Free Republic

Tuesday was a good day to be out on filling up your gas tank in Oceanside. Officers with Oceanside Police Department were on a mission to help drivers with rising gas prices, handing out $50 bills to help drivers deal with pain at the pump, KTLA sister station KSWB reported. “I have to pay for this pump and this truck and I get like 8 miles a gallon so I’m paying like $300 a week,” driver Dylan Garcia said. “It’s hurt a lot, you know. It’s taking away from everything else,” driver Steven Zufall said. “It’s hard to go to...

OCEANSIDE, Calif. (CNS) -- A resident grabbed a gun and opened fire on two men taking part in a predawn home-invasion robbery along with four other accomplices in Oceanside today, killing one of them, authorities said. The shooting in the 300 block of Moonstone Bay Drive, near Libby Lake Park, took place at about 1:15 a.m., according to the Oceanside Police Department. Patrol officers responding to reports of gunfire arrived to find a 31-year-old suspect mortally wounded in the residence, OPD spokeswoman Jennifer Atenza said. The man, whose name was withheld pending family notification, died at the scene. Meanwhile, other...

Oceanside Police Department told FOX 5 the woman was lying on the sand at Oceanside Harbor Beach around 10 a.m. A worker operating a tractor didn’t see the woman sleeping and ran her over, according to police. The woman, who appeared to be in her 40s, did not have identification on her. SkyFOX video showed crime scene tape and police officers surrounding the tractor. It was being used to move pipes as part of a dredging project.

PORTLAND, Ore.—U.S. Attorney Billy J. Williams announced today that seven people have been arrested and face federal charges for their roles in weekend riots at the Mark O. Hatfield U.S. Courthouse in Portland.According to court documents, since May 26, 2020, protests in downtown Portland have regularly been followed by nightly criminal activity including assaults on law enforcement officers, destruction of property, looting, arson, and vandalism.Rowan Olsen, 19, of Portland, is charged with disorderly conduct, creating a hazard on federal property, and failing to obey a lawful order; Shant Singh Ahuja, 28, of Oceanside, California, is charged with destruction of...

OCEANSIDE, Calif. – The driver of an apparent road-rage incident that ended with a rollover crash on a highway in Oceanside Thursday was arrested on assault charges, according to California Highway Patrol. The incident took place on state Route 78 near College Boulevard, in the Oceanside area, around 4:25 p.m., according to CHP. It was not immediately clear what sparked the dispute, but FOX 5 spoke with the woman who captured the incident on Snapchat then posted the video on Twitter. She told FOX 5 what she thinks triggered the behavior. “Because the other car that flipped over, he wouldn’t...

OCEANSIDE, Calif. - Three 18-year-olds were behind bars Tuesday on suspicion of defacing American flags in a North County senior housing neighborhood last summer. Ruben Jimenez, Daniel Moran and Breanna Alexis Serrato allegedly spray-painted the three flags -- writing "(expletive) USA" on one of them -- in the 3800 block of Rosemary Way in Oceanside late on the evening of July 18, according to Lt. Leonard Cosby. A surveillance camera captured images of the crimes, he said.

Firefighters have known for years that burning small arms ammunition produces a very low level of danger  to firemen.   This is from the SAAMI paper, "Facts About Sporting Ammunition Fires":  Ammunition fired in the open, not enclosed in a gun's chamber, discharges with such inefficiency that the projectile will not even penetrate an ordinary fiberboard shipping container panel at very close range. When not strongly and tightly confined, smokeless propellant powders burn relatively slowly and do not explode as we know they do when fired in a gun. Pressure within a cartridge case must build up to several...

The owner of a California store that sells gun parts to build rifles from scratch is refusing to turn over his customer list to federal officials. Dimitrios Karras, owner of Ares Armor in Oceanside, told Fox5SanDiego.com that Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives agents are investigating his business because it sells AR-15 lower receivers, which contain the gun’s operating parts. The company sold thousands of 80 percent receivers in with colors showing where the customer can drill, making it easier and cheaper to build. The ATF said the sales are illegal and demanded the company turn over the products...

Gun store owner refuses to give feds customer list OCEANSIDE, Calif. – The owner of an Oceanside store that sells various gun parts to build a rifle from scratch refused to turn over his customer list to federal agents. Dimitrios Karras, owner of Ares Armor, said the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives agents were investigating their business, not for what they sell, but for the people who purchase their products. Karras said the ATF threatened to shutter their business if they didn’t hand over the names of 5,000 customers who have purchased an 80 percent lower receiver (the...

VISTA ---- Oceanside gang member Meki Gaono was found guilty Monday of first-degree murder in the 2006 ambush of Oceanside police Officer Dan Bessant. Bessant, 25, was assisting a fellow officer during an unrelated traffic stop in a gang-plagued neighborhood when he was felled by sniper fire on Dec. 20, 2006. Prosecutors had argued that Gaono and two fellow teenage gang members drank beer and watched the police activity for about 15 minutes and then opened fire to make themselves and their gang look tough on the streets. The jury, which deliberated for about 10 hours since getting the case...

VISTA ---- An 18-year-old gang member who took part in a fatal sniper attack on Oceanside police Officer Dan Bessant will spend the rest of his life in prison without the possibility of parole, a judge ruled Monday. As he listened to the judge lay out his fate, Penifoti "P.J." Taeotui showed no visible reaction.

VISTA ---- The teenage gang member accused in the fatal ambush shooting of Oceanside police Officer Dan Bessant sat motionless Monday afternoon as he listened to the verdict: guilty of first-degree murder. Just feet away from Penifoti "P.J." Taeotui in the Vista courtroom, the slain officer's father blinked quickly and his breathing deepened slightly, but he also otherwise was motionless. "My prayer for this ordeal ... was that the truth would prevail," Steve Bessant said moments later, after the jury left the courtroom and bailiffs hauled Taeotui back to jail. A North County jury found Taeotui guilty of all charges...

OCEANSIDE -- Nearly eight months after a rifleman gunned down an Oceanside policeman during a traffic stop, prosecutors Monday charged a third teenager in the officer's slaying. Alleged Oceanside gang member Jose Compre, 17, is set to be in a Vista courtroom this afternoon to answer to murder and other charges, Deputy District Attorney Tom Manning said. A sniper's bullet killed 25-year-old Officer Dan Bessant on Dec. 20, shortly after Bessant arrived to give a fellow officer backup during a routine traffic stop in a northeast Oceanside neighborhood with a history of gang violence. snip

NORTH COUNTY(San Diego, county California) -- A 16-year-old boy arrested last week in connection with the shooting death of Officer Dan Bessant will be in a Vista courtroom this afternoon to face murder charges, authorities said Monday.... snip Police have arrested three teenagers thus far in connection with the shooting. One of the teens, 17-year-old Meki Gaono, pleaded not guilty two weeks ago to murder and other charges. Authorities said Gaono is an admitted gang member. Another teen -- a 16-year-old who was arrested the day after the shooting -- has not been charged in connection with Bessant's slaying. He...

An Oceanside PD officer has been airlifted out after being shot in the city. Apparently he was on a ped stop when 6 shots rang out, and 2 suspects ran from the scene.

VISTA ---- A 17-year-old documented gang member from Oceanside was arraigned Tuesday afternoon on charges of murder and attempted murder in the fatal shooting last week of Oceanside police Officer Dan Bessant. Meki Gaono of Oceanside is accused of killing Bessant to enhance his standing in an east Oceanside gang to which he belongs, prosecutors said. Bail was set at $5 million for Gaono, whose friends and family members attended the arraignment before Superior Court Judge David Brown. Several of Bessant's friends and family members were also present in the courtroom.

San Diego police Officers R. Gutierrez, left, and Vernon Kindred deliver flowers for the slain officer at the Oceanside Police Station on Friday. The officers said they were in the area and decided to pay their respects. Jenny Quezada, front, and her mother Connie Marsteller visit the memorial for the slain officer at the Oceanside Police Station Friday. OCEANSIDE ---- Oceanside police officials said Friday they have arrested a second suspect in connection with the fatal shooting Wednesday of police Officer Dan Bessant in the northeastern edge of town. A 16-year-old Oceanside boy was arrested Thursday night after he...

Law enforcement members gathered last night in Oceanside near North River Road and Vandegrift Boulevard after an Oceanside police officer was shot during a traffic stop nearby. The officer later died. OCEANSIDE – An Oceanside police officer was shot and killed last night while assisting with a traffic stop, officials said. The shooting happened about 6:30 p.m. near Gold Drive and Arthur Avenue. The officer was flown to Scripps Memorial Hospital in La Jolla, where he died, Oceanside Capt. David Heering said. A suspect had not been arrested last night. The officer's name had not been released. He had...

OCEANSIDE,CA - In an effort to let parents know that their child may be facing trouble, detectives are sending a warning letter to the parent or guardian of a juvenile who is associating with a criminal gang and is on the verge of being documented by police. The letter is a new tool that gang detectives are using to keep parents aware of their children's activities and as a starting point for prevention, authorities said. "We thought it was the right thing to do ---- that if it was your child, you'd want to know," said police Lt. Tom Jones,...

Edith Walsh of San Diego, left, marches in a group calling themselves The Pendleton 8 Rally Battalion, from the front gate of Camp Pendleton to The Flying Bridge Restaurant in Oceanside on Saturday. The group rallies outside the front gate of Camp Pendleton every Saturday in support of the eight Marines in the base brig accused of killing a civilian man in Iraq.