BRIEFLY.

Reward for leads in fatal shooting

The City Council renewed a $50,000 reward Friday for information leading to the arrest of a man accused of fatally shooting a 15-year-old Sylmar boy during an argument last summer.

Manuel Virgen, 24, also from Sylmar, allegedly shot Ramiro Guardado in the 12000 block of Bradley Avenue about 7:30 p.m. June 29, 2005, police said.

The LAPD identified Virgen as a murder suspect the day after the shooting. The teen and Virgen apparently had argued prior to the shooting, but it was unknown what the argument was about.

Virgen is Latino, 5 feet 9 inches tall and 165 pounds, with black hair and brown eyes, police said.

-- City News Service

WWII veteran honored by city

VAN NUYS -- A World War II veteran credited with helping capture more than 1,500 enemy civilians and soldiers in the Pacific Theater was honored Friday by Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa and the City Council.

Guy Gabaldon's most successful venture came July 8, 1944, when he led more than 800 soldiers and civilians as prisoners, earning him a Navy Cross and the nickname ``The Pied Piper of Saipan.''

Although he rounded up dozens of prisoners, Gabaldon was initially punished and threatened with court-martial by his superiors for leaving his duties and risking his life. However, his superiors soon realized that Gabaldon's actions led to fewer casualties on both sides, and allowed him to continue until he was wounded in a machine-gun ambush.

-- City News Service

Hit-run motorist gets three years

SAN FERNANDO -- A Salinas man whose big rig slammed into a pickup truck Thanksgiving Day, killing a father and son before he fled the scene, was sentenced Friday to three years in prison for the hit-and-run.

Javier Barajas Zavala was sentenced after pleading no contest to a hit-and-run causing death -- a felony.

Zavala, 42, had earlier pleaded not guilty to leaving the scene of an accident, but switched his plea Friday.

The collision killed Jose Palomino, 41, and his son Julio, 15, both of Bell Gardens.

-- City News Service

Woman, daughter injured in car fall

GRIFFITH PARK -- A 24-year-old woman and her 4-year-old daughter were critically injured Friday when their car tumbled down a 100-foot embankment, officials said.

Crews from the Los Angeles Fire Department found the car at 6:30 a.m. resting at the bottom of a rugged embankment along Fern Dell Drive, officials said.

They rescued the mother and child after a park employee reported seeing the car go over the edge.

-- Daily News

Sheriff's deputy killed in accident

ANAHEIM -- A Los Angeles County sheriff's deputy died on the Riverside Freeway on Friday when his car collided with a cement hauler, possibly after hitting a stove that ended up on the roadway, authorities said.

David Stan Piquette, 34, was driving westbound on the freeway, east of Kraemer Boulevard, when his department-issued 2004 Ford Crown Victoria slid sideways and wedged between the two trailers of a big rig loaded with dry cement, said California Highway Patrol Officer Chris Johnson.

Both vehicles traveled, out of control, toward the shoulder, where the big rig landed atop a 35-foot concrete wall, with the cab on the north side of the wall and the trailers on the freeway side, Johnson said.

Piquette, who joined the department in 1996, is survived by his wife, Shawna, and 3-year-old twins, a boy, Justin, and a girl, Jordan, the department's Kerri Webb said.

-- City News Service