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CLEARLAKE, Calif. – A Friday afternoon incident in Clearlake involving a gunfire exchange between two vehicles led to a short-term lockdown of a nearby school.
The Clearlake Police Department reported that the incident occurred just after 2 p.m. Friday in the area of Redwood Street and Walnut Avenue.
Police said it was determined that there had been shots fired between two vehicles, a white sedan and a gray mini van.
Nearby Burns Valley Elementary School was placed on lockdown for safety measures until it was determined to be safe. Police said the lockdown has since been lifted.
There were no suspects in custody as of late Friday afternoon, police said.
Anyone with information about the shooting incident can call the Clearlake Police Department at 707-994-8251.
CLEARLAKE OAKS, Calif. – The Lake County Sheriff's Office has released new information about the Thursday morning shooting that resulted in the death of a woman and injuries to three other people.
The man authorities say is responsible for the shooting is Ezequiel Junior Bravo, 24, of Clearlake, who sheriff's deputies and Clearlake Police officers arrested near a school several hours after the shooting, which occurred at around 2 a.m. at the Elem Indian Colony in Clearlake Oaks.
Lt. Corey Paulich said Bravo shot four people as part of what appears to have been a domestic dispute, killing Theresa Brown, 45, aunt of his estranged wife.
Paulich's Friday report indicated that at 2:16 a.m. Thursday Bravo – who was looking for his wife – forced his way into the Elem Drive home of his in-laws, Robert and Stephanie Brown.
After forcing entry to the home, Bravo shot and killed Theresa Brown, and also shot and wounded Robert and Stephanie Brown and his wife’s 6-year-old niece, Paulich said.
Stephanie Brown fled the residence in an attempt to call for help. Paulich said Bravo followed Stephanie Brown out of the residence and forced her at gunpoint into his vehicle.
Paulich said Bravo then went back into the residence. While he was in the house, Stephanie Brown was able to take Bravo’s vehicle and drove herself to the hospital.
When he subsequently fled the scene, Bravo took the Browns' van, abandoning it a short distance away on Pomo Road, Paulich said.
The first deputies to arrive at the scene found the abandoned van with a firearm inside, Paulich said.
Over the next several hours, authorities searched for Bravo on the ground and also from the air with the help of the Sonoma County Sheriff’s Office helicopter Henry 1. Paulich said that alerts also were sent to surrounding law enforcement agencies.
Additionally, Paulich said the sheriff's office issued an early morning Nixle alert to the community with a photo of Bravo.
That public alert ultimately led to Bravo's capture, after a school official at Pomo Elementary School who had seen it spotted Bravo on the campus at around 9 a.m. Thursday and called law enforcement, according to Paulich's report.
Sheriff's deputies and Clearlake Police officers converged on the campus a short time later and took Bravo into custody without incident, Paulich said.
Bravo is being held in the Lake County Jail on $1 million bail for murder, attempted murder, kidnapping, assault with a deadly weapon and assault with serious bodily injury.
He is expected to be formally charged when he appears in Lake County Superior Court for arraignment, which is tentatively scheduled for Monday, according to booking records.
Anyone with information regarding this case is asked to contact Det. Richard Kreutzer at 707-262-4233.
Email Elizabeth Larson at
LUCERNE, Calif. – A Lucerne man was flown to an out-of-county trauma center on Wednesday night after he was hit by a vehicle while crossing Highway 20.
The California Highway Patrol said Chad A. DeAngulo, 41, suffered moderate injuries in the crash, which occurred at 5:25 p.m. Wednesday.
The CHP said DeAngulo was walking on the north shoulder of Highway 20 at Grove Street in Lucerne when he attempted to cross the highway from north to south, outside of a crosswalk.
Jason E. Milton, 45, of Lucerne was driving eastbound in a 1984 Dodge van below the posted speed limit of 35 miles per hour when DeAngulo entered the roadway directly in Milton's path, the CHP said.
Milton was unable to avoid colliding with DeAngulo, who was struck by the van's right-front bumper and hood, sustaining moderate injuries, according to the CHP report.
CHP officers and Northshore Fire Protection District personnel responded to the scene.
The CHP said DeAngulo was transported by a CalStar air ambulance to Santa Rosa Memorial Hospital for treatment of his injuries.
Email Elizabeth Larson at
California Department of Public Health Director and State Public Health Officer Dr. Karen Smith said Thursday that her agency has received the first report of an influenza-associated fatality in a person under the age of 65 for the 2016-2017 flu season.
The death occurred in Los Angeles County, Smith said.
“As this unfortunate case illustrates, the flu can be deadly and causes thousands of fatalities each year in the United States,” Dr. Smith said. “Fortunately, people can get vaccinated to help keep them from getting sick and spreading the flu to others.”
While this is the first influenza-associated death in a patient under the age of 65 reported this season in California, CDPH has received reports of 11 confirmed influenza-associated cases that required treatment in an intensive care unit, and five influenza outbreaks in the state this year.
Deaths due to influenza in persons under 65 years of age are reportable in California to monitor the seasonal severity of influenza.
Each year, flu causes millions of illnesses, hundreds of thousands of hospitalizations and thousands or sometimes tens of thousands of deaths in the United States.
To reduce this threat, CDPH recommends the annual flu vaccine for everyone six months of age and older, including pregnant women.
While seasonal flu outbreaks can happen as early as October, flu activity is usually highest between December and February, and can last through the Spring.
As family and friends gather during the holidays, now is an important time to get protection against the flu. It’s not too late to get vaccinated.
Common symptoms of the flu include fever or feeling feverish, a cough and/or sore throat, a runny or stuffy nose, chills, fatigue and body aches. Children may also have nausea, vomiting or diarrhea.
To stop the spread of flu and other respiratory illnesses, Californians should also:
· Stay home when sick.
· Cover a cough or sneeze with a tissue and properly dispose of the used tissue.
· Wash hands thoroughly with soap and warm water or an alcohol-based hand sanitizer.
· Avoid touching your eyes, nose and mouth.
Californians are encouraged to contact their health care providers, clinics or pharmacies about obtaining the flu vaccine.
The Lake County Public Health Department offers flu vaccines for $2 at its office at 922 Bevins Court in Lakeport on Wednesdays between 9 and 11 a.m. through Dec. 14. After Dec. 14, flu vaccines will be available during regular clinic hours as walk in appointments. Call Public Health at 1-800-794-9291 or 707-263-1090 for dates, times and additional information.
For more information about the flu visit the CDPH influenza web page.
To find a flu vaccine location near you, visit www.flu.gov and enter your zip code in the Flu Vaccine Finder.
Editor’s note: A previous version of this story stated that hospitalizations due to influenza in persons under 65 years of age are reportable in California. CDPH has corrected that to say that only deaths in that population are reportable. The story has been edited to reflect that correction.
LAKEPORT, Calif. – While we enjoy family, friends and holiday meals, many are far from all of those and in harm’s way.
America’s troops serve and sacrifice every day, but feel the separation from home even more during the holidays.
Operation Tango Mike ships care packages to deployed service members every month. Requests for care packages increase during the holiday season as buddies ask to add friends to the list and self-referrals rise as troops make personal requests for support.
Monthly shipping fees average more than $1,000 and the cost to fill care packages is even more.
You can support the troops on Sunday, Dec. 4, at a special event, Pictures with Santa.
Operation Tango Mike will host the festivities at AAA Welding, 637 Bevins St. in Lakeport.
Children, adults and pets are welcome for the photo session from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. All dogs must be leashed, current on vaccinations, socialized and well-mannered. Please do not bring an aggressive animal to this event.
A professional will photographer using digital backgrounds will provide holiday cheer to every photo. Visitors will leave with prints in hand. A $15 donation is suggested.
Get in the holiday spirit with warm apple cider, candy canes and of course, Santa Claus.
Craft items will be available and donations of items for troop care packages will gladly be accepted.
For more information please call 707-349-2838 or e-mail
NORTH COAST, Calif. – An approximately 50-mile portion of the commercial Dungeness crab fishery between Point Reyes, Marin County and near Salt Point, Sonoma County that has been closed due to elevated domoic acid levels will open on Dec. 3 at the recommendation of state health agencies, the California Department of Fish and Wildlife (CDFW) announced Thursday.
However, the fishery will remain closed north of Salt Point to the Humboldt Bay entrance. The closed portions of the coast may open once testing by state agencies shows that the area is safe with regard to domoic acid levels.
On Dec. 3 at 12:01 a.m., the commercial Dungeness crab season will open from Point Reyes (38° 00' N. lat.) to near Salt Point (38° 34.5'N. Lat.).
The opener will be preceded by an 18-hour pre-soak period commencing at 6 a.m. on Dec. 2. The area between Salt Point and the north jetty at the Humboldt Bay entrance south will remain closed until the CDFW director receives a recommendation from the state health agencies that levels of domoic acid - a naturally occurring toxin – do not pose a public health risk.
Last fall and winter, domoic acid along the West Coast interrupted Dungeness and rock crab fisheries from Santa Barbara to the Oregon state line.
At the recommendation of the state Office of Environmental Health Hazard Assessment (OEHHA), CDFW Director Charlton H. Bonham submitted to the Office of Administrative Law an emergency rulemaking to keep the commercial Dungeness crab fishery closed north of Point Reyes (38° 00' N. lat.) and to close the commercial rock crab fishery north of Pigeon Point (37° 11' N. lat.).
State and federal laws prohibit the commercial distribution of seafood products that contain domoic acid levels above the federal action level of 30 parts per million in the viscera, or guts.
Because of this, on Nov. 8, OEHHA in consultation with the California Department of Public Health (CDPH) recommended to CDFW to close or delay the start of the commercial Dungeness crab season north of Point Reyes and close the commercial rock crab fishery north of Pigeon Point.
On Nov. 23, OEHHA, in consultation with CDPH, recommended that CDFW open the commercial fishery from the north jetty at the Humboldt Bay entrance to the California/Oregon state line at its normal opening date of Dec. 1, and is now recommending the commercial fishery be opened from Point Reyes to near Salt Point.
The recreational season for Dungeness crab opened on Nov. 5 and remains open with a warning from CDPH to recreational anglers to avoid consuming the internal organs of Dungeness crab caught between Salt Point and the north jetty at the Humboldt Bay entrance.
Closure of the above-referenced commercial fisheries shall remain in effect until the Director of OEHHA, in consultation with the Director of CDPH, determines that domoic acid levels no longer pose a significant risk to public health and recommends the fisheries be open, and the director of CDFW provides notification to the commercial fisheries. Recreational fisheries will remain open under a warning to anglers not to eat the guts of crab caught in the affected areas.
CDFW will continue to coordinate with CDPH and OEHHA to test domoic acid levels in crab along the coast to determine when the fisheries can safely be opened. CDPH, in conjunction with CDFW, has been actively testing crabs since early September and results from the most recent tests showed that select crabs from the closed areas had elevated levels of domoic acid in their viscera.
Domoic acid is a potent neurotoxin that can accumulate in shellfish, other invertebrates and sometimes fish. It causes illness and sometimes death in a variety of birds and marine mammals that consume affected organisms.
At low levels, domoic acid exposure can cause nausea, diarrhea and dizziness in humans. At higher levels, it can cause persistent short-term memory loss, seizures and can in some cases be fatal.