The Emmy Awards bring together the best and brightest in television each year, and as such, it’s always a tightly secured event. This year will be no exception.
The security measures for Sunday’s awards ceremony, which will be held at the Peacock Theater at L.A. Live in the heart of downtown, was reviewed with close eyes this week in light of Wednesday’s fatal shooting of political commentator Charlie Kirk in Utah.
With any large event, law enforcement officials and organizers take caution with security measures, but the recent spate recent of political violence targeting elected officials and those in the public eye have brought increased attention to how these large and highly publicized events are secured.
Though LAPD did not offer specifics about the security measures it was taking, an official for the department said they are ready for the event. “For security reasons, the Department does not discuss protective measures for special events or any public gatherings. What I can assure you is that we are appropriately staffed and fully prepared,” said Jennifer Forkish, LAPD communications director.
For several years, the LAPD has had a SWAT team at the scene, and numerous Metro officers and counter snipers have been visibly stationed on rooftops. Law enforcement officials also design a vehicle approach with barriers that prevents car bombings and vehicle attacks.
Since the attacks on 9/11, the 24th anniversary of which were recognized this week, the department has applied an extensive layer of security to the biggest awards ceremonies with large red carpets. The Peacock Theater also has security personnel who use metal-detector screening, visual inspection and bag inspection to keep guests safe.
The Television Academy revisited its security system for the weekend in light of Kirk’s shooting death at a speaking event on a college campus.
“We’re absolutely relooking at all of our security plans, but we always have a very robust security plan in place,” Television Academy president and chief executive Maury McIntyre told Variety on Thursday. “I know that basically once things happened yesterday, our security personnel all gathered together to just recheck things like that. Sitting with the LA Police Department, sitting with our department of transportation, just to make sure that we felt buttoned up. We are confident in the plans we’ve got in place.”
Stand-up comedian Nate Bargatze is hosting the 77th Emmy Awards, which begin at 5 p.m. PDT Sunday and will be broadcast live on CBS and available to stream live and on-demand on Paramount+.
Times staff writer Richard Wintoncontributed to this report.
Investigators are looking into whether a Las Vegas man who went on a deadly shooting spree in Manhattan Monday was targeting the National Football League after it emerged that the gunman was a former Los Angeles high school football player with a documented mental health history.
New York Mayor Eric Adams said Tuesday that the shooter, identified by law enforcement officials as 27-year-old Shane Tamura, appeared to have a grievance with the N.F.L but ended up on the wrong floor.
“He seemed to have blamed the N.F.L.,” the mayor told the WPIX-TV news station. “The N.F.L. headquarters was located in the building, and he mistakenly went up the wrong elevator bank.”
Law enforcement officials have said that Tamura marched into a 44-story office tower on Park Avenue that is the headquarters of the N.F.L and investment firm Blackstone, at around 6:25 pm Monday carrying an M4 assault rifle in his right hand. He immediately opened fire in the lobby, shooting first an NYPD officer, then a woman who took cover behind a pillar and a security guard behind the security desk.
After spraying more gunfire across the lobby, the gunman got into an elevator and went to the 33rd floor, which houses the Rudin Management real estate firm. He then walked around the floor, firing more rounds and shooting and killing another person, before walking down a hallway and fatally shooting himself in the chest. Four people died in the attack along with Tamura.
“Mr. Tamura has a documented mental health history,” New York City Police Commissioner Jessica Tisch said Monday night at a news conference, citing Las Vegas law enforcement. “His motives are still under investigation, and we are working to understand why he targeted this particular location.”
Tamura, who was a celebrated varsity high school player at Golden Valley High School in Santa Clarita and Granada Hills Charter School in the San Fernando Valley, had a suicide note in his back pocket alleging that he suffered from CTE, a brain disease linked to head trauma, CNN reported, citing a source with knowledge of the investigation.
In the short three-page note, he appeared to blame football for his problems, referencing former Pittsburgh Steelers player Terry Long, who died by suicide after drinking antifreeze in 2005, and expressing grievances with the N.F.L.
“Terry Long football gave me CTE and it caused me to drink a gallon of antifreeze,” the gunman allegedly wrote. “You can’t go against the NFL, they’ll squash you,” the note said, according to the source.
“Study my brain please,” the note added. “Tell Rick I’m sorry for everything,”
N.F.L. commissioner Roger Goodell reportedly said an NFL employee was seriously injured in the attack. A person with knowledge of the situation told The Times that most of the NFL employees had left by the time the shooter entered the building and that the building was cleared by police from the top down, floor by floor.
Gov. Kathy Hochul of New York on Tuesday called the shooting a “horrific act of violence,” noting that one of the victims was NYPD officer Didarul Islam, who had been in the force for three and a half years and left behind a wife who was eight months pregnant and two young sons. A Bangladeshi immigrant, Islam was off duty at the time of the shooting, working as a security officer in the skyscraper.
“My heart is with his loved ones, his NYPD family and every victim of this tragedy,” Hochul said in a statement.
Hochul also called on Congress to limit the sale of military-grade rifles. The state of New York passed some of the strongest gun laws in the nation, she noted, “but our laws only go so far when an AR-15 can be obtained in a state with weak gun laws and brought into New York to commit mass murder.”
“The time to act is now,” Hochul said. “Congress must summon the courage to stand up to the gun lobby and finally pass a national assault weapons ban before more innocent lives are stolen.”
Tamura played football at Golden Valley High School in the Canyon Country neighborhood of Santa Clarita for three years before transferring to Granada Hills Charter School for his senior year in 2015.
Dan Kelley, Golden Valley coach, said only that he remembered Tamura as “a good athlete.”
In his senior year at Granada Hills, the 5-foot-7, 140-pound player had 126 carries, 600 rushing yards and five touchdowns, according to MaxPreps. He also won several “player of the game” awards.
A 2015 video that circulated on social media Monday night showed Tamura as a high school football player celebrating a win for the Granada Hills Highlanders.
In a post-game interview after a 35-31 win over Kennedy High, Tamura was hailed as a “stand-out running back” by a reporter from the Los Angeles Daily News and asked how the team came through.
“We definitely had to stay disciplined,” Tamura said, noting the team was down 10-0 in the first quarter. “Our coach kept saying, ‘Don’t hold your heads down. Don’t hold your heads down.’ … We just had to stay disciplined and come together as a team.”
Tamura scored several touchdowns, the reporter noted, including a pivotal one in the fourth quarter with under four minutes to go.
Tamura graduated in 2016, MaxPreps said.
The initial investigation indicates that Tamura had traveled from Las Vegas to New York, driving a black BMW cross country through Colorado, Nebraska and New Jersey over the weekend.
Law enforcement said that officers searched the vehicle the gunman double parked on Park Avenue between 51st and 52nd streets and found a rifle case with rounds, a loaded revolver ammunition and magazines, a backpack and medication prescribed to Tamura. No explosives were inside.
Times staff writers Eric Sondheimer and Sam Farmer contributed to this report.
To bystanders at the federal courthouse in downtown Los Angeles, it sounded as though U.S. Atty. Bill Essayli would not take no for an answer.
A prosecutor had the irate Trump administration appointee on speaker phone outside the grand jury room, and his screaming was audible, according to three law enforcement officials aware of the encounter who spoke on the condition of anonymity for fear of reprisals.
The grand jury had just refused to indict someone accused of attacking federal law enforcement officers during protests against the recent immigration raids throughout Southern California, two of the officials said.
It was an exceedingly rare outcome after a type of hearing that routinely leads to federal charges being filed.
On the overheard call, according to three officials, Essayli, 39, told a subordinate to disregard the federal government’s “Justice Manual,” which directs prosecutors to only bring cases they can win at trial. Essayli barked that prosecutors should press on and secure indictments as directed by U.S. Atty. Gen. Pam Bondi, according to three officials.
Court records show the reason for Essayli’s frustration.
While his office has filed felony cases against at least 38 people for alleged misconduct that either took place during last month’s protests or near the sites of immigration raids, many have already been dismissed or reduced to misdemeanor charges.
The three officials who spoke to The Times on the condition of anonymity said prosecutors have struggled to get several protest-related cases past grand juries, which need only to find probable cause that a crime has been committed in order to move forward. That is a much lower bar than the “beyond a reasonable doubt” standard required for a criminal conviction.
Five cases have been dismissed without prejudice — meaning they could be refiled — and records show nine have been filed as misdemeanors, which do not require a grand jury indictment to proceed. In some cases, prosecutors reduced charges against defendants to misdemeanors after repeatedly falling short at the grand jury stage, according to three federal law enforcement officials.
Essayli declined to be interviewed for this article. A statement provided by his office on Tuesday accused The Times of spreading “factual inaccuracies and anonymous gossip,” but offered no specifics or further comment in response to questions.
“The U.S. Attorney’s Office will continue working unapologetically to charge all those who assault our agents or impede our federal investigations,” the statement said.
Legal experts said Essayli’s low number of indictments raised concerns about the strength of the cases he is filing.
Carley Palmer, a former federal prosecutor in L.A. who is now a partner at Halpern May Ybarra Gelberg, said the grand jury’s repeated rejection of cases was “a strong indication that the priorities of the prosecutor’s office are out of sync with the priorities of the general community.”
Essayli has won indictments in some serious cases, including two where defendants are accused of throwing or planning to throw Molotov cocktails at L.A. law enforcement officers, and a case where defendants allegedly fired a paintball gun at federal police. But in total, he has only secured seven indictments, which usually need to be obtained no later than 21 days after the filing of a criminal complaint. Three other cases have been resolved via plea deal, records show.
High-ranking Justice Department officials have repeatedly praised his work.
“My friend, U.S. Attorney Bill Essayli, is a champion for law and order who has done superlative work to prosecute rioters for attacking and obstructing law enforcement in Los Angeles,” Bondi said in a statement to The Times.
Atty. Gen. Pam Bondi speaks during a news conference at the Justice Department on June 6 in Washington.
(Julia Demaree Nikhinson / Associated Press)
But legal experts and some of Essayli’s own prosecutors say he’s stretching legal limits to serve as Trump’s attack dog in L.A.
“It’s just generally a culture of ‘if Bill asks you to jump, you ask how high,’” said one prosecutor who feared retaliation. “Any case he wants to charge, find a way to make it a yes.”
Questions about Essayli’s effectiveness come at a critical time for the former California Assembly member. Bondi appointed him in early April, giving him 120 days to serve as interim U.S. attorney until receiving Senate approval. If he is not confirmed by then, a panel of federal judges will have the opportunity to appoint him — or someone else — to the position.
Democratic Sens. Adam Schiff and Alex Padilla of California raised concerns about Essayli’s leadership of the office in interviews with The Times, and a direct approval from the bench is no sure thing. Earlier this month, a federal judicial panel blocked Trump’s choice for U.S. attorney in upstate New York after the time limit for Senate confirmation had expired.
On Tuesday, another judicial panel declined to appoint New Jersey’s interim federal prosecutor, Alina Habba, one of Trump’s former personal lawyers. Bondi, however, decried the judges for going “rogue,” fired their choice for U.S. attorney and reappointed Habba. Legal experts say the move is unprecedented.
Meghan Blanco, a former federal prosecutor in L.A. who serves as defense counsel to one of the protesters who is facing charges, said the cases are faltering in part because of unreliable information provided by immigration agents claiming to be victims.
“Frankly, they’re not deserving of prosecution,” she said. “What is being alleged isn’t a federal crime, or it simply did not happen.”
Blanco represents Jose Mojica, who was accused of pushing a federal officer in Paramount on June 7.
According to an investigation summary of the incident reviewed by The Times, a U.S. Border Patrol officer claimed a man was screaming in his face that he was going to “shoot him,” then punched him. The officer said he and other agents started chasing the man, but were “stopped by two other males,” later identified as Mojica and Bryan Ramos-Brito.
Blanco said she obtained social media videos showing no such chase took place and presented them at Mojica’s first court appearance. The charges were soon dropped.
“The agent lied and said he was in hot pursuit of a person who punched him,” Blanco said. “The entirety of the affidavit is false.”
Felony charges against Ramos-Brito and two related defendants, Ashley and Joceline Rodriguez, were also dismissed, though prosecutors refiled misdemeanor cases against them.
Christian Camacho-Cerna, the man who allegedly punched an agent, has been indicted. He has pleaded not guilty, with trial set for next month.
Similar issues arose in the case of Andrea Velez, who was charged on June 25 with assaulting a federal officer. The criminal complaint alleged Velez, who is 4 feet 11 inches, stood in the path of an Immigration and Customs Enforcement officer with her arms extended, striking his head and chest when they collided.
Diane Bass, Velez’s attorney, said the incident occurred when masked, unidentified men in plainclothes pulled up to question a downtown L.A. street vendor.
Velez had just been dropped off for work when some of the masked men ran at her and one shoved her to the ground, Bass said. Velez, fearing she was being abducted, held up her work bag to shield herself.
Bass requested body-worn camera footage and witness statements cited in the complaint. Soon after, she said, the prosecutor dismissed the case.
One federal law enforcement official not authorized to speak publicly said concerns are growing among prosecutors about the accuracy of statements by federal immigration agents that serve as the basis of criminal charges.
“There are a lot of hot-headed [Customs and Border Protection] officers who are kind of arresting first and asking questions later. We’re finding there’s not probable cause to support it,” said the prosecutor who requested anonymity over concerns of repercussions.
A demonstrator waves a Mexican flag in front of a dumpster fire after another night of unrest during a protest against immigration raids on June 8, 2025 in Los Angeles, California.
(Gina Ferazzi/Los Angeles Times)
One case under close scrutiny is that of Adrian Martinez, a 20-year-old charged in a criminal complaint last month with conspiracy to impede a federal officer.
Martinez said he was on a break from his job at Walmart when he spotted immigration agents chasing down a maintenance worker, and told them to leave the man alone.
Video footage shows Martinez being thrown to the ground and shoved into a truck, which he said took him to a parking structure.
Once there, Martinez said he was told he’d been arrested for assaulting a federal officer by striking an agent in the face and breaking his glasses. Martinez, who weighs around 150 pounds, said the agents arresting him pointed to the colleague he was being accused of attacking, who looked “like a grizzly bear.”
“I don’t even remember you,” Martinez recalled saying. “It just seemed like they were trying to get me to say like, ‘yes, you assaulted him,’ but I knew I didn’t.”
The next day, Essayli posted a photo on X of Martinez, still in his blue Walmart vest. Martinez, he wrote, had been arrested “for an allegation of punching a border patrol agent in the face.”
The criminal complaint makes no reference to a punch and video taken at the scene does not clearly show Martinez strike anyone. Federal prosecutors instead charged Martinez with conspiracy to impede a federal officer, alleging he blocked federal law enforcement vehicles with his car and then later a trash can.
Ciaran McEvoy, a spokesman for the U.S. attorney’s office, previously told The Times that complaints do not always include “the full scope of a defendant’s conduct, or the evidence that will be presented at trial.”
A Department of Homeland Security spokesperson said the agency could not comment on cases under active litigation.
“Our officers are facing a surge in assaults and attacks against them as they put their lives on the line to enforce our nation’s laws,” the DHS statement said.
Charges against nonviolent defendants have repeatedly raised alarm bells among current and former federal prosecutors. In early June, union leader David Huerta was charged with conspiracy to impede a federal officer for allegedly interfering with immigration enforcement actions in the downtown L.A. garment district. Legal experts said Huerta’s conduct did not appear criminal.
“Where do you draw the line between an organized protest and a conspiracy to impede?” Laurie Levenson, a former federal prosecutor and professor at Loyola Law School in Los Angeles, asked last month. “It’ll actually be interesting to see if a grand jury indicts these cases.”
Huerta has denied all wrongdoing and his attorney did not respond to a request for comment. A deadline of Aug. 5 looms for prosecutors to secure an indictment.
Court filings show some prosecutors appear to be refusing to sign their names to contentious cases.
An indictment returned against Alejandro Orellana — who is accused of conspiracy and aiding in civil disorder for passing out gas masks at a protest scene in early June — was only signed by Essayli and his second-in-command, Jennifer Waier, records show. Such cases are typically handled by rank-and-file assistant U.S. attorneys.
