BRIEFLY : RESIDENT OF TARZANA HAS $1 MILLION SPIN.

A Tarzana woman won $1 million on the California Lottery's Big Spin TV show broadcast Saturday.

Before she spun the lottery wheel, Mercedes Velasquez of Tarzana said, ``I'm going to win a million.''

The mother of two said she plans to use her winnings to buy a new home, open a day care center and donate money to an orphanage.

She was among seven contestants who won a combined $1.2 million.

Other winners were Diane Gurzi of Sun City, who won $70,000; Susan Arculeo of Torrance, $70,000; Sergio Amezua of Pomona, $60,000; Oscar Penate of Los Angeles, $27,000; Victor Fernandez of Hacienda Heights, $7,500; and Marcia Vierra of Mountain View, $5,000.

- Associated Press

LAPD internal probe of drug theft grows

A day after an LAPD officer pleaded not guilty to charges of stealing cocaine from the department, Police Chief Bernard C. Parks said Saturday that a broader investigation is under way to determine whether other police officers were involved in misconduct involving narcotics.

``We're looking at everything that comes to our attention,'' Parks said, calling the investigation ongoing.

Officer Rafael Antonio Perez has denied charges that he stole 6 pounds of cocaine, worth $800,000, from a Los Angeles Police Department evidence locker at Parker Center headquarters.

- Daily News

Willowbrook gunfire kills 9-year-old girl

A complaint about a noisy card game ended in gunfire that killed a 9-year-old girl and wounded two other people, including a 7-year-old girl, authorities said Saturday.

Francisco Medina, 27, was arrested for investigation of assault with a deadly weapon and murder and was held without bail, according to a statement from the Los Angeles County Sheriff's Department.

Medina and others were playing cards in the courtyard of a housing complex in the Willowbrook area about 3 a.m. when Sergio Chavez, 34, asked the men to ``keep the noise down,'' the statement said.

``A short time later, Medina walked to his car and retrieved a handgun. He went to the victim's house and fired several rounds through the security screen door,'' the statement said.

A 9-year-old girl, Crystal Garcia, Chavez's stepdaughter, was hit in the upper body and died at a hospital.

- Associated Press

Autopsy fails to give clue to man's death

An autopsy Saturday on the body of a man who stopped breathing while in the custody of sheriff's deputies found no signs of trauma, but the cause of death was not determined, the Sheriff's Department said.

Thomas C. Bryant, 37, of Lancaster was arrested about 4:30 p.m. Thursday in the 43000 block of 36th Street West, because deputies believed he might be under the influence of drugs, Deputy Angie Prewett said earlier.

Bryant stopped breathing when he was in the back seat of a patrol car, Prewett said.

When deputies realized he was not breathing, they called paramedics, who took Bryant to a local hospital where he was pronounced dead, she said.

``The coroner's exam showed no signs of any trauma,'' according to a Sheriff's Department statement. ``A toxicology test will also be conducted. At this time, the cause of death is still undetermined.''

- City News Service

Pilot, customer hurt when biplane falls

BIG BEAR LAKE - A vintage biplane carrying a passenger on a flight around the lake crashed and burned Saturday afternoon, injuring both people on board, authorities said.

The plane, a 1942 single-engine Stearman PT-17, was flying behind another aircraft that also was giving paid rides when it suddenly plummeted 200 to 300 feet to the ground, said Linda Whittaker, a spokeswoman for the San Bernardino County Sheriff's Department.

The passenger, Linda McCormick of West Covina, was flown to a hospital for treatment of burns, although her condition was not immediately available, Whittaker said.

The pilot, Sean Lynch, 25, of Hemet, suffered minor burns but refused treatment, Whittaker said.

- Associated Press