This AI? or Just Stupidity?

LA Times
A Victorville pastor hired hit men to kill a man dating his daughter, police say
Grace Toohey
Tue, March 19, 2024 at 7:00 PM PDT

Months after a man survived a barrage of gunfire while driving through Riverside, investigators arrested two men in an alleged murder-for-hire plot, including a Victorville pastor who authorities say put a hit on the man dating his daughter.

The pastor, identified Tuesday as Samuel Pasillas, 47, is accused of paying almost $40,000 to have his daughter's suitor killed, according to the Riverside Police Department. Investigators said Pasillas provided information about the boyfriend to the men he paid, including the man's location on the October night he was shot.

Mug shots of two men.
Juan Manuel Cebreros, left, and Samuel Pasillas are shown in booking photos. (Riverside Police Department)
The hit men, who police say included 55-year-old Juan Manuel Cebreros, conducted surveillance on the boyfriend for weeks before the shooting, according to Ryan Railsback, a spokesperson for the Police Department.

The victim, who has not been identified, was shot several times Oct. 21 when a vehicle pulled up beside his vehicle and a gunman opened fire, Railsback said.

Read more: Widow, 96, in financial straits fell prey to fraud and murder-for-hire plot, police say

The victim drove himself to a hospital and has since been released, Railsback said, but is still recovering from the gunshot wounds.

Pasillas is a pastor at a small, Spanish-speaking church, Centro Internacional de Oracion, in Victorville, where he also lives, Railsback said. He was arrested last week on suspicion of solicitation for murder, conspiracy to commit murder, attempted murder and assault with a deadly weapon. He has pleaded not guilty to all the charges, according to Riverside County Superior Court records.

The Times was unable to reach anyone from Pasillas' church. His attorney, listed in court records as Deputy Public Defender Drew Ogdon, did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

Pasillas remains in jail on $1-million bail, along with Cebreros, of Long Beach, who has been booked on suspicion of conspiracy to commit murder, attempted murder and assault with a deadly weapon.

A third man linked to the case has not yet been arrested, court records show. It wasn't immediately clear how many more people were linked to the shooting, and Railsback said the investigation is continuing

Congressman Dan Kildee's brother shot and killed by son, sheriff says
Fox local
DAVE KINCHEN
March 19, 2024 at 12:35 PM
FOX 2 (WJBK) - The brother of Michigan Congressman Dan Kildee was killed in an early morning shooting Tuesday, announced the Genesee County sheriff.

Timothy Kildee, 57, was killed by his son inside his Vienna Township home, according to Sheriff Chris Swanson. The 27-year-old suspect then stole Kildee's vehicle and fled, before causing a crash with another vehicle, injuring both people inside.

The shooting suspect was taken into custody at the crash scene, and is currently hospitalized with serious injuries. The two other victims are expected to recover.

"I have been in contact with Congressman Kildee who was in Washington during this incident and he is now en route back via commercial airline," Swanson said. "And he and his family who've all been notified have asked that the public and the media respect their privacy.

"He's got an elderly mother and they have been through a lot. Clearly this is tragic, and it involves other family members."

Swanson said the incident spanned three different scenes, beginning in Burton at 2:50 a.m. where police were called to a domestic incident involving the 27-year-old suspect. A gun was presented, Swanson said, and the suspect fled on foot.

The 27-year-old made contact with his mother, who then picked him up and was taking him to his father, Timothy Kildee's Neff Road residence, when he jumped from the moving vehicle.

The mother alerted Kildee and both went searching for him. Sometime around 5 a.m. Kildee returned to his home where the fatal altercation happened.

Another family member who had been sleeping in the house told police that he heard yelling followed by the comment "Give me your wallet and your keys."

That comment was followed by a single gunshot which killed Timothy Kildee.

"I got to witness it, because I get up and go to work (early) every morning," said Jason Soper, who lives down the street from where the shooting took place. "It's scary."

"And I will tell you, that (Kildee's) wallet was found on that suspect's person later on during this tale of violence," Swanson said in a press conference Tuesday.

Swanson said about eight minutes later a call was received for a high-impact personal injury accident in Genesee Township which happened at a high rate of speed.

"Two individuals in another pickup truck were hit. They are doing well. No serious injuries but the suspect has serious injuries," Swanson said. "He was transported to Hurley Hospital."

A toxicology report is currently underway on the shooting suspect, who is under guard at the hospital.

"There's a potential of some substance abuse," Swanson said. "The behavior of the suspect lends anyone to believe there was some type of breakdown, and/or other entanglements that caused him to be so violent. But the key to this case from all three scenes is absolute violent behavior."

Prosecutor David Leyton said charges against the suspect likely include open murder, carjacking, armed robbery, and motor vehicle charges in connection to the crash, among others. He added that the toxicology report may take some time to be completed.

"Clearly this is tragic, and it involves other family members. But we're going to continue bringing not only answers to questions, but also comfort to the family," Swanson said

Proposition 12 ("Prop 12") was a California ballot proposition in that state's general election on November 6, 2018. The measure was self-titled the Prevention of Cruelty to Farm Animals Act.The measure passed, by a vote of about 63% Yes to 37% No.

The proposition establishes new minimum requirements on farmers to provide more space for egg-laying hens, breeding pigs, and calves raised for veal. California businesses will be banned from selling eggs or uncooked pork or veal that came from animals housed in ways that did not meet these requirements.

The ballot measure aimed to build upon and strengthen the requirements of a previous ballot measure, the 2008 California Proposition 2, which prohibited battery cages and gestation crates for animals in California, and required that pigs, hens, and calves be able to spread their wings or limbs and turn around. The California legislature in 2010 passed AB 1437, which required all shell eggs sold in the state to meet the same requirements, including those produced elsewhere. Proposition 12 closed loopholes in these laws by requiring the same for all eggs sold in the state, regardless of the form it was sold in (i.e. both shell eggs and liquid eggs), and the state where it was produced. However, not all pork has to comply with the law: only whole uncooked pork cuts must comply, while other pork products, such as ground pork, do not. This means that about 42% of the state's pork market is exempt from the law's requirements

The egg industry has largely complied with the law. However, despite the resounding success at the ballot box, the pork industry unsuccessfully sued to block implementation of the law. In June 2021, the Supreme Court of the United States rejected a lawsuit from the North American Meat Institute to stop the law. The Meat Institute had argued that Prop 12 violated the Commerce Clause of the US Constitution, but this argument was rejected because Prop 12 holds in-state and out-of-state producers to the same standard. The law was implemented on January 1, 2022.

On January 25, 2022, a judge ordered a temporary halt to enforcement of the prohibition on pork from gestation crates, for 180 days, pending development of final regulations by the California Department of Food and Agriculture, to give producers more time to comply. The CDFA also needed more time to comply with a lawsuit filed by animal activists, who wanted to increase stringency of the regulations.

The American Farm Bureau Federation and the National Pork Producers Council again asked the Supreme Court to overturn the law, in another lawsuit similar to the ones that were previously rejected. On May 11, 2023, the Supreme Court of the United States upheld the law, in National Pork Producers Council v. Ross