Officers and investigators were doing a business check in the 900 block of South Euclid Street around 2 p.m., Sgt. Jon McClintock, spokesman for Anaheim Police, said.

“We received information and complaints it was an illicit marijuana dispensary,” he said.

It was located at the end of the strip mall, he said. Marijuana dispensaries are not allowed in the city.

Two men and a woman inside the dispensary refused to get out. Police called in members of SWAT and tactical negotiators, McClintock said.

Police evacuated one or two nearby businesses, he added.

The trio came out shortly after 5 p.m. They were arrested for various drug offenses, the sergeant said.

Andrew Phillip Gonzales, 32, is scheduled to be arraigned Feb. 2 on two counts of attempted murder, two counts of assault with a firearm, armed criminal action and carrying a loaded, unregistered firearm in public, court records show.

The charges stem from a shooting in a parking lot in the 200 block of West Chapman Avenue just after 12 a.m. on Saturday, Jan. 13.

The suspect argued with two men while at Paul’s Cocktails at 207 W. Chapman Ave., Orange Lt. Phil McMullin said.

He didn’t know what the argument was about.

The dispute spilled into the parking lot, where the suspect allegedly shot the victims.

One man was hit in the arm and another in the lower body, McMullin said. He didn’t know if they had been released from the hospital.

Patrol officers heard the gunshots and responded. The suspect saw them, ran and tripped with the gun falling out of his possession, the lieutenant said.

No one was injured. Detectives were interviewing the man at the station, Sgt. Joe Connell said.

The commotion can be heard on the church’s livestream.

Around 8:20 a.m. police received a call of a possible gunshot in the 700 block of Bradford Avenue, the sergeant said. Another call came about a man seen with a possible handgun in his hand.

Officers arrived and were told that the man was last seen going into the church, Connell said. Multiple witnesses heard a gunshot, he added.

Police found a man matching the description of the man they were looking for sitting in a pew at Saint Joseph, at 717 Bradford Ave.

As the priest held up the host in one hand, a goblet in his other hand and said, “Behold lamb of God. Behold him who takes away the sins of the world. Blessed are those who called to suffer…” he gets interrupted, the church video shows. Several voices can be heard in the background. One could be heard saying: “Get on ground. Get on the ground.”

A man, likely an officer, was later heard directing people to stand up. A woman said they were receiving Holy Communion.

“I’m sorry but we have somebody that was firing a firearm on the church property and they have a gun,” the man can be heard saying on the video. He tells the worshipers that officers will guide them to the parking lot.

Connell said it was officers who told people inside the church to put their hands up and ordered the man to get down on the ground.

Police evacuated the church to look for additional suspects and a gun, he said. No other person or gun was located.

After the sweep, worshipers were allowed to return to the service.

The schools at the church property, Valencia High School, Ruby Drive Elementary and Kraemer Middle School were told to shelter in place, the sergeant said.

Canine teams from Placentia Police, Fullerton Police and the Orange County Sheriff’s Department searched the area.

Rex, a 2-year-old Dutch shepherd, is with his handler and recovering from his injury, Lt. Edgar Sanchez said.

The suspect, a 45-year-old Pasadena man, was arrested on suspicion of burglary and injuring a peace officer’s animal.

At around noon on Monday, Dec. 25, a caller reported to police that someone had entered the store, at 1720 E. Colorado Blvd., the lieutenant said.

The suspect allegedly broke into the store by throwing a rock at a back door, shattering the glass, Sanchez said. The suspect refused to come out, so Rex headed to the store.

Officers and Rex entered about 1:30 p.m. and found the suspect in a large storage room and he refused to leave, Sanchez said.

Rex was deployed, and the suspect threw a metal object at Rex, Sanchez said. Rex didn’t bite the suspect, he added.

As of Tuesday morning, the suspect was being held at the Inmate Reception Center in Los Angeles.

Staff writer Michael Slaten contributed to this report.

The one-story church at 177 W. Monterey Ave. was deemed a total loss by firefighters.

No one was injured in the fire that was reported around 2:45 a.m. on Sunday, Dec. 17, said Geovanni Sanchez, a spokesman for the Los Angeles County Fire Department. He didn’t have an estimated value of the damage yet.

The blaze destroyed toys, too. The church’s planned toy giveaway on Sunday went ahead after donations of toys came from other churches, the California Highway Patrol, a car club called Southern Life, the LA County Fire Department and ABC7.

Public records show that the building was constructed in 1944 and had housed a previous church and a bank before Victory Outreach bought it in 2015.

Church officials plan to rebuild. A GoFundMe with a goal of $500,000 had raised more than $18,000 by Tuesday morning.

There are no connections between the victims, and no connections between the victims and the suspect, Aaron Conell, 24, of Pasadena, Pasadena Police Lt. Keith Gomez said during a Wednesday press conference held in front of Pasadena City Hall.

There’s no definite motive for the murder of Mickey Cooper or the shooting that occurred a couple of weeks earlier, he said.

“All we can tell is that Conell is diabolically evil and that seems to be the only motive that we’ve come up with so far,” Gomez said.

Usually there is a motive whether gang-related, a robbery, some type of theft, a family disturbance, he said. But in this case they found none of those.

“And so one can simply deduce that if there’s no other motive explaining why you’re driving around the city, shooting people and killing people, the only thing that I can deduce is that you’re just diabolically evil,” Gomez said.

Conell acted alone, he added. Police have recovered a loaded 9 mm handgun they believe was used in the murder and other crimes that occurred in the city in the past several weeks, Gomez said.

Police are investigating two other cases involving shootings that they suspect Conell is responsible for, he added.

Conell was charged Tuesday with the Nov. 18 murder of Mickey Cooper, the attempted murder of a second man on Oct. 29 and assault with a semiautomatic firearm on a third man on Nov. 5. Both shootings happened at Washington Park at 700 E. Washington Blvd. The assault was at a gas station near Washington Boulevard and Catalina Avenue.

The District Attorney’s Office also charged him with allegations that include inflicting great bodily injury and using a handgun while committing a felony,

His Tuesday arraignment was continued to Monday, Nov. 27, at Pasadena Superior Court.

Conell has been convicted of a misdemeanor but Gomez didn’t say for what crime. He isn’t a member of a gang and isn’t affiliated with a gang, Gomez said.

Michael Cooper, who spoke at the press conference, said the reason his brother was at Washington Park was because it was a safe haven for him, a place that he felt comfortable and safe. And the park had been that until that tragic night, the former Laker said.

“Yes, we’re going to miss Mickey but I like to feel that he’s in a better place,” Cooper said. “My brother had an addiction that he just couldn’t shake. Over the last year we tried to get him a lot of help.”

His brother may have appeared homeless but he wasn’t, Michael Cooper said, adding he had a home such as their grandmother’s house.

“I’ve tried to bring my brother to my house several times,” he said.

The first shooting at Washington Park happened just after 2 a.m. on Oct. 29. Police went to the park after getting an alert about gunshots and found a man who had been shot in the neck, according to a statement from the DA’s Office.

The assault occurred at a gas station near Washington Boulevard and Catalina Avenue the night of Nov. 5. Conell allegedly pointed a gun to the head of man sitting in a car, police and the DA statement said.

Police also responded to a ShotSpotter alert at Washington Park at 4:10 a.m. on Nov. 18 and discovered an unresponsive Mickey Cooper. ShotSpotter is a gunshot detection system.

Councilmember Justin Jones who represents the district next to Washington Park said residents have expressed their concerns about safety at the park. He said he reached out to the city manager and talked to the mayor about what they can do to improve safety.

A community meeting regarding these recent events will be Tuesday night but the location has not been confirmed, city spokeswoman Lisa Derderian said.

Conell was being held at Twin Towers Correctional Facility in Los Angeles in lieu of $4.025 million bail.

In addition to murder, the Los Angeles County District Attorney’s Office charged 24-year-old Aaron Miguel Conell with attempted murder and assault with an automatic firearm, said Pamela Johnson, a spokeswoman for the DA’s  Office.

If convicted of all counts, she said Conell faces a sentence of 50 years to life in prison. Conell was scheduled to be arraigned Tuesday at Pasadena Superior Court but it was continued to Wednesday, a court official said.

The victim, 64-year-old Mickey Cooper, died from a gunshot wound to the head, according to the medical examiner’s office.

“I can’t understand why this young man took his life. He had nothing,” Michael Cooper said. “That is the big question. ‘Why? Why kill him?’”

His brother wasn’t bothering anyone and was not confrontational, the former Laker added.

Authorities have not released details about the attempter murder or the second victim.

Pasadena police have not revealed a motive in the Saturday shooting but plan to hold a news conference about it on Wednesday, Nov. 22.

Officers checking a ShotSpotter alert about gunshots at the park at 700 East Washington Blvd. shortly after 4 a.m. on Saturday found a wounded Mickey Cooper. He died at the scene.

Since 2022, Pasadena has been using ShotSpotter, a gunshot detection system that was placed in a 3-square mile area in the northwest part of the city.

Police also did not say how they identified Conell as a person of interest in the shooting. He was arrested Saturday night and booked on an unrelated assault with a firearm charge. Detectives over the weekend obtained further evidence on the shooting and Conell was booked on suspicion of murder on Monday, a Pasadena police statement said.

Cooper said his brother had a drug problem. He put him in rehab in Long Beach six months ago.

“He promised me he would stay a year,” Michael Cooper said, adding his brother left after 10 days. “I really believe if he stayed there, he would be alive.”

His brother collected cans to sell at a local recycling center and was often at Washington Park, he said.

“We’ve known that park all our lives,” Michael Cooper said. They used to play basketball there and had lived 10 houses down from the park, he said. “He felt comfortable there.”

In their conversations, his brother had never mentioned the name Aaron Conell before, Cooper said.

He last talked to his sibling five days before the shooting. He told him it was getting cold and to stay with their grandmother in Altadena.

“He assured me he would,” Michael Cooper said.

No one has been arrested, said Lisa Derderian, spokeswoman for the city of Pasadena. Police referred the case to the District Attorney’s Office that handles juvenile cases, she added.

For related news, see: CU Buffs Coach Deion Sanders begs forgiveness for suspects in Rose Bowl thefts

She couldn’t immediately confirm media reports that the suspects were recruits to UCLA and were on a visit that day. UCLA did say individuals tied to the case were not on an official visit.

Beaumont Unified School District officials also did not confirm if the students are football players at the school.

“We are disappointed and disheartened to hear of the alleged involvement of Beaumont High School students in the incident at the UCLA-Colorado football game on Oct. 28,” Alex Sponheim, who oversees the Communications Department at the district, said in an email.

“We strive to promote strong character and integrity in our students, and the alleged actions do not represent our core values as a school, district, and community,” she said.

While the students were not at the football game as part of a school-sponsored event, Sponheim said the district is cooperating fully with Pasadena Police  investigation.

“As this is still an ongoing investigation, we cannot confirm anything other than that the individuals in question were not on an official visit,” UCLA Athletics said in a statement.

The Colorado players discovered the theft when they returned back to the locker room after the game.

The Denver Post reported that the victims were four Colorado players and the stolen items included three “diamond-plated” necklaces with medallions, a pair of headphones and football equipment.

Some of the stolen items have been returned. The parents have mailed back some of the property, Derderian said.

Police also recovered other items after serving a search warrant but didn’t reveal what they found during the search or when and where the search occurred.

Twenty-five people were injured in the crash. One later died and nine others suffered serious injuries.

The Los Angeles County District Attorney’s Office filed two counts of vehicular manslaughter with gross negligence and nine counts of reckless driving on a highway causing a specified injury against Nicholas Joseph Gutierrez.

If convicted as charged, the 23-year-old Gutierrez faces a possible maximum sentence of 12 years, the DA’s Office said. He is scheduled for a Nov. 14 arraignment at Bellflower Superior Court.

The collision happened the morning of Nov. 16, 2022. Seventy six members of the Sheriff’s Academy Class 464 were on a training run on Mills Avenue at Bentongrove Drive, which is in the unincorporated county area, when a Honda CRV heading south on Mills Avenue crossed into the northbound lanes and slammed into the group.

Gutierrez, who was driving the SUV, originally was arrested Nov. 16 but released the next day. Authorities identified him as being a resident of Diamond Bar.

Alejandro Martinez, who was allegedly struck directly by the SUV, died on July 28. He was 27. (The DA’s Office identified him as Alejandro Martinez-Inzunza.)

Multiple factors played into the exact cause of the crash, District Attorney George Gascón said.

Gutierrez told investigators he was tired when he plowed his SUV into the cadets, he added.

The charges for Gutierrez stem from his decision to still drive when he could not safely operate his car, Gascon said.

“When you decide to drive when you’re so tired, you can’t pay attention to what you’re doing, you’re putting us all at risk,” Gascón said.

Neither Gasón nor other officials at the Hall of Justice on Thursday would sketch out what led up to the crash and why it ultimately occurred. They would not say why Gutierrez was so tired or how he failed to stop his car as he hit cadet after cadet.

The California Highway Patrol investigated the crash. Sheriff Robert Luna said the CHP’s work spanned nearly a year because of the complexity of the case, which involved multiple interviews with the suspect and witnesses and gathering other evidence.

A deputy district attorney said prosecutors would not discuss all the evidence they had from the investigation with a pending trial against Gutierrez.

Gutierrez was arrested by the CHP on Thursday and booked at the Sheriff’s Inmate Reception Center in Los Angeles, according to the CHP.

The group, who had Romanian passports, have been linked to 15 other thefts, according to Pasadena Police Lt. Carolyn Gordon. Details about the other crimes have not been released.

“This group could have been doing it for awhile. I would say within the last two months,” she said.

Police do not know yet when the suspects entered the U.S and how long they have been here.

The suspects did not provide statements to police and claimed they could not speak English, she said.

On Sept. 8, Pasadena detectives were conducting an operation on organized retail theft and vehicle burglaries that included businesses within the South Lake Shopping District.

“We were targeting any group that walked into stores (and) was stealing,” Gordon said.

Investigators spotted four people at the Macy’s at 401 S. Lake Avenue. who were choosing “high value clothing items”, a police statement said.

One person concealed the items while hiding behind accomplices and the suspects left the store without paying. Three of the suspects were arrested after a short chase, the statement said.

Police released surveillance video of the suspects in the store.

A fourth person who was in a Suburban tried to flee. He drove directly toward an officer in a police car and narrowly avoided colliding with the officer, the statement said. He was also taken into custody.

The items stolen from Macy’s were recovered, Gordon said.

The suspects pleaded not guilty to grand theft during a Sept. 12 arraignment at Pasadena Superior Court, according to court records. Their next court date is Oct. 17.

Police asked that anyone with information about the case call the detective section at  at 626-744-4522. Anonymous tipsters can call Crime Stoppers at 800-222-8477 or go to lacrimestoppers.org