North Star
a 13-year-old girl while her family was asleep.
Police and marshals identified a 25-year-old Ontario man as a suspect and arrested him June 28.
Another case involved the shooting of a California Highway Patrol officer who was conducting a traffic stop in Studio City at Laurel Canyon Boulevard, just south of the 101 Freeway, on June 13. A struggle broke out and the driver, later identified as 33-year-old Pejhmaun Iraj Khosroabadi, drew a gun and wounded the officer with multiple shots, authorities said.
Khosroabadi, a combat veteran who was reeling with depression at the
LAPD Chief Michel Moore talks about Operation North Star on Thursday. LAPD and the U.S. Marshals Service made gang and narcotics busts in the LA area.
time, according to his relatives, was found by police and marshals about 12 hours later in an encampment
for homeless people. He has since been charged with attempted murder of a peace officer.
Authorities participating in the operation also seized 47 firearms in Los Angeles, Moore said. Several ghost guns, weapons assembled from parts that can be nearly impossible to trace, were among them.
A total of 89 agencies in Los Angeles as well as Washington, D.C.; New York City; New Orleans; Chicago; Philadelphia; Memphis, Tennessee; Houston; Indianapolis; and Baltimore participated in Operation North Star. Those commu- nities were chosen in part because they have experienced notable increases in violent crime in recent years, Moore said.
Nationwide, about 1,400 arrests were made during the monthlong joint effort, including 230 homicide suspects. And over 160 guns were seized.