Dozens of Los Angeles wildfire looters pictured, including a man carrying a dagger
Dozens of people accused of looting homes and businesses amid the Palisades Fire in the upscale coastal Los Angeles County neighborhood have been pictured in mugshots.
The alleged criminals were mostly men but included at least one woman. None lived in the evacuation zone and appeared to have traveled to the Pacific Palisades neighborhood to take advantage of the devastation, officials said on Tuesday.
More than 40 people have been charged with burglary, drug possession and other offenses.
Ten burglary suspects were taken into custody in the Pacific Palisades evacuation zone and six of them had ‘burglary tools’ on them, according to Santa Monica cops. Three of their mugshots have been released including that of Joshua Kaliel Love who allegedly was holding a window-breaking instrument, a dagger, a window punch, gloves and narcotics.
People accused of taking advantage of the carnage, including Joshua Kaliel Love (second row, first column), Miguel Angel Dorantes (second row, third column), and Dominic Pacheco Magana (first row, third column) (Picture: Santa Monica Police Department)
Residents around the Palisades Fire on Tuesday were told to ‘evacuate now’ ahead of strong winds expected to sweep Los Angeles over the next 24 hours.
The winds could spark new extreme fire activity as firefighters work to increase containment of multiple ongoing wildfires.
‘This is a particularly dangerous situation,’ said Los Angeles County Supervisor Lindsey Horvath during a press conference in the morning.
‘From now through tomorrow, the strongest winds will be this evening, and we ask everyone to get prepared now to evacuate.’
Firefighters in Los Angeles are preparing for what could be the most dangerous days of the disaster, one week after fires first broke out across Southern California.
Almost the entire area of Los Angeles is under a fire warning of some sort, ranging from ‘elevated’ to ‘extreme’.
LAFD Fire Chief Kristin Crowley said: ‘This setup is about as bad as it gets. We are not in the clear.’
Strong winds are beginning to pick up and will last into late Wednesday night, prompting fears of even worse damage.
More than 9,000,000 people live in the area covered by the fire warnings – more than in London.
The dry Santa Ana wind gusts will range from 30 to 50 mph, with gusts of up to 75mph in certain areas.
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