Los Angeles, Ca
Family devastated after young Southern California father dies from fentanyl
![Family devastated after young Southern California father dies from fentanyl](https://ktla.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/4/2024/06/snapshot-5-12.jpg?w=1280)
Loved ones are remembering a young Southern California father who died from fentanyl as the suspect who sold him the drugs was sentenced to prison.
On November 11, 2022, Ian Pangburn, 26, purchased fentanyl from Javier Carlos Cruz, 23, according to the U.S. Attorney’s Office.
Pangurn ingested a fentanyl pill and died the next day. A toxicologist determined that fentanyl poisoning had caused his death.
Pangburn’s mother, Jennifer Ochoa, said her son had previously struggled with drug use but was working to turn his life around when he died.
“He was a happy person at times and he struggled,” Ochoa said. “I won’t downplay it. There’s a stigma about drug users that they take a drug and it’s their fault and they deserve to die, but it’s not [true]. He didn’t want to die. He didn’t ask to die. Unfortunately, he made a choice and the consequences of his choice ended up being death.”
Pangburn, who leaves behind a 4-year-old daughter, had graduated from Alta Loma High School where he played football and was attending classes at Mt. San Antonio College as he worked on improving his future.
He had been messaging Cruz, the man who sold him the deadly narcotics, for a while before he took that fatal dose.
Cruz was arrested on December 27, 2022. While searching his home, Ontario Police discovered nearly 1,500 counterfeit oxycodone pills containing fentanyl, along with three semiautomatic handguns.
Ochoa is speaking out following her son’s death, warning others about the extreme dangers of fentanyl and drug trafficking.
According to the U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration, two milligrams of fentanyl is considered a potentially fatal dose and lab testing indicates that seven out of 10 pills seized from suspects contain a lethal dose.
“Fentanyl, even one pill, it just depends on the potency because they don’t have any way to regulate it because it’s illegal so one pill could have enough fentanyl in it to kill a dozen people,” said Byron Pangburn, the victim’s father. “And that’s one pill. So it varies because there’s no quality control on something that’s made illegally or by cartels.”
Pangburn’s sister, Cecilia Ochoa, said she knows firsthand how painful the consequences of drug use can be.
“A lesson I learned from this is just how precious life truly is,” she said. “Because we all only have one life, when a moment is gone, you can’t get it back. It’s gone forever.”
Ashley Nusser, Pangborn’s partner and mother of his daughter, is devastated and trying to help the young child understand her father’s death.
“She knows her dad was taken by a very bad man,” Nusser said. “She knows he’s buried in the ground, but we have said that he will always be in your heart.”
On June 28, 2024, Cruz entered a plea deal and was sentenced to 14 years in federal prison and three years of supervised release for the distribution of fentanyl. Cruz also admitted that his products resulted in the death of Pangburn, officials said.
Pangburn, who is an Ontario resident, is survived by his daughter, siblings, parents and friends.
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Los Angeles, Ca
Back-to-back scares rattle Los Angeles Metro buses in a span of hours
![Back-to-back scares rattle Los Angeles Metro buses in a span of hours](https://ktla.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/4/2024/07/Metro-bus-tagged.png?w=900)
In a span of just six and half hours, two Los Angeles Metro buses were the focus of dangerous and scary situations Monday.
The first incident happened at around 3:15 a.m. when a Metro bus full of passengers near West Olympic and Flower Street downtown was overrun by people gathered for a street takeover involving an estimated 50 vehicles.
According to the bus operator, the mob of individuals shot fireworks at the bus and left it covered in graffiti.
There were also reports that the same group “tagged” a nearby building and attempted to break into a Starbucks on 9th and Flower before eventually being dispersed by officers with the Los Angeles Police department.
It is unclear if any arrests were made. There were also no reports of injuries.
Earl Ofari Hutchinson, president of the Los Angeles Urban Policy Roundtable said that law enforcement needs to step up where the continued problem of street takeovers are concerned.
“You’re tasked with protecting citizens, it’s your job,” he told KTLA’s Carlos Saucedo. “You got to crack down, got to stop it. We’ve called repeatedly for the creation of a permanent joint taskforce – LAPD, LASD and state officials – to come in. In other words, to monitor, ID, impound and arrest.
Not long after that incident, at 9:45 a.m., deputies with the Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Department surrounded a Metro bus at Los Feliz and San Fernando roads in Glendale on reports of an armed passenger.
Authorities said that all the passengers on the bus had exited when the bus operator, who was wrapping up his shift, noticed a passenger slumped over, reportedly sleeping, in his seat with a gun.
Responding SWAT teams were able to watch the man by viewing Metro’s real-time surveillance cameras inside the bus while they used a bullhorn to get the suspect to wake up.
The suspect was eventually taken into custody at 11:45 a.m. without incident and a firearm was recovered at the scene.
“He woke up,” Deputy Lucas Darland said. “It was not a violent situation or confrontation at all.”
The Los Angeles County Metropolitan Transportation Authority has been plagued by recent violence, including several incidents of people killed on buses or trains.
In May, Metro bus operators staged a “sick out” impacting several bus lines to draw attention to what they were calling a safety crisis.
Late in June, L.A. Metro board members voted to move forward with a five-year transition to establish a “Transit Community Public Safety Department.”
Currently, Metro, who used to have its own version of a transit police force between 1978 and 1997, contracts with LAPD, LASD and Long Beach PD for security, though officials at the transportation authority have been critical of the law enforcement personnel hired to provide safety resources to riders.
Los Angeles, Ca
Incarcerated Los Angeles man allegedly killed by 3 other inmates in prison
![Incarcerated Los Angeles man allegedly killed by 3 other inmates in prison](https://ktla.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/4/2024/07/Copy-of-mug-or-photo-crop-6.png?w=900)
Three prison inmates are accused of attacking and killing a 24-year-old Los Angeles man at Kern Valley State Prison last month, according to the California Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation.
Officials say three inmates allegedly attacked Dwight Gibbs, a 24-year-old incarcerated man, at about 8:06 p.m. on June 28. Prison employees quickly broke up the attack, but Gibbs was treated for his injuries and transported to a local hospital, where he died about one hour later.
Gibbs was serving a 41 year sentence for attempted second-degree murder as a second striker with enhancements of inflicting great bodily injury and use of a firearm. He was incarcerated at Kern Valley in January 2023.
Three men — 55-year-old Michael Brown, 63-year-old Jerry Dunham and 61-year-old Rex Dickey — were each placed in restricted housing. Their fates will await completion of a homicide investigation.
Officers found three prison-made weapons at the scene of the attack.
![Kern Valley State Prison homicide suspects](https://ktla.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/4/2024/07/Copy-of-mugshot-background-6.png?w=900)
Brown was convicted on first-degree murder charges in 1997. Both Dunham and Dickey have been convicted for assault as inmates.
There was no immediate word on a possible motive.
Los Angeles, Ca
Juvenile shot in neck, chest at Ventura County park
![Juvenile shot in neck, chest at Ventura County park](https://ktla.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/4/2024/04/police-tape.jpg?w=1280)
A juvenile was shot multiple times while hanging around a neighborhood park in Simi Valley during the early morning hours Monday.
The shooting was reported shortly before 2:30 a.m. at Frontier Park located at 2165 Elizondo St.
Arriving officers found the minor, described only as a male, with a gunshot wound to his chest and another to his trachea, the Simi Valley Police Department stated in a news release.
The minor was taken to a local trauma center to undergo surgery, the Police Department stated.
Investigators believe the victim was involved in a confrontation between two groups when someone pulled out a gun and shot him.
Several people wearing dark-colored hoodie sweatshirts were seen running from the park after the shooting, police said.
The small community park is equipped with a children’s playground and access to the Arroyo Simi Bike Patch.
Anyone with information regarding the shooting was asked to call the Police Department at 805-583-6950.
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