Los Angeles, CA—It was anyone’s worst nightmare.     Vince Ricci arrived home to be attacked by two armed intruders Hell bent on a home invasion.     Ricci had previously qualified for a carry permit by completing all of the strict and patently unconstitutional hurdles designed to keep him unarmed by actually getting the carry permit.     Within milliseconds the attackers rushed Ricci and    pointed their guns at at him but Ricci quickly drew his own gun and began furiously fighting for his and his family’s lives.    Ricci fired shots and the cowardly gunmen quickly retreated.    Nobody was physically injured.    Ricci acted in lawful self-defense.    As for the two thugs they escaped and will remain free until they get caught doing this to some other hapless victim.  The incident was caught on surveillance video so we need not guess how this violent crime went down.    You can imagine ...

Los Angeles, CA- -While TV news is dying nearly everywhere, the late KTLA-TV weekend morning anchor, Chris Burrous found better ways to reach the audience.  What made Burrous rock was his fearless attitude about broadcasting his way, always departing from the routine.  He was a TV Maverick that truly knew how to have fun.   Burrous has proven his news reporting chops on so many high profile stories.  But there was always so much more for him to deliver to the audience!  Rather than accept reality that few newsworthy things happen on the weekend, he used exceptional creativity to fill a five-hour show!  Burrous often, brought the normally unseen weekend KTLA production crew into the studio.   Burrous encouraged everyone connected to the show to simply relax and show his or her human side.   There was much more on display than sterile anchors and a plastic studio set to see.  Burrous gave viewers real warmth as he made his own...

I have done this cases in many cities with incredible success.  It's my speciality!

Los Angeles, CA —The word of the day is FLIR !  I knew this was in development but now it’s actually here!  FLIR became a major public safety and search & rescue tool more than two decades ago.  Now even civilian camera drones are in the FLIR mix!  Flir has primarily been delegated to expensive cameras carried on board conventional aircraft for military, police, fire and every public safety application. Recently the popular drone maker DJI and Flir teamed up to offer these now affordable lifesaving cameras.   They can now operate from the popular DJI Inspire1 and Matrice 100 drone platforms.   That means anyone with these drones can save or at least protect lives.   Flir is simply an optical device that captures imagery of heat signatures or thermal patterns.  At 98.6 degrees Fahrenheit our bodies are normally warmer than the ambient air temperature.  At night the outside air is almost always colder than the bodies of hu...

I shot this on November 11 in L.A. near the 405 Freeway and The Getty Center.  This was done with a DJI Inspire 1.  The highest altitude achieved was 300 feet and the further distance traveled was only 500 feet.  This is so addicting!  Please enjoy!

Breaking news update: I'm pleased to report that this was a bizarre but somewhat understandable mistake involving a caregiver and miscommunication.  It's not a criminal matter.  Little Audrey has happily been reunited with her father.  Case closed!   Los Angeles, CA — The Grove is one of the better shopping centers in the world.  Movie stars shop here along with some of the wealthiest people anywhere. It’s so close to Christmas and the Grove has one of the biggest Christmas trees anywhere.  The decorations are beautiful and every child is brought here promised a special visit from Santa Claus. Little Audrey was abandoned here yesterday.  Now she has nobody.  Santa does not know where she lives to deliver her exciting toys like he does for the other children.  I never had any children of my own and find this story incredibly heartbreaking.  Right now there will be no Christmas for Audrey. She is in...

Los Angeles, CA —Last week’s fire at the downtown Da Vinci Apartments under construction seemed to me to be an obvious case of arson.  Motives in significant arson cases are nearly always financial.  The fact that the fire engulfed the entire, well over one million square feet evenly and suddenly indicates, at least to me a very large amount of accelerant like gasoline or paint thinner was used. Arsonists often mistakenly believe that fires will consume all the evidence of their crime.  The reality is gravity preserves arson evidence.  The temperatures of fires are the coolest on the bottom of structures conserving precious clues. Investigators are being understandably tight lipped about the things they know.  I also suspect that because the vast amount of real estate involved this crime involved multiple arsonists. In this case the first arsonist that can get to a lawyer, contact authorities and snitch on everyone else wins!  With...

Photo courtesy of KNBC-TV News Los Angeles, CA —The City of Angeles was the scene of an overnight structure fire larger than I have ever seen before.  Reportedly over 250 firefighters battled the firestorm since it was reported at 1:20 AM.  The massive blaze was adjacent to the Harbor #110 Freeway at the 900 block of Fremont Avenue.  Additionally two nearby commercial high-rise buildings were severely damaged by heat, smoke, hundreds of broken windows and flooding from the sprinkler systems.  Broken glass and debris could be found all over the neighborhood.   By mid-morning the fire was nearly out but visibly smoldering.  I sent my drone up from the opposite side of the Harbor Freeway, which apparently was the only vantage point to see the ruins.  The structure itself, which incidentally is located adjacent to a fire station, was to become the Da Vinci Apartments .  At least one million square feet of prime property...

Daniel Saulmon/Tom Zebra Los Angeles, CA — Daniel Saulmon , 42 better known as Tom Zebra is being held in a jail cell here since his 4:00 PM arrest on September 23 rd .  Saulmon was late for his misdemeanor citation received weeks earlier for flying his camera drone.   When Saulmon appeared later that morning they kept him waiting for hours and then was ordered held on a punitive $30K bail.  Saulmon spent five days in jail until his supporters were able to post his bail.   The crime Saulmon is accused of is flying his little plastic remote control Phantom 2 camera drone on Los Angeles park property.  The little known L.A. ordinance Saulmon was arrested on is not new.  It banned flying of remote controlled aircraft.  However this put on the books long before the little multi-rotor Phantom gizmos with cameras ever existed.   At the time they enacted this remote controlled aircraft law, the city council had no way to know the mu...

Sergio Marachilian Los Angeles, CA —a close friend that is a long time pilot for American Airlines and before that TWA turned me on to this new hobby.  I have always loved photography and photographers always want to get the best view and angle.  Arial photography was nearly always out of the question because of the high costs involved.    There are other issues such as; helicopters can’t always get into tight spaces.   Helicopter crashes can be catastrophic but a mishap with the new generation quadcopters almost never causes injury or property damage.   These new drones seem to escape any significant damage should they crash into something!   Modern brushless electric motors and advanced batteries have radically changed the remote control world.   A whole new Galaxy of model planes, boats, cars helicopters and quadcopters is here.   They once were toys really; they seemed to have little value beyond frivolous entertainment. Not an...