A Venice local protected his neighborhood from a petty thief who tried to rob a seafood restaurant.
Paul Markham from Venice, California, claimed he was acting purely out of concern for his neighborhood when he was filmed tackling and restraining a burglar until law enforcement arrived.
Petty thief thwarted by brave local
On a night where the area experienced seven smash-and-grab robberies, the one that happened at Venice’s go-to seafood joint, Dudley Market, was thwarted by the Markham.
Markham told KABC-TV that he heard glass break when the suspect smashed the restaurant’s window and fled with the cash register.
It was the petty thief’s greed that led to their downfall, because after returning to steal the tip jar, they encountered Markham by accidentally pouncing on him.
“[The thief] jumped back out the window, like, right into my arms,” he described. It was followed by “a little wrestling match” that ended when Markham kept the suspect pinned down.
Watch a petty thief get taken down
During the tussle, which was caught on video, the captured suspect pleaded repeatedly to be released. The owner of the establishment joined Markham in waiting for the police, who arrived around 25 minutes later.
The Los Angeles Police arrested the suspect, who identified as a transgender woman. Two additional suspects were apprehended after the night’s crime spree.
Despite his actions, Markham dismissed any praise of heroism. “It’s my neighborhood, man. That’s it. There’s no Good Samaritan, there’s no hero,” he said. The encounter left him with minor injuries, including scratches to his arms and hands.
Transgender killer is unrepentant at sentencing
In a separate case, Moses Jacob Lopez, 30, who also identifies as a transgender woman, showed no remorse towards the grieving relatives of the cab driver she murdered, Reese McDowell Lawhon.
Rather than apologizing during her sentencing to 22 years of incarceration for the brutal manslaughter involving bladed brass knuckles, Lopez delivered a justification rooted in systemic failures.
“I refuse to apologize for the lack of help I so desperately needed and called and asked for from 911 services,” Lopez stated in court, according to The Oregonian’s report.
Lopez was initially charged with Lawhon’s murder but later made a plea agreement for manslaughter charges.
The victim’s family had only deep anger for the convicted murder at the proceedings, bluntly calling Lopez a ‘monster.’
Before Lawhon’s tragic death, Lopez encountered difficulties while partying hard in Portland and reportedly experienced a mental break, leading to a 911 call.
Instead of providing a direct service when Lopez asked for a ride home, the operator recommended that the criminal take a taxi home.
This advice resulted in Lawhon picking up Lopez, but a dispatcher’s error in hearing the address led them to a potentially dangerous location.
It was under a highway overpass that Lawhon, upon realizing the mistake, attempted to correct course only to be attacked suddenly and fatally by Lopez.
By the time police and witnesses came upon the halted taxi, they found Lawhon deceased, succumbing to neck injuries.
Lopez, discovered nearby soon after, was noted to have emerged from the taxi splattered with blood and dropping the weapon beside her.
Lopez insisted that her lack of mental well-being was the driving factor behind the tragic events, both at the moment and during her court appearance.
Days prior to Lawhon’s murder, Lopez had been taken into police custody for menacing supermarket employees and associated offenses, though these charges were dropped in light of Lopez’s manslaughter plea.
