5 W's - Inverted Pyramid

First Article:

http://www.mercurynews.com/breakingnews/ci_8209600

Police: Gunman who killed LA SWAT officer had mental problems

LOS ANGELES - The gunman who fatally shot a SWAT officer and three members of his own family suffered from "significant mental health problems" and had a juvenile criminal record, authorities said today.
Edwin Rivera, who was killed by a sniper as he attempted to flee the house hours later, first showed mental health issues when his mother died about a decade ago, said Deputy Chief Gary Brennan.
"These began shortly after the death of his mother when he was 10 or 11, and have become progressively worse," Brennan said.
Rivera had a juvenile arrest record dating to 2001 and had been arrested for driving without the owner's consent, grand theft and assault with a firearm, Brennan said. He was convicted of the latter charge and had served probation.
There was no evidence Rivera was a gang member, but police had been called to the house five times in one year for minor disturbances. There was also a drive-by shooting at the house in August 2006, Brennan said, but no one was injured.

Who: Edwin Rivera
What: Rivera killed his father, sister, brother, and Randal Simmons, a SWAT officer.
When: Wednesday
Where: middle-income neighborhood in San Fernando Valley
Why: suffered from "significant mental health problems"
How: problems began shortly after his mother died and have become progressively worse

Lead: Edwin Rivera suffered from "significant mental health problems" killed his father, siblings, and a SWAT officer Wednesday, in San Fernando Valley.


Second Article:

http://www.mercurynews.com/education/ci_8196945

Ravenswood and teacher who told students he was gay settle sex discrimination suit

After two years of litigation, the Ravenswood City School District has struck a settlement with a former fifth-grade teacher who alleged he was forced to quit after telling students he was gay.
The settlement amounted to a year's salary, or $41,000, for 29-year-old Emmit Hancock and brought a close to the sexual discrimination lawsuit he filed in October 2005.
"It traumatized me," said Hancock, who has been a stay-at-home father the past two years. "They really made it seem like the parents were really upset with me."
Hancock said that after paying legal fees, he received about $18,000 from the settlement reached a couple of months ago.
Mark Davis, an attorney for Ravenswood, said the settlement assigns no guilt or responsibility to the school district.
He said the district settled for two main reasons: Uncertainty about the time and cost of a trial and the difficulty of bringing in some primary witnesses who have left the district, and in one case the country.
The district would have probably prevailed in a trial, Davis said, because Hancock's initial claim for several hundred thousand dollars was thrown out by an arbitrator last summer.
Davis alleged that Hancock simply wasn't cutting it as a first-year teacher. The Menlo Park resident resigned in February 2005.

Who: Emmit Hancock
What: filed a sexual discrimination law suit
When: October 2005
Where: Ravenswood School District
Why: was forced to quit after telling students he was gay
How: claimed school officials hardly let him teach until Principal Robin Miller asked him to resign.

Lead: Emmit Hancock filed a sexual discrimination law suit in October 2005, when he was forced to quit after telling stuents he was gay.