Los Angeles County sheriff’s deputies pursued a burglary suspect through more than a dozen Lancaster yards, ending with a standoff after the man locked himself inside a stranger’s bedroom, authorities said Wednesday.

Deputies spotted two men Tuesday in a vehicle matching one reportedly seen at a residential burglary earlier in the day. When they tried to stop the men, the driver got out and ran, officials said. He hopped more than a dozen fences before forcing his way through the back door of a home in the 1200 block of East Donatello Street, Capt. Mike Parker said.

Deputies heard screaming inside the home. As they entered, a woman and her three teenage daughters ran out.

The man, who sheriff's officials identified as Bobby Smith-Harper, 20, had locked himself inside one of the bedrooms and was trying to break a hole through one of the walls to escape, Parker said. As a helicopter landed nearby carrying the sheriff’s department's SWAT team, the man finally surrendered, Parker said.

A second suspect, Glen Gaines, also 20, was arrested without incident.

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-- Robert Faturechi

Pomona police were investigating a fatal shooting Tuesday night.

The victim was shot about 9:40 p.m. near the intersection of Huntington Street and Laurel Avenue, the Pomona Police Department said.

Police said the victim may have been a teenager.

A neighbor told the Los Angeles Times that multiple shots were fired and that the victim was lying in the street next to a bicycle.

No other details were available.

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-- Robert J. Lopez

A man and a woman died in a two-car crash in Palmdale on Sunday evening, police said.

The accident involved a Mercedes-Benz and a sport utility vehicle on Pearblossom Highway at Sierra Highway, said California Highway Patrol Officer Patrick Kimball. 

Three other people, including a child, were injured. Two were in critical condition at Antelope Valley Hospital.

Further details of the incident were not immediately available.

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-- Esmeralda Bermudez

Enolia Mims, an 81-year-old woman who went missing Thursday after cleaning house in the San Fernando Valley, has been found, according to her daughter.

Shari Mims said her mother was found late Friday night in Barstow, where her car ran out of gasoline. A tow truck driver drove her to a Motel 6.

"The tow truck driver asked her who he could call for her, and that's when we got the phone call," Shari Mims said. Officers with the Barstow Police Department picked up the woman and held her at the station until family members arrived to pick her up.

"Thank Jesus!" Shari Mims said in a phone interview. "It was an emotional roller coaster."

According to police, Enolia Mims had left her home in South Los Angeles about 8 a.m. to go to work in the San Fernando Valley. She had been seen last by her employer after she finished cleaning a house in the 20000 block of Elkwood Street in Canoga Park, police said.

The elderly woman was given wrong directions when she became lost, Shari Mims said.

"We found her and she's doing good," Shari Mims said. "We want to thank the city of Los Angeles because they swung into action."

-- Ruben Vives

A Lancaster man was convicted of attempted murder Thursday and faces up to life in prison for attacking a moviegoer with a digital thermometer.

A jury convicted Landry Boullard, 40, of  premeditated attempted murder in the February assault, which attracted widespread attention because of the motive and the weapon. The victim had asked Boullard's female companion to stop talking on a cellphone during the movie.

The incident occurred at a Lancaster cineplex during a screening of “Shutter Island.” Witnesses testified that Boullard and a companion had been talking throughout the film, disturbing several people when the woman's cellphone rang and she began a conversation, said Deputy Dist. Atty. Robert Sherwood, who prosecuted the case.

“The victim asked the female to stop using the cellphone,” Sherwood said. Another woman seated nearby “said the victim was rather polite when he said it, nicer than he needed to be.”

But words were exchanged and Boullard stormed out, then returned and stabbed the victim with the five inch long thermometer. A friend of the victim and a stranger leaped to his aid. Boullard fled.

But the brief assault was brutal.

State health officials Tuesday lifted a ban drinking water in Barstow with the exception of a veterans home.

Officials have said that perchlorate, a chemical used in rocket fuel and munitions, may have contaminated the city water supply for months.

Test results that prompted the water ban and a state of emergency in the San Bernardino County town came from samples taken at the neighboring Marine Corps Logistics Base in August.  The contamination was confirmed Thursday, triggering an areawide "do not drink" order.

Before drinking tap water, Barstow residents are advised to do the following:

• Flush all hot and cold water taps in homes for about five minutes.
• Empty hot water heaters by running the hot water until it becomes cold. Customers with tankless water heaters should run hot water for 10 minutes.
• Dispose of any juice or ice made with tap water.

Officials said they were working to lift the ban at the city's veteran's home.

-- Robert J. Lopez

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The water supplier to the desert city of Barstow continued flushing out its water system late Saturday to rid pipes of the hazardous contaminant perchlorate, which was discovered in the drinking water supply on Thursday.

The flushing process by Golden State Water Co. caused minor flooding in some parts of the Mojave Desert town, and had city officials scrambling to make sure that the municipal sewage system wouldn’t be overwhelmed, said City Councilman Tim Saenz.

Meanwhile, state health officials continued their warning to residents not to use tap water to drink, prepare food or brush their teeth. Four drive-through water distribution centers were set up around town to provide free bottled water to all those in need.

“We have to deal with it. It’s an unfortunate situation," Saenz said as he helped volunteers handing out water at Barstow Community College on Saturday night. “Our priority is the public’s safety and public’s health.’’

Perchlorate, a type of salt derived from perchloric acid, has been found in drinking water in at least 35 states. It can interfere with iodine uptake in the thyroid gland. The thyroid, which releases hormones, helps with proper development in children and helps regulate metabolism.

The contamination prompted Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger to declare a state of emergency Saturday.

According to the governor’s declaration, more than 40,000 customers were without their normal supply of drinking water, and several restaurants, hotels and other businesses had to close because of the contamination.

Officials at Golden State Water Co. still have not told the city when the water supply may be declared safe again, but expect it will be within days, Saenz said.

Most  Barstow residents said they’ve been able to adjust to depending on bottled water, though some expressed doubts about assurances from health officials that the tap water was safe for bathing.

“I have grandchildren and elderly parents I’m taking care of. I’m not sure I want to risk it," said Eben Heffernan, 44, a carpenter from Barstow who drove up in his Ford Bronco at the Barstow college to collect three gallons of bottled water. “Plus, who knows how long this chemical has been in the water. I sure don’t."

Concerns also have been heightened by mixed messages residents are receiving.

Sabrina Ellis, 29, who works in the Barstow Police Department records division, said water company representatives said the tap water was safe for washing dishes -– yet officials at the elementary school her three children attend told students not to wash their hands with the water.

“I had to run out to Wal Mart to buy a bunch of that hand-sanitizer stuff," said Ellis, one of the volunteers handing out water late Saturday night.

--Phil Willon, reporting from Barstow

Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger proclaimed a state of emergency Saturday for San Bernardino County, where the water supply for the city of Barstow is contaminated.

The proclamation comes a day after residents of the desert town were told of the contamination by Golden State Water Co., which serves Barstow and nearby unincorporated areas.

More than 40,000 customers are without drinking water, according to the governor's proclamation. Company spokesman John Dewey said in a statement that they began advising residents after the company was notified on Thursday by personnel at the Marine Corps' Nebo Supply Base that samples taken from the base's water distribution system showed levels of perchlorate above the maximum contaminant level. Dewey said the company took samples of water and test results on Friday confirmed that the levels of the chemical exceeded standards.

Perchlorate is a chemical often used in solid rocket propellant, fireworks, explosives and flares.

Dewey said three wells out of 20 in the company's Barstow system had high levels of perchlorate. At least one of the three wells was operational, but has been shut down since the discovery.

The company plans to distribute more than 100,000 bottles of water to customers in Barstow, while the system is flushed out and tested once again, Dewey said.

-- Ruben Vives

Pacific Gas & Electric Co. on Friday confirmed that the utility has sent letters to more than 100 residents of Hinkley this week, offering to buy their properties.

The High Desert town has long been threatened by a toxic plume of groundwater contaminated with cancer-causing chromium 6; the situation was made famous by the 2000 movie “Erin Brockovich.”

PG&E previously settled with more than 600 Hinckley residents for $333 million. But company officials say they are now expanding their property purchase program due to residents’ demand.

"More residents have expressed concern and want to relocate,” said Jeff Smith, a PG&E spokesman. He added: “We have complete confidence in our remediation efforts in the area.”

Smith said the company continues to test and treat wells in the area and disputes claims that the toxic plume has grown.

-- Molly Hennessy-Fiske

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Barstow residents were warned Friday not to drink local tap water, which recent tests show may be contaminated.

Golden State Water Co. posted the warning on its website after the agency was notified Thursday that samples contained high levels of perchlorate, an inorganic chemical that interferes with the human thyroid gland, affecting hormones as well as prenatal growth during pregnancies.

The chemical is found in rocket propellant, fireworks, explosives, flares, matches and industrial byproducts. According to the agency's statement, the chemical “usually gets into drinking water as a result of environmental contamination from historic aerospace or other industrial operations that used or use, store, or dispose of perchlorate and its salts.”

Golden State learned of the possible contamination Thursday when staff at the Barstow Marine Corps Logistics Base Nebo, about five miles southeast of Barstow, notified the company that samples taken from the base’s water system showed levels of perchlorate above the maximum contaminant level of 6 parts per billion set by state regulators, according to the company’s statement Friday.

In response, Golden State officials collected samples for additional testing Friday from the water system outside the base and all active wells serving the Barstow system.

“Golden State Water Company is aggressively investigating our water system to determine the source of contamination so that it can be eliminated,” the statement said.

In the meantime, customers in Barstow and surrounding unincorporated areas were advised not to drink the water or use it to make ice or other beverages. Customers were warned that boiling, freezing, filtering or letting water stand does not make it any safer -- boiling water can actually increase the concentration of perchlorate, making it more hazardous.

The water may be safely used for non-drinking purposes, according to the statement.

A Golden State spokesman did not return calls for comment late Friday.

-- Molly Hennessy-Fiske

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