AP
A young man previously convicted in the group rape of a 16-year-old girl four years ago testified against two other suspects on Thursday. Ari Morales, 19, never testified during his own trial in January. His comments last week marked the first time his version of events has been recorded in court. The testimony is part of a new trial against suspects Marcelles Peter, 20, and Jose Montano, 22, both of whom were charged with rape, rape with a foreign object…
The woman who is allegedly the victim of a gang rape that happened four years ago outside Richmond High’s homecoming dance testified Monday to a full courtroom at Contra Costa County Superior Court in Martinez. It was the first time the woman had appeared publicly since reports of the brutal rape sent shock waves across the country in 2009, and she took the stand to give evidence against two of the men accused of sexually assaulting her. Jane Doe (the…
A 64-year-old woman was shot dead in her home late Wednesday night, according to Richmond Police Department officials. Bonita Todd, 64, was hospitalized after gunshots were fired from the street into her apartment on 20th Street near Espee Avenue at around 11 p.m. on May 15, said police spokesperson Det. Nicole Abetkov. Todd died later at the hospital. The woman’s son, who is in his 40s, was also hospitalized with non-life-threatening injuries. Detectives believe he may have been the intended…
In a contentious meeting Tuesday night, the city council took on gun control and support for a program that works to curtail violence in Richmond after a deadly week that ended with three dead in the city. Councilmember Corky Booze set the tone for the meeting early on, when he took issue with Mayor Gayle McLaughlin’s re-ordering of agenda items. “This is just to show how we let our personalities get ahead of what’s supposed to happen in our city,”…
Take it from a man who climbed Mount Everest six times: anything is possible.
A pair of teenage siblings were shot to death Thursday night outside a residence on McGlothen Way in the northern part of Richmond. According to a spokesperson from the Richmond Police Department, two unknown people walked up to a group of people who were talking and opened fire. “It looks like they were just firing into the group that was standing outside,” said Lieutenant Bisa French Airian Holly, 16, and his sister, Mercedes Williams, 19, were pronounced dead at the…
Contra Costa County child advocates, teachers, nonprofit groups, medical professionals and community members gathered at the Richmond Civic Center Auditorium on Wednesday and Thursday to talk about the status of children’s health at the state and county levels. The fourth annual California Summit on Children and Youth is “an annual opportunity for the best minds in the country to come to Richmond, meet with people who are active in youth issues, and really talk about and learn from each other…
A crowd gathered in mourning on a street corner in Richmond on Wednesday evening to honor the life of Dimarea Young, a 19-year-old man who was shot and killed on this block the day before. Friends and neighbors, pastors and politicians, police officers and violence disrupters stood side by side, heads bowed. “We place him up,” said Reverend Alvin Bernstein, who was leading the group in a prayer. “We pray for the mother. We lift them up.” A woman from…
A rash followed by itchy, fluid-filled blisters all over a child’s body, usually tells parents their child has chickenpox. The illness was once a standard part of growing up—and many have the scars to prove it—but since a vaccination became common practice, fewer kids contract the virus. In 1995, the Advisory Committee on Immunization Practices, a group of medical and public health experts at the Center for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) who recommend which vaccines should be used routinely…