U.S. marshal.  Deputies with the Pacific Southwest Regional Fugitive Task Force picked Fisher up at the Los Angeles World Trade Center. A day before, the San Diego County Sheriff's Office had issued a warrant for his arrest on suspicion of oral copulation of a person who was asleep or unconscious, Salazar said. No other information was released about the incident that led to the warrant. Jasmyne Cannick, Fisher's spokeswoman, said he had no comment. Fisher was taken to San Diego County and booked at the Vista Detention Center. He was held on $100,000 bail and released Thursday. Fisher has been a controversial figure on the Compton Unified School Board of Trustees since he...

Two women convicted in the beating death of a 23-year-old newlywed outside a Santa Ana nightclub each face up to 11 years in prison. Vanesa Zavala and Candace Brito were convicted Thursday of voluntary manslaughter but acquitted on a far more serious murder charge. One juror said the panel spent more time debating whether the two were guilty of voluntary or involuntary manslaughter than it did on the murder charge. "It's the right verdict," said Michael Molfetta, Brito’s attorney. "I told my client 'You don't know this, but you just won. When you get out, and you will get out, you will realize you could have spent the rest of your life in jail.” The prosecutors had told jurors that Zavala and Brito both kicked Kim Pham in the head after she tumbled to the sidewalk as she wrestled with another woman outside the Crosby nightclub. But the women denied kicking Pham, saying they only tried to defend themselves and a friend as the brawl intensified. Both women bowed their heads as the...

The California Coastal Commission on Thursday took what it called a "significant step toward restoring public access" at Martin's Beach in San Mateo County by calling on members of the public who have been there over the decades to fill out declarations saying so. If results of the "prescriptive rights survey" posted online show that the public has been using the private road now owned by venture capitalist Vinod Khosla as if it were public land for at least five years, then a court could establish a continued right of public access, according to the commission. The development adds another twist to California's highest-profile legal battle between those seeking public beach access and a private property owner who does not believe he is required to accommodate it. The family that owned the property south of Half Moon Bay prior to Khosla's 2008 purchase had allowed the public for decades to stroll down the private road that provides the only land access to the beach -- or drive down and...

A 25-year-old Escondido police officer was shot to death by her husband after a confrontation in their Murrieta home, authorities said Thursday. Freddy Perez-Rodas, 27, is believed to have shot Laura Perez and then set fire to the couple's home on Grand Oaks Court in an attempt to cover up the crime, the Murrieta Police Department said in a news release. Perez-Rodas confessed to killing his wife, according to the news relase, and investigators believe he shot Perez once in the chest "during a domestic violence incident." Perez was hired by the Escondido Police Department in October 2013 and graduated from the police academy last December, according to a post on the Escondido Police Officer Assn.'s Facebook page. “The men and women of the Escondido Police family and all City of Escondido employees are shocked by the tragic loss of one of our own," Escondido Police Chief Craig Carter said in a statement. "We ask for time to grieve and take care of Laura’s family." Carter described Perez...

Shortly after brandishing a Lakers jersey to cheers at a televised news conference in El Segundo on Thursday, new point guard Jeremy Lin stood behind a gift bag table at skid row’s Midnight Mission before a decidedly less appreciative audience. “Which one’s the basketball player?” one woman asked, gesturing to Lin and the two shorter, older men standing beside him. A dozen more skid row residents filed by without a backwards glance. Finally, a woman shouted “New York Knicks!” and Lin smiled. “Nah, we gotta root for the Lakers now,” Lin said. Lin officially joined the Lakers on Thursday after a trade with the Houston Rockets. Sports pundits say Lin, who was born in Torrance, will help the Lakers tap the city’s huge Asian demographic - the largest in the nation, according to Nielsen data. But on skid row, Lin’s fan base proved considerably thinner. “Not sure who Jeremy Lin is,” said Reginald Monson, 55. “He’s one of those Oriental guys, right? He better be with it, cause Kobe needs some...

A Chinese graduate student at USC who was discovered dead in his apartment was the victim of an assault a few blocks from campus, the university said Thursday. The assault occurred while engineering student Xinran Ji was walking near 29th Street and Orchard Avenue, USC said. Ji’s family in China has been notified of his death. Los Angeles police believe Ji was attacked with an "unknown blunt object" by at least three suspects while he was walking home around 12:45 a.m. Thursday. "Following the attack, the victim was able to make his way back to his apartment a short distance away where he was found dead later that morning," the LAPD said. The body was discovered by officers around 7 a.m. Thursday at the apartment complex, which sits just north of the campus in the 1200 block of 30th Street. In a letter posted by USC Senior Vice President Elizabeth Garrett on the university’s website, officials stressed that the death “was an isolated incident and there was and is no apparent threat to...

Long Beach police said Thursday that they were investigating a shooting in which an 80-year-old man killed a woman who may have been pregnant after she and an accomplice broke into his home. Police said they would present their findings to prosecutors, who would determine whether the man was justified in slaying the woman during the incident at his Bixby Knolls home on Tuesday. The man identified himself as Tom Greer in an interview with NBC Channel 4. Another man, suspected of being the woman's accomplice, was arrested in connection with the incident, police said during a Thursday afternoon news conference. Police identified the slain woman as Andrea Miller, 28, who lived in Long Beach.   Gus Adams, 26, was arrested on suspicion of residential robbery and murder in connection with Miller's death, Long Beach Police Chief Jim McDonnell said. Adams is a Long Beach resident. Greer told Channel 4 that he acted in self-defense Tuesday night and that the pair had burglarized his home twice...

A $50,000 reward is being offered for information leading to the arrest of a fourth suspect in a deadly Stockton bank robbery that left one hostage and two gunmen dead, police officials said Thursday. The FBI and Bank of the West each offered $20,000 in reward money Thursday, the Stockton Police Department said in a news release. Stockton Crime Stoppers had previously offered a $10,000 reward. On July 17, three gunmen barged into the bank branch in the 7800 block of Thornton Road in Stockton, training their weapons on the heads of bank tellers. They took three women as hostages and drove off. A chaotic gun battle ensued between the hostage takers and police that ended with the death of two of the gunmen, 30-year-old Gilbert Renteria Jr. and 27-year-old Alex Gregory Martinez. A third suspect, Jaime Ramos, 19, survived by using 42-year-old Misty Jean Holt-Singh as a human shield. Holt-Singh, a married mother of four, later died from her injuries. Ramos was arrested and charged with...