By Daily Mail (U.S.) | Created at 2025-01-22 16:46:49 | Updated at 2025-01-25 01:10:31
2 days ago
A hero Los Angeles County fire captain thwarted a suspected looter as she allegedly attempted to steal an Emmy award from the rubble of an Altadena home.
Captain Craig Heard was with a crew fighting the Eaton Fire in north east LA when he spotted a woman with a white Ram truck full of items – including what appeared to be one of the coveted Hollywood TV awards.
Heard confronted the woman and grabbed the golden statue, while she protested that she was not a looter and the items were her own.
The incident was caught on video by a witness and shared with DailyMail.com.
'No way,' Heard told the woman. 'You are not doing this. These are our houses. We tried to save all these people. You're not stealing from them.'
'I'm not looting sir,' she yelled back. 'I'm not stealing that. This is my stuff. I'm calling my lawyer.'
As she strode back towards her truck, Heard said: 'You're not going anywhere.'
A witness said Heard jumped in the passenger side of the truck and grabbed the keys to prevent the suspected looter driving away.
This woman was seen by neighbors in Altadena going from house to house with a wagon full of valuables before loading them up in her truck – before she was stopped by firefighters who were battling the Eaton Fires
Captain Craig Heard was with a crew fighting the Eaton Fire in north east LA when he spotted a woman with a white Ram truck full of items, including this Emmy
LA sheriff deputies showed up and arrested the woman at the scene, on the 400 block of West Harriet Street in Altadena
LA sheriff deputies showed up and arrested the woman at the scene, on the 400 block of West Harriet Street in Altadena.
A photo shows the woman surrounded by police, with the apparent Emmy statue among several other items in the bed of her truck.
A neighbor told DailyMail.com that the Emmy belonged to Inness Shadrick, for her role as an executive producer on the 2002 PBS feature, Ansel Adams: A Documentary Film.
Shadrick's resume includes consulting on iconic TV show Beverly Hills 90210 and producing 1997 TV movie Home Invasion.
She and her colleagues won the Emmy category of 'outstanding cultural and artistic programming' for their documentary.
The feature traces the life of eponymous American photographer, famous for his pictures of the American West.
When contacted by DailyMail.com, Shadrick declined to comment on the incident.
Her neighbor, Lilia Rodriguez, told DailyMail.com that her daughter spotted the alleged looter next door while they were desperately trying to clear out possessions from their home.
'My daughter noticed it wasn't Inness or her husband. It was that lady in the video. She isn't our neighbor.
Inness Shadrick won the Emmy for her role as an executive producer on the 2002 PBS feature, Ansel Adams: A Documentary Film
Heard told the woman there was 'No way' she was stealing from homes while firefighters were trying to save people's homes. She responded by saying she wasn't looting and she would call her lawyer
The film Shadrick won an Emmy for traced the life of the American photographer, famous for his pictures of the American West
'She had a wagon with stuff in it that she was loading into her car. By the time the fireman talked to her, she had gone over to another house and was loading stuff from there.
'Firemen approached her and stopped her. She claimed she lived there, but she doesn't.
'We talked to Inness,' Rodriguez, 59, added. 'She immediately talked to the police. They said they'll keep the Emmy until the investigation is over.'
Rodriguez said that Shadrick's home, as well as most other properties on the block, burned down in the Eaton Fire.
'The only ones that survived were mine and two others close to the corner,' the neighbor said.
Shadrick's sister set up a GoFundMe page for the documentarian after she lost her home, which has so far raised $27,655 of a $50,000 goal.
'My sister Inness, her husband Gerard, their daughter Talulah, and dog Panda have lost their home in the devastating Eaton fire,' the sister, Betty Wei, wrote.
'They left with little more than some of their important documents and a couple of changes of clothes.
The woman chasing down the firefighter to grab the Emmy back and to argue her case that she wasn't looting
Shadrick's sister set up a GoFundMe page for the documentarian after she lost her home. She poses at left in a Christmas photo alongside her husband Gerard, their daughter Talulah and dog Panda
The Eaton Fire, which is now 89 percent contained, has scorched 14,000 acres, destroyed an estimated 7,000 structures and left at least 17 dead
'Inness is my big sister and like a second mother to me, and I'm so heartbroken for all of them and the loss of their beautiful, loving home.'
Some of the footage of Heard confronting the alleged looter was posted on whistleblower Instagram page LAFDWatchdog.
Six individuals were charged with residential burglary from Altadena homes last week according to LA district attorney Nathan Hochman.
They are Rudy Salazar, 19, Lucia Jilrara Perez, 36, Roy Sims, 18, Ryan Sims, 19, Naquan Dewey Reddix, 22, and Pierie Obannon, 19.
Hochman's office said that one of the thefts involved an Emmy taken from an evacuated home in the Eaton Fire, but did not name the suspect.
Three others were charged over the alleged theft of $200,000 of valuables from a Mandeville Canyon home in west LA on January 9, two days after the Palisades Fire began and prompted an evacuation of the canyon.
'Let me be clear: If you exploit this tragedy to prey on victims of these deadly fires, we will find you and we will prosecute you to the fullest extent of the law,' the DA said.
The Eaton Fire, which is now at 89 percent containment, has scorched 14,000 acres, destroyed an estimated 7,000 structures and left 17 people dead.
It coincided with another inferno which swept through the ritzy celebrity enclave of Pacific Palisades and up the coast of Malibu. That fire destroyed 23,700 acres of prime real estate and killed at least nine people.
