mass shooting – Cincy Link

What is ‘great replacement’ theory, how is it connected to Buffalo shooting?

cincylink — Sun, 16 Jul 2023 08:51:11 +0000

CAPTURED. SINCE THE SHOOTING, A 180 PAGE PURPORTED MANIFESTO ATTRIBUTED TO THE SPEUSCT HAS SURFAD.CE GULSTAN: THE DOCUMENT OUTLINES THE SHOOTER’S MOTIVES AND DETAILED HOW HE HAD BEEN RADICALIZED. THE MANIFESTO’S AUTHOR ALSO WRITES ABOUT THE GREAT REPLACEMENT. KCRA 3 INVESTIGATES’ BRITTANY JOHNSON JOINS US LIVE TO GET THE FACTS ON WHAT THIS RACIST THEORY AISLL ABO.UT REPORTER: THE GREAT REPLACEMENT OFTEN REFERRED TO AS THE REPLACEMENT THEORY, IS NOTNGHI W.NE BUT ITS RACIST IDEAS HAVE GAINED PROMINENCE. TONIGHT, WE GET THE FACTS. THE THEORY HAS DIFFERENT ITERATIO.NS BU T IN A NUTSHELL, THE GREAT REPLACEMENT THEORY IS THE BELIEF THAT YOUR GROUP IS BEING REPLACED OR EXTINCT BECAUSE ANOTHER GROUP IS GROWING IN NUMB.ER AND YOU SEE THIS OTHER GROUP AS A THREAT TO YOUR GROUP’S EXISTENCE. ACCORDING TO THE ANTI-DEFATIMAON LEAGUE IT GOES BACK CENTURIES BUT WAS POPULARIZED BY A FREHNC AUTHOR IN 2011 WITH A PUBLISHED ESSAY TITLED THE GREAT REPLACEMENT. THE SHOOTING IN BUFFALO NEW YORK HAS BEEN CONNECTED TO ISTH THEORY BECAUSE IT WAS REPEATEDLY REFERENCED IN A 180-PAGE DOCUNTME LINKED TO THE REPORTED SHOOTER. THE AUTHOR USED RACIST, ANTI-IMMIGRANT AND ANTISEMICIT BELIEFS, AND WROTE ABOUT HOW HE PLANNED TO KILL AS MANY BLKSAC AS POSSIBLE, ACCORDING TO NBC NEWS. THE GREAT REPLACEMENT THEORYAS H BEEN CITED AND LINKED TO SEVERAL MASS SHOOTINGS AND TERRORIST ATTACKS IN RECENT YEARS, INCLUDING, ATTACKS ON TWO MOSQUES IN CHRISTCHURCH, NEW ZEALD.AN A TERRORIST ATTACK IN EL PASO, TEXAS. A SHOOTING RAMPAGE AAT SYNAGOGUE IN PITTSBUH.RG AND ATTACKS IN NORWAY. TODAY I SPOKE WITH MILAN OBAIDI WHO RESEARCHES VIOLENT EXTREMISM AND RADICALISATION. HERE’S SOME OF WHAT HIS RESEARCH ON THE GREAT REPLACEMENT THEORY HAS FOUND. >> IN PSYCHOLOGY, WE USUALLY RELY ON ATTITUDES, MEASURING PEOPLE’S ATTITUDES DAN INTENTIO. NS SO YES, THESE STUDIES,E W PERSISTENTLY FOUND A LKIN BETWEEN THE IDEA THAT YOUR GROUP IS BEING REPLACED, AND PEOPLE’S WILLINGNESS TO SUPPORTR O EXPRESS EXTREME ATTITUDES TOWARD OTHER GROUPS. REPORTER: PROFESSOR OBAIDI HELD MULTIPLE STUDIES AND SURVEYS ON THIS TOPIC. HE SAYS THE MAIN TAKE AWAY IS THAT THIS THEORY CAN RADICALIZED SOME INDIVIDUALS. REPORTING LIVE IN SACRAME

What is the 'great replacement' theory & how is it connected to the Buffalo shooting?

Following Saturday's deadly shooting rampage in Buffalo, N.Y., a 180-page purported manifesto attributed to the suspect has surfaced, which outlines the shooter's motives, details how he had been radicalized and how he "planned to kill as many Blacks as possible," according to officials. The manifesto's author also wrote about something called the "Great Replacement."Sister station KCRA 3 's Brittany Johnson 'Gets the Facts' on what this theory is all about.What is the theory about?The theory has different iterations but in a nutshell, the "great replacement" theory, which is sometimes called "replacement theory," is the belief that your group is being replaced or extinct because another group is growing in number and you see this other group as a threat to your group's existence.The theory goes back centuriesAccording to the Anti-Defamation League, the theory goes back centuries but was popularized by French Author Renaud Camus when he published an essay titled, "Le Grand Remplacement" or "The Great Replacement" in 2011. The term was coined when Camus warned of "reverse colonization" and explained native White Europeans are being replaced by non-White immigrants from Africa and the Middle East. He believes this trend will lead to the "ethnic and civilizational substitution" of the White race in Europe and the West.Great Replacement Theory linked to Buffalo shooting The shooting in Buffalo, NY has been connected to this theory because it was repeatedly referenced in a 180-page document linked to the reported shooter. The author used racist, anti-immigrant and anti-semitic beliefs, and wrote about how he planned to "kill as many blacks as possible," according to NBC News.Great Replacement theory linked to previous mass shootings and terrorist attacks, here are a few:In 2019, a suspect investigators said subscribed to the great replacement theory killed 51 people at two mosques in Christchurch, New Zealand. That same year the man suspected of targeting Latinos in an El Paso Walmart and who is on trial for killing 23 people, who authorities attribute a four-page racist screed that decried a Hispanic "invasion" of Texas and the U.S., and called for ethnic and racial segregation, also subscribed to the great replacement theory. The suspect in the 2018 shooting at a Pittsburgh synagogue "made statements regarding genocide and his desire to kill Jewish people" during the attack, according to prosecutors. Eleven people were killed in the shooting in what the ADL has said is the "deadliest attack on the Jewish community in the U.S."Sister station KCRA 3 spoke with Assistant Professor Milan Obaidi of the University of Oslo in Norway, where he said the great replacement theory has also been used to carry out the 2011 Norway attacks. Obaidi researches violent extremism and radicalization. Sister station KCRA 3 spoke with Obaidi about a recent publication he authored with three other professors titled "The Great Replacement Conspiracy: How the Perceived Ousting of Whites Can Evoke Violent Extremism and Islamophobia."Q: What did you study in relation to this publication?Obaidi: In these studies, we looked at intentions to commit acts of violence toward another group. We didn't look at an actual act of violence, you know that is it clearly and practically impossible. In psychology we usually rely on attitudes, measuring people's attitudes and intentions. So yes, in these studies, we persistently found a link between the idea that your group is being replaced, and people's willingness to support or express extreme attitudes toward other groups. ... The implication of this theory is that it may legitimize violence, because it specifically portrays one group as being a victim of, of being under existential threat, and then it justifies violence as a necessary means to actually avert such threats. It {the theory} justifies the use of violence, because one group is being seen as a victim of being extinct by another or being replaced, and then violence becomes a means to actually prevent this. So, people who believe in this theory, do believe that they will be extinct and then they use violence to justify this or to avert this from happening.Obaidi: These studies were conducted in the Scandinavian context in Norway in Denmark. So, we basically looked at these in these studies, whether the perception that your group is being replaced by another group. With most of it, people also express negative attitudes, but also extreme intentions toward the group that they perceived as replacing their group. We used experiments, but also we run three surveys in these experiments. People are shown video clips of Norwegian TV where they were shown that in Norway in 20 years there will be a large number of this particular group of people and they will actually exceed the number of living Norwegians in certain areas in 20 years and then we were looking at how people would respond to this idea that their group will be shrinking and another group will be increasing in size. We found that the people who were in these replacement, treatment, or conditions also expressed more Islamophobic attitudes toward Muslim minorities in the regional context.Q: Is there always a direct link between believing in this theory and then carrying out an act of violence?Obaidi: It's also important to emphasize I think, that yes, maybe a lot of people believe in this theory, but not everyone would actually do something like, go and shoot other people. So there's not a not always direct link, because then we would probably have a lot of people going around shooting people. I think there are a large number of people who do believe and I mean, we know that the public, mainstream politicians, and media personalities, have touted these kinds of ideas. But it is so important to say that not every person who believes in it would do something such as going and shooting other people. Q: What is the discussion we should be having about this?Obaidi: A discussion would probably whether we see more of these kinds of attacks. Based on previous attacks, we know that there have been a lot of some of these attacks, they've been just copycatting other attackers, and they've been quite heavily inspired by previous attacks. And some of the tactics are quite similar. For example, the Christchurch attack, he was live-streaming his attack. And the same thing happened with the Norwegian attempt terror attack a couple of years ago in Norway, and we saw it Saturday in Buffalo. So there's clearly this group of young, certainly young people who are inspired by each other. My worry is probably, or maybe, a lot of people, whether we will see something similar because it is inspiring other people because this is what happened in recent years. I think that is probably something that most people are worried about these days.

The manifesto's author also wrote about something called the "Great Replacement."

Sister station KCRA 3 's Brittany Johnson 'Gets the Facts' on what this theory is all about.

What is the theory about?

The theory has different iterations but in a nutshell, the "great replacement" theory, which is sometimes called "replacement theory," is the belief that your group is being replaced or extinct because another group is growing in number and you see this other group as a threat to your group's existence.

The theory goes back centuries

According to the Anti-Defamation League, the theory goes back centuries but was popularized by French Author Renaud Camus when he published an essay titled, "Le Grand Remplacement" or "The Great Replacement" in 2011. The term was coined when Camus warned of "reverse colonization" and explained native White Europeans are being replaced by non-White immigrants from Africa and the Middle East. He believes this trend will lead to the "ethnic and civilizational substitution" of the White race in Europe and the West.

Great Replacement Theory linked to Buffalo shooting

The shooting in Buffalo, NY has been connected to this theory because it was repeatedly referenced in a 180-page document linked to the reported shooter. The author used racist, anti-immigrant and anti-semitic beliefs, and wrote about how he planned to "kill as many blacks as possible," according to NBC News.

Great Replacement theory linked to previous mass shootings and terrorist attacks, here are a few:

In 2019, a suspect investigators said subscribed to the great replacement theory killed 51 people at two mosques in Christchurch, New Zealand.

That same year the man suspected of targeting Latinos in an El Paso Walmart and who is on trial for killing 23 people, who authorities attribute a four-page racist screed that decried a Hispanic "invasion" of Texas and the U.S., and called for ethnic and racial segregation, also subscribed to the great replacement theory.

The suspect in the 2018 shooting at a Pittsburgh synagogue "made statements regarding genocide and his desire to kill Jewish people" during the attack, according to prosecutors.

Eleven people were killed in the shooting in what the ADL has said is the "deadliest attack on the Jewish community in the U.S."

Sister station KCRA 3 spoke with Assistant Professor Milan Obaidi of the University of Oslo in Norway, where he said the great replacement theory has also been used to carry out the 2011 Norway attacks.

Obaidi researches violent extremism and radicalization.

Sister station KCRA 3 spoke with Obaidi about a recent publication he authored with three other professors titled "The Great Replacement Conspiracy: How the Perceived Ousting of Whites Can Evoke Violent Extremism and Islamophobia."

Q: What did you study in relation to this publication?

Obaidi: In these studies, we looked at intentions to commit acts of violence toward another group. We didn't look at an actual act of violence, you know that is it clearly and practically impossible. In psychology we usually rely on attitudes, measuring people's attitudes and intentions. So yes, in these studies, we persistently found a link between the idea that your group is being replaced, and people's willingness to support or express extreme attitudes toward other groups. ... The implication of this theory is that it may legitimize violence, because it specifically portrays one group as being a victim of, of being under existential threat, and then it justifies violence as a necessary means to actually avert such threats. It {the theory} justifies the use of violence, because one group is being seen as a victim of being extinct by another or being replaced, and then violence becomes a means to actually prevent this. So, people who believe in this theory, do believe that they will be extinct and then they use violence to justify this or to avert this from happening.

Obaidi: These studies were conducted in the Scandinavian context in Norway in Denmark. So, we basically looked at these in these studies, whether the perception that your group is being replaced by another group. With most of it, people also express negative attitudes, but also extreme intentions toward the group that they perceived as replacing their group. We used experiments, but also we run three surveys in these experiments. People are shown video clips of Norwegian TV where they were shown that in Norway in 20 years there will be a large number of this particular group of people and they will actually exceed the number of living Norwegians in certain areas in 20 years and then we were looking at how people would respond to this idea that their group will be shrinking and another group will be increasing in size. We found that the people who were in these replacement, treatment, or conditions also expressed more Islamophobic attitudes toward Muslim minorities in the regional context.

Q: Is there always a direct link between believing in this theory and then carrying out an act of violence?

Obaidi: It's also important to emphasize I think, that yes, maybe a lot of people believe in this theory, but not everyone would actually do something like, go and shoot other people. So there's not a not always direct link, because then we would probably have a lot of people going around shooting people. I think there are a large number of people who do believe and I mean, we know that the public, mainstream politicians, and media personalities, have touted these kinds of ideas. But it is so important to say that not every person who believes in it would do something such as going and shooting other people.

Q: What is the discussion we should be having about this?

Obaidi: A discussion would probably whether we see more of these kinds of attacks. Based on previous attacks, we know that there have been a lot of some of these attacks, they've been just copycatting other attackers, and they've been quite heavily inspired by previous attacks. And some of the tactics are quite similar. For example, the Christchurch attack, he was live-streaming his attack. And the same thing happened with the Norwegian attempt terror attack a couple of years ago in Norway, and we saw it Saturday in Buffalo. So there's clearly this group of young, certainly young people who are inspired by each other. My worry is probably, or maybe, a lot of people, whether we will see something similar because it is inspiring other people because this is what happened in recent years. I think that is probably something that most people are worried about these days.

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House to vote on bill to prevent domestic terrorism in the wake of Buffalo mass shooting

cincylink — Sun, 16 Jul 2023 08:46:02 +0000

The House moved toward swift passage Wednesday of legislation that would devote more federal resources to preventing domestic terrorism in response to the racist mass shooting in Buffalo, New York.The legislative effort is not new, as the House passed a similar measure in 2020 only to have it languish in the Senate. But lacking support in the Senate to move ahead with the gun-control legislation that they say is necessary to stop mass shootings, Democrats are instead pushing for a broader federal focus on domestic terrorism."We in Congress can't stop the likes of (Fox News host) Tucker Carlson from spewing hateful, dangerous replacement theory ideology across the airwaves. Congress hasn't been able to ban the sale of assault weapons. The Domestic Terrorism Prevention Act is what Congress can do this week to try to prevent future Buffalo shootings," Rep. Brad Schneider, D-Ill., who first introduced the measure in 2017, said on the House floor Wednesday.The measure seeks to prevent another attack like the one that took place in Buffalo on Saturday when police say an 18-year-old white man drove three hours to carry out a racist, livestreamed shooting rampage in a crowded supermarket. Ten people were killed.The Democratic sponsors of the bill say it will fill the gaps in intelligence-sharing among the Justice Department, Department of Homeland Security and the FBI so that they can better track and respond to the growing threat of white extremist terrorism.Under current law, the three federal agencies already work to investigate, prevent and prosecute acts of domestic terrorism. But the bill would require each agency to open offices specifically dedicated to those tasks and create an interagency task force to combat the infiltration of white supremacy in the military.The Congressional Budget Office estimates the bill would cost about $105 million over five years, with most of the money going toward hiring staff."As we took 911 seriously, we need to take this seriously. This is a domestic form of the same terrorism that killed the innocent people of New York City and now this assault in Buffalo and many other places," Democratic Sen. Dick Durbin, who is sponsoring an identical bill in the Senate, said Wednesday. "The only thing missing between these organizations in the past are the white robes."Senate Democrats are pledging to bring up the bill for a vote next week. But its prospects are uncertain, with Republicans opposed to bolstering the power of the Justice Department in domestic surveillance.Republican lawmakers assert that the Justice Department abused its power to conduct more domestic surveillance when Attorney General Merrick Garland issued a memo in October aimed at combating threats against school officials nationwide. They labeled the memo as targeting concerned parents.GOP lawmakers also say the bill doesn't place enough emphasis on combatting domestic terrorism committed by groups on the far left. Under the bill, agencies would be required to produce a joint report every six months that assesses and quantifies domestic terrorism threats nationally, including threats posed by white supremacists and neo-Nazi groups."This bill glaringly ignores the persistent domestic terrorism threat from the radical left in this country and instead makes the assumption that it is all on the white and the right," said Rep. Darrell Issa, R-Calif.The divergence highlights the stubborn gap between Democrats and Republicans over domestic terrorism in the U.S. and how it should be defined and prosecuted.For decades, terrorism has been consistently tied with attacks from foreign actors, but as homegrown terrorism, often perpetrated by white men, has flourished over the past two decades, Democratic lawmakers have sought to clarify it in federal statute."We've seen it before in American history. The only thing missing between these organizations and the past are the white robes," Durbin said. "But the message is still the same hateful, divisive message, that sets off people to do outrageously extreme things, and violent things, to innocent people across America. It's time for us to take a stand."

WASHINGTON —

The House moved toward swift passage Wednesday of legislation that would devote more federal resources to preventing domestic terrorism in response to the racist mass shooting in Buffalo, New York.

The legislative effort is not new, as the House passed a similar measure in 2020 only to have it languish in the Senate. But lacking support in the Senate to move ahead with the gun-control legislation that they say is necessary to stop mass shootings, Democrats are instead pushing for a broader federal focus on domestic terrorism.

"We in Congress can't stop the likes of (Fox News host) Tucker Carlson from spewing hateful, dangerous replacement theory ideology across the airwaves. Congress hasn't been able to ban the sale of assault weapons. The Domestic Terrorism Prevention Act is what Congress can do this week to try to prevent future Buffalo shootings," Rep. Brad Schneider, D-Ill., who first introduced the measure in 2017, said on the House floor Wednesday.

The measure seeks to prevent another attack like the one that took place in Buffalo on Saturday when police say an 18-year-old white man drove three hours to carry out a racist, livestreamed shooting rampage in a crowded supermarket. Ten people were killed.

The Democratic sponsors of the bill say it will fill the gaps in intelligence-sharing among the Justice Department, Department of Homeland Security and the FBI so that they can better track and respond to the growing threat of white extremist terrorism.

Under current law, the three federal agencies already work to investigate, prevent and prosecute acts of domestic terrorism. But the bill would require each agency to open offices specifically dedicated to those tasks and create an interagency task force to combat the infiltration of white supremacy in the military.

The Congressional Budget Office estimates the bill would cost about $105 million over five years, with most of the money going toward hiring staff.

"As we took 911 seriously, we need to take this seriously. This is a domestic form of the same terrorism that killed the innocent people of New York City and now this assault in Buffalo and many other places," Democratic Sen. Dick Durbin, who is sponsoring an identical bill in the Senate, said Wednesday. "The only thing missing between these organizations in the past are the white robes."

Senate Democrats are pledging to bring up the bill for a vote next week. But its prospects are uncertain, with Republicans opposed to bolstering the power of the Justice Department in domestic surveillance.

Republican lawmakers assert that the Justice Department abused its power to conduct more domestic surveillance when Attorney General Merrick Garland issued a memo in October aimed at combating threats against school officials nationwide. They labeled the memo as targeting concerned parents.

GOP lawmakers also say the bill doesn't place enough emphasis on combatting domestic terrorism committed by groups on the far left. Under the bill, agencies would be required to produce a joint report every six months that assesses and quantifies domestic terrorism threats nationally, including threats posed by white supremacists and neo-Nazi groups.

"This bill glaringly ignores the persistent domestic terrorism threat from the radical left in this country and instead makes the assumption that it is all on the white and the right," said Rep. Darrell Issa, R-Calif.

The divergence highlights the stubborn gap between Democrats and Republicans over domestic terrorism in the U.S. and how it should be defined and prosecuted.

For decades, terrorism has been consistently tied with attacks from foreign actors, but as homegrown terrorism, often perpetrated by white men, has flourished over the past two decades, Democratic lawmakers have sought to clarify it in federal statute.

"We've seen it before in American history. The only thing missing between these organizations and the past are the white robes," Durbin said. "But the message is still the same hateful, divisive message, that sets off people to do outrageously extreme things, and violent things, to innocent people across America. It's time for us to take a stand."

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Grand jury indicts man accused in Buffalo supermarket shooting

cincylink — Sun, 16 Jul 2023 08:38:23 +0000

The white man accused of killing 10 Black people at a Buffalo supermarket appeared briefly in court Thursday after a grand jury indicted him on first-degree murder.Assistant district attorney Gary Hackbush said the indictment of Payton Gendron, 18, was handed up Wednesday.Gendron, wearing orange clothing and mask, was silent throughout the proceeding and sent back to jail. Someone shouted "Payton you're a coward!" as he was led out.Ten people were killed and three others wounded in the Saturday shooting at the Tops Friendly Market in a predominantly Black neighborhood of Buffalo. Authorities are continuing to investigate the possibility of hate crime and terrorism charge.This is a breaking news update. Earlier story follows below:The white man accused of killing 10 Black people at a Buffalo supermarket was scheduled to appear in court Thursday as authorities including the FBI continue to investigate the possibility of hate crime and terrorism charges.Payton Gendron, 18, livestreamed the attack from a helmet camera before surrendering to police outside the grocery store. Shortly before the attack last Saturday, he posted hundreds of pages of writings to online discussion groups where he detailed his plans for the assault and his racist motivation. Investigators have been examining those documents, which included a private diary he kept on the chat platform Discord.At his initial court appearance last week, Gendron's court-appointed lawyer entered a plea of "not guilty" on his behalf.Video: Social media scrutinized in Buffalo investigationThe massacre at the Tops supermarket was unsettling even in a nation that has become numb to mass shootings. All but two of the 13 of the people shot during the attack were Black. Gendron's online writings said he planned the assault after becoming infatuated with white supremacist ideology he encountered online.The diary said Gendron planned his attack in secret, with no outside help, but Discord confirmed Wednesday that an invitation to access his private writings was sent to a small group of people about 30 minutes before the assault began.Some of them accepted the invitation. It was unclear how many read what he had written or logged on to view the assault live. It also wasn't clear whether anyone tried to alert law enforcement. Video: Hochul signs executive order on guns after BuffaloBuffalo police Commissioner Joseph Gramaglia has said investigators were working to obtain, verify and review Gendron's online postings.New York Gov. Kathy Hochul on Wednesday authorized the state's attorney general, Letitia James, to investigate social media platforms used by Gendron to determine if they were liable for "providing a platform to plan and promote violence."

BUFFALO, N.Y. —

The white man accused of killing 10 Black people at a Buffalo supermarket appeared briefly in court Thursday after a grand jury indicted him on first-degree murder.

Assistant district attorney Gary Hackbush said the indictment of Payton Gendron, 18, was handed up Wednesday.

Gendron, wearing orange clothing and mask, was silent throughout the proceeding and sent back to jail. Someone shouted "Payton you're a coward!" as he was led out.

Ten people were killed and three others wounded in the Saturday shooting at the Tops Friendly Market in a predominantly Black neighborhood of Buffalo. Authorities are continuing to investigate the possibility of hate crime and terrorism charge.

This is a breaking news update. Earlier story follows below:

The white man accused of killing 10 Black people at a Buffalo supermarket was scheduled to appear in court Thursday as authorities including the FBI continue to investigate the possibility of hate crime and terrorism charges.

Payton Gendron, 18, livestreamed the attack from a helmet camera before surrendering to police outside the grocery store. Shortly before the attack last Saturday, he posted hundreds of pages of writings to online discussion groups where he detailed his plans for the assault and his racist motivation.

Investigators have been examining those documents, which included a private diary he kept on the chat platform Discord.

At his initial court appearance last week, Gendron's court-appointed lawyer entered a plea of "not guilty" on his behalf.

Video: Social media scrutinized in Buffalo investigation

The massacre at the Tops supermarket was unsettling even in a nation that has become numb to mass shootings. All but two of the 13 of the people shot during the attack were Black. Gendron's online writings said he planned the assault after becoming infatuated with white supremacist ideology he encountered online.

The diary said Gendron planned his attack in secret, with no outside help, but Discord confirmed Wednesday that an invitation to access his private writings was sent to a small group of people about 30 minutes before the assault began.

Some of them accepted the invitation. It was unclear how many read what he had written or logged on to view the assault live. It also wasn't clear whether anyone tried to alert law enforcement.

Video: Hochul signs executive order on guns after Buffalo

Buffalo police Commissioner Joseph Gramaglia has said investigators were working to obtain, verify and review Gendron's online postings.

New York Gov. Kathy Hochul on Wednesday authorized the state's attorney general, Letitia James, to investigate social media platforms used by Gendron to determine if they were liable for "providing a platform to plan and promote violence."

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SCOTUS looks at expanding Second Amendment rights

cincylink — Sun, 16 Jul 2023 04:05:12 +0000

The Supreme Court could potentially expand second amendment rights as it takes a look at a New York law.

Currently, New York law requires people seeking a concealed carry license to show a “proper cause.”

In 2008, the Supreme Court held that the Second Amendment protects an individual’s right to keep arms at home for self-defense.

Now a new case, New York State Rifle & Pistol Association vs. Bruen, questions whether handguns can be carried in public for self-defense.

In order to conceal carry, New Yorkers must prove that they have a great need for the license and that they face a “unique danger” to their life.

Conservative justices are in favor of striking down the New York law, arguing that it goes too far and imposes a burden on the Second Amendment.

Some justices are open to considering to allowing New York to ban guns from crowded places.

Arguments were held in November, months before a gunman opened fire at a Buffalo grocery store and killed 10, and another opened fire at a Texas elementary school and killed 21.

A decision from the Supreme Court is expected in the coming weeks.

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People travel to Uvalde from far away to help community heal

cincylink — Sun, 16 Jul 2023 02:17:15 +0000

UVALDE, Texas — Some people are donating money, others are jumping in their vehicles, feeling the need to comfort the community of Uvalde after the shooting.

Crosses now stand in the heart of Uvalde. Each cross represents people that will be part of this community forever.

Bonnie Fear’s organization, Lutheran Church Charities, brought the crosses to Uvalde’s town square.

Each cross carries a name of a victim with a marker so people can leave a message.

"It could be for them to help express their grief, in the end, it ends up with the family our hope is our family can then get that heart and read the heartfelt messages for their loved one,” Fear says.

“I will always love you, my beautiful granddaughter,” a message reads on the sign of Laya Salazar, from her grandmother.

It is impossible to know what can heal a wound so permanent and deep.

“If they need to, they need any prayers or they need our support silently we just listen and be with them," Fear says.

Albert Villegas is one who felt he had to come to help those impacted by the shooting know they are not alone.

“Faith, you got to have faith when things are going good, and things are going bad," says Villegas.

Villegas and his wife drove from five hours away, through the night, to be in Uvalde to be with those who are suffering. They set up a prayer station.

"People are going to come by and need prayer, say a little prayer, Maybe they need a hug. Comfort them, you know?" Villegas says.

Fear's charity also brought Golden retrievers from Texas and Oklahoma as comfort dogs.

What it will take to heal this town is a question without a clear answer but those who have come are hoping they be part of the journey to find it.

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Mother of Uvalde gunman pleads for forgiveness

cincylink — Sun, 16 Jul 2023 02:11:34 +0000

UVALDE, Texas — The mother of the gunman who killed 21 people at an elementary school in Uvalde, Texas says she wants people to forgive him.

“I have no words. I have no words to say. I don't know what he was thinking. He had his reasons for doing what he did and please don't judge him. I only want the innocent children who died to forgive me,” Adriana Martínez told reporters from Mexico.

Martínez said she believes her son had his “reasons” for the shooting.

“What reasons could he have had?” a Televisa reporter asked.

“To get closer to those children, instead of paying attention to the other bad things. I have no words, I don't know,” Martínez said.

Investigators say the gunman shot his grandmother at home before going to Robb Elementary School.

She survived and is still in the hospital.

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What we know about the July 4 parade shooting in Highland Park, Illinois

cincylink — Tue, 11 Jul 2023 02:31:03 +0000

At this point, we know that six people have lost their lives And we are grieving for them and their families, members of our community, who came out to celebrate together and instead faced this terror. Another 24 have been transported to the hospital.

What we know about the July 4 parade shooting in Highland Park, Illinois

Updated: 9:49 AM EDT Jul 5, 2022

At least six people died and 30 were wounded in a shooting at a July Fourth parade in the Chicago suburb of Highland Park. Here's what we know and don't know about the shooting. What we know:Six people have been killed Police have identified a person of interest as Robert Crimo III, a 22-year-old who lives in the area, according to police.Police arrested the Crimo just before 7 p.m. CST in Lake Forest, Illinois, a suburb near Highland Park.Police believe the shooter fired on the parade from a rooftop using a rifle that was recovered at the scene. Police say they believe there is only one shooter.Some of the victims have been identified. Nicolas Toledo was in his late 70s and visiting from Mexico when he was shot. He died at the scene, his granddaughter told the Chicago Sun-Times. Also killed was Jacki Sundheim, a lifelong congregant and “beloved” staff member at nearby North Shore Congregation Israel, which announced her death on its website. What we don't know: Police have not said whether or not they are aware of the shooter's motive.Police have only identified the weapon as a high-powered rifle.The Associated Press contributed to this report.

HIGHLAND PARK, Ill. —

At least six people died and 30 were wounded in a shooting at a July Fourth parade in the Chicago suburb of Highland Park. Here's what we know and don't know about the shooting.

What we know:

Six people have been killed

Police have identified a person of interest as Robert Crimo III, a 22-year-old who lives in the area, according to police.

Police arrested the Crimo just before 7 p.m. CST in Lake Forest, Illinois, a suburb near Highland Park.

Police believe the shooter fired on the parade from a rooftop using a rifle that was recovered at the scene.

Police say they believe there is only one shooter.

Some of the victims have been identified. Nicolas Toledo was in his late 70s and visiting from Mexico when he was shot. He died at the scene, his granddaughter told the Chicago Sun-Times. Also killed was Jacki Sundheim, a lifelong congregant and “beloved” staff member at nearby North Shore Congregation Israel, which announced her death on its website.

What we don't know:

Police have not said whether or not they are aware of the shooter's motive.

Police have only identified the weapon as a high-powered rifle.

The Associated Press contributed to this report.

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Fourth of July weekend violence across reignites gun reform debate

cincylink — Tue, 11 Jul 2023 02:28:19 +0000

The shooting in Illinois, killing seven and injuring dozens, came days after President Joe Biden signed the strictest gun reform bill in three decades.The bill imposes stricter background checks on juvenile gun buyers, encourages states to adopt red-flag laws and funds school youth mental health programs.Monday's Independence Day massacre reignited firearm debates in the United States. Many are calling for sweeping reform, while others disagree.Sasha Martin works at Target World, a gun store, training center and firing range in Sharonville, Ohio."No, I wouldn't say firearms are the issue," Martin said. "I'd say individuals with mental health problems are the issue."Martin explained the process of purchasing a gun, including a valid state ID and filling out ATF Form 4473, which is then turned in to the FBI. The background check can go three ways: proceed, delay or deny."I just don't think from my personal experience people who are denied on firearm background checks aren't being prosecuted," Matin said. "I've seen the system work how it was intended, and nothing be done about it."Gun shops often come under fire for the sale of long rifles, the weapon used in Monday's shooting."We really got to focus on the individual people; we can't attack these objects, these tools," Martin said. "I think that will only hurt us as a society."Some lawmakers like Ohio State Sen. Cecil Thomas disagree. He is spearheading a state bill that raises the age to buy a long ride, adopts a red flag law, extends the wait time for gun purchases and allows tracking of gun transfers."We're not trampling on your right to bear arms," Thomas said. "We just tried to minimize the potential for an incident."Getting a tighter grip on Ohio's gun laws is something Rev. Dr. Jack Sullivan Jr. believes is desperately needed."Anything we can do to make sure that we rid ourselves of weapons of community destruction," Sullivan said.Sullivan added that if something is to change, it must start with honest conversations.

CINCINNATI —

The shooting in Illinois, killing seven and injuring dozens, came days after President Joe Biden signed the strictest gun reform bill in three decades.

The bill imposes stricter background checks on juvenile gun buyers, encourages states to adopt red-flag laws and funds school youth mental health programs.

Monday's Independence Day massacre reignited firearm debates in the United States.

Many are calling for sweeping reform, while others disagree.

Sasha Martin works at Target World, a gun store, training center and firing range in Sharonville, Ohio.

"No, I wouldn't say firearms are the issue," Martin said. "I'd say individuals with mental health problems are the issue."

Martin explained the process of purchasing a gun, including a valid state ID and filling out ATF Form 4473, which is then turned in to the FBI.

The background check can go three ways: proceed, delay or deny.

"I just don't think from my personal experience people who are denied on firearm background checks aren't being prosecuted," Matin said. "I've seen the system work how it was intended, and nothing be done about it."

Gun shops often come under fire for the sale of long rifles, the weapon used in Monday's shooting.

"We really got to focus on the individual people; we can't attack these objects, these tools," Martin said. "I think that will only hurt us as a society."

Some lawmakers like Ohio State Sen. Cecil Thomas disagree.

He is spearheading a state bill that raises the age to buy a long ride, adopts a red flag law, extends the wait time for gun purchases and allows tracking of gun transfers.

"We're not trampling on your right to bear arms," Thomas said. "We just tried to minimize the potential for an incident."

Getting a tighter grip on Ohio's gun laws is something Rev. Dr. Jack Sullivan Jr. believes is desperately needed.

"Anything we can do to make sure that we rid ourselves of weapons of community destruction," Sullivan said.

Sullivan added that if something is to change, it must start with honest conversations.

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Cleveland, Ohio, mass shooting leaves 9 people wounded

cincylink — Tue, 11 Jul 2023 02:15:29 +0000

At least nine people suffered gunshot wounds in a mass shooting in Cleveland early Sunday morning, according to local police, who believe a single suspect fired on a group of people before fleeing the scene.No one has died as a result of the shooting, which Cleveland Division of Police Chief Wayne Drummond said happened in the city’s Warehouse District at 2:25 a.m., when an unidentified individual shot at a group of people.The suspect then fled the scene that Jennifer Ciaccia, an agency spokesperson, described in a statement as “chaotic.”Cleveland officers were already nearby as part of a routine detail in the area, the chief said. They responded immediately and gave medical aid to the victims, who include seven men and two women ranging in age from 23 to 38, Drummond said.No officers were hurt, Ciaccia said.Related video above: Can mass shootings be prevented?Victims were shot in places ranging from their knees and legs to their feet and arms, according to a news release.None of the victims’ injuries appeared to be life-threatening, according to Ciaccia.MetroHealth Medical Center confirmed it received nine victims, with spokesperson Dorsena Koonce telling CNN that, as of early Sunday afternoon, two victims had been treated and released, five were in the emergency department, one was in the operating room and another had already had surgery.Police are following leads and will “continue to work extremely hard to try to find” the person responsible, said Drummond. At that time, investigators had “no indication” that anything of note had taken place before the suspect opened fire. Investigators said they were also reviewing evidence and video and have interviewed victims, a statement from Ciaccia says.Police have described the suspect as a Black man wearing dark clothing.The shooting is just the latest example of America’s struggle with gun violence, as mass shootings continue largely unmitigated.There have been at least 365 mass shootings so far in 2023, according to the Gun Violence Archive, which, like CNN, defines a mass shooting as one in which four or more people are shot, excluding the shooter. US Rep. Shontel Brown – who represents Cleveland, part of Ohio’s 11th District – thanked first responders in a statement and urged Congress to do more to stem the crisis, specifically calling for universal background checks, banning assault weapons and addressing gun trafficking, among other measures.“Gun violence is devastating Northeast Ohio and Clevelanders deserve to be safe,” Brown’s statement said. “This epidemic is tearing at the fabric of our communities, and it will not end without significant legislative action.”Cleveland Mayor Justin M. Bibb expressed gratitude that no one was killed in the shooting but said it marked a “tragic and sad day” that highlights the United States’ “massive gun problem.”

CLEVELAND —

At least nine people suffered gunshot wounds in a mass shooting in Cleveland early Sunday morning, according to local police, who believe a single suspect fired on a group of people before fleeing the scene.

No one has died as a result of the shooting, which Cleveland Division of Police Chief Wayne Drummond said happened in the city’s Warehouse District at 2:25 a.m., when an unidentified individual shot at a group of people.

The suspect then fled the scene that Jennifer Ciaccia, an agency spokesperson, described in a statement as “chaotic.”

Cleveland officers were already nearby as part of a routine detail in the area, the chief said. They responded immediately and gave medical aid to the victims, who include seven men and two women ranging in age from 23 to 38, Drummond said.

No officers were hurt, Ciaccia said.

Related video above: Can mass shootings be prevented?

Victims were shot in places ranging from their knees and legs to their feet and arms, according to a news release.

None of the victims’ injuries appeared to be life-threatening, according to Ciaccia.

MetroHealth Medical Center confirmed it received nine victims, with spokesperson Dorsena Koonce telling CNN that, as of early Sunday afternoon, two victims had been treated and released, five were in the emergency department, one was in the operating room and another had already had surgery.

Police are following leads and will “continue to work extremely hard to try to find” the person responsible, said Drummond. At that time, investigators had “no indication” that anything of note had taken place before the suspect opened fire.

Investigators said they were also reviewing evidence and video and have interviewed victims, a statement from Ciaccia says.

Police have described the suspect as a Black man wearing dark clothing.

The shooting is just the latest example of America’s struggle with gun violence, as mass shootings continue largely unmitigated.

There have been at least 365 mass shootings so far in 2023, according to the Gun Violence Archive, which, like CNN, defines a mass shooting as one in which four or more people are shot, excluding the shooter.

US Rep. Shontel Brown – who represents Cleveland, part of Ohio’s 11th District – thanked first responders in a statement and urged Congress to do more to stem the crisis, specifically calling for universal background checks, banning assault weapons and addressing gun trafficking, among other measures.

“Gun violence is devastating Northeast Ohio and Clevelanders deserve to be safe,” Brown’s statement said. “This epidemic is tearing at the fabric of our communities, and it will not end without significant legislative action.”

Cleveland Mayor Justin M. Bibb expressed gratitude that no one was killed in the shooting but said it marked a “tragic and sad day” that highlights the United States’ “massive gun problem.”

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Last funeral for Highland Park parade shooting victims held Monday

cincylink — Fri, 07 Jul 2023 21:48:00 +0000

Funeral services for the seven people killed by a gunman at an Independence Day parade will conclude Monday as family and friends gather in suburban Chicago to remember Kevin McCarthy.

McCarthy’s funeral service is scheduled for Monday afternoon in Skokie, Illinois. In an obituary, he is described as a father, husband, brother, uncle and son who “brought the fun to every situation.”

The 37-year-old father and his wife, Irina, were killed in the Highland Park parade attack. They left behind a 2-year-old son, Aiden, whose story prompted thousands of people to donate money for the orphaned boy.

“Kevin’s irrepressible zest for life and his family and friends will remain with us always,” his family wrote in the obituary. “We love you.”

Irina McCarthy was buried last week.

Services for the five other victims have been held in recent weeks. They have been identified as: 64-year-old Katherine Goldstein, 63-year-old Jacquelyn Sundheim, 88-year-old Stephen Straus and 78-year-old Nicolas Toledo-Zaragoza and 69-year-old Eduardo Uvaldo.

Prosecutors have charged 21-year-old Robert E. Crimo III with seven counts of murder and said they expect to present attempted murder charges representing the people wounded in the attack.

Additional reporting by The Associated Press.

Newsy is the nation’s only free 24/7 national news network. You can find Newsy using your TV’s digital antenna or stream for free. See all the ways you can watch Newsy here: https://bit.ly/Newsy1

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Jurors see gruesome video of Parkland school shooting

cincylink — Fri, 07 Jul 2023 21:46:18 +0000

Jurors in the penalty trial of Florida school shooter Nikolas Cruz viewed graphic video Tuesday of him murdering 17 people as he stalked through a three-story classroom building at Parkland's Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School four years ago.The video, compiled from 13 security cameras inside the building, was not shown to the gallery, where parents of many of the victims sat. Prosecutors say it shows Cruz shooting many of his victims at point-blank range, going back to some as they lay wounded on the floor to kill them with a second volley of shots.The 12 jurors and 10 alternates stared intently at their video screens. Many held hands to their faces as they viewed the 15-minute recording, which has no sound.Some started squirming. One juror looked at the screen, looked up at Cruz with his eyes wide and then returned to the video.Cruz looked down while the video played and did not appear to watch it. He sometimes looked up to exchange whispers with one of his attorneys.The video was played over the objection of Cruz's attorneys, who argued that any evidentiary value it has is outweighed by the emotions it would raise in the jurors. They argued that witness statements of what happened would be sufficient.Circuit Judge Elizabeth Scherer dismissed the objection, saying a video that accurately reflects Cruz's crimes does not unfairly prejudice his case. Prosecutors are using the video to prove several aggravating factors, including that Cruz acted in a cold, calculated and cruel manner.Cruz, 23, pleaded guilty in October to 17 counts of first-degree murder, and 17 more counts of attempted murder for those he wounded. The jury must decide if he should be sentenced to death or life without parole for the nation's deadliest mass shooting to go before a jury.Later on day two of the trial, jurors heard testimony from Christopher McKenna, who was a freshman during the Feb. 14, 2018, shooting. He had left his English class to go to the bathroom and exchanged greetings with two students, Luke Hoyer and Martin Duque, as they crossed paths in the first-floor hallway. McKenna then entered a stairwell and encountered Cruz assembling his AR-15 semiautomatic rifle."He said get out of here. Things are about to get bad," McKenna recalled.McKenna sprinted out to the parking lot as Cruz went into the hallway and began shooting. McKenna alerted Aaron Feis, an assistant football coach who doubled as a security guard. Feis drove McKenna in his golf cart to an adjacent building for safety, and then went to the three-story building McKenna fled from.By then, the sounds of gunfire were already ringing out across the campus. Feis went in and was fatally shot immediately by Cruz, who had already killed Hoyer, 15, and Duque, 14, and eight others. Cruz then continued through the second floor, where he fired into classrooms but hit no one. When he reached the third-floor, he killed six more.The jurors also heard testimony from English teacher Dara Hass, who had three students killed and several wounded in her classroom when Cruz fired through a window in the door."The sound was so loud. The students were screaming," said Hass, who wept and dabbed her eyes with tissue as she testified. She thought it might be a drill, but then she spotted the body of 14-year-old Alex Schachter, who had been fatally shot at his desk."That's when I saw it wasn't a drill," she said. Two 14-year-old girls also died in the classroom: Alaina Petty and Alyssa Alhadeff.When police arrived and evacuated her students, Hass said she did not want to leave but officers convinced her."I wanted to stay with the students who couldn't go," she said, referring to Schachter, Petty and Alhadeff.One student in her class, Alexander Dworet, said he originally thought the loud bangs were the school's marching band, but then he felt a "hot sensation" on the back of his head where he had been grazed by a bullet and "I realized I was in danger."Dworet's 17-year-old brother, Nick, was across the hall in his Holocaust studies class. Cruz fired into that classroom, too, killing him. Jury selectionThe jurors currently on the main panel are two banking executives and two technology workers, a probation officer, a human resources professional and a Walmart store stock supervisor. Also included are a librarian, a medical claims adjuster, a legal assistant, a customs officer and a retired insurance executive. The jury selection was filled with setbacks and possible mistrials over the questioning of possible jurors and COVID-19 cases on the defense. The defense asked to delay the trial because of the recent school shooting in Uvalde, Texas, that left 21 dead. McNeill’s team argued that the shooting has again raised emotions in Broward County and makes it impossible for Cruz to get a fair trial currently.Many of the possible jurors were not able to hold seat because of the time commitment for the lengthy process.Full Recap: Jury sworn in to sentencing trial for Parkland high school shooterPleading guilty to all chargesCruz pleaded guilty in October 2021 to 17 counts of murder and 17 counts of attempted murder in the deadly shooting.Legal analysts said Cruz’s plan to plead guilty to all charges in the Parkland shooting — along with the guilty plea in a battery on a jail guard charge — is a calculated move by his attorneys for him to avoid the death penalty.Video below: Cruz pleads guilty in courtBy pleading guilty to killing 17 people and attempting to kill 17 more in 2018, legal experts said Cruz is hoping to convince the jury that he is taking some responsibility for his actions."He’s trying to save his life, and the only way to do that is to take responsibility and not put all these poor people through a trial," criminal defense attorney Marc Shiner said. Death penalty trials in Florida and much of the country often take two years to start because of their complexity, but Cruz's was further delayed by the COVID-19 pandemic and extensive legal wrangling.If Cruz is sentenced to death, that will still not be the end of the process. Death sentences in Florida are given automatic priority review by the Florida Supreme Court. Trial preparationsTrial preparations were extensive for what was expected to be the biggest murder trial in Broward County history for one of the most infamous crimes in Florida history.Cruz was arrested about an hour after the attack with an AR-15 semiautomatic rifle on Valentine's Day 2018.Video below: Body camera of arrest of Nikolas Cruz releasedHis lawyers repeatedly offered to plead guilty in return for a guaranteed sentence of life in prison, but prosecutors refused to drop their pursuit of the death penalty.Video below: Cruz interrogation video releasedMuch of the penalty phase is expected to focus on Cruz’s mental condition at the time of the slayings, with prosecutors emphasizing their horrific nature and Cruz’s intensive planning beforehand. Victims of the Parkland school shootingSeventeen students and staff were killed at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School on Feb. 14, 2018. Seventeen others were injured.Can't see the graphic? Click here.Settlement with Broward School DistrictThe Broward County School District will pay more than $26 million to the families of the victims.Board members approved the two legal settlements on in December 2021.A total of $25 million will be shared by 51 plaintiffs, including families of the 17 dead as well as students and staff who were injured. Another $1.25 million will be paid in one lump sum to Anthony Borges, who suffered some of the most severe injuries.Video below: Nikolas Cruz outlines shooting plan in video recordingFour years after shootingFor many families, they said there will never be closure for the loss of their loved ones.Students and families turned into activists.'I still can't believe this is my reality': Parkland parent creates way to track school violence after son is killed in school shootingJim Gard, a math teacher that day, said they were all victims."These kids that were in the class, just because they weren't hit doesn't mean they weren’t hit," he said.And since that day, so many of those victims have refused to just sit back and do nothing. In the days following the shooting, a movement called March For Our Lives was born.David Hogg was one of the founders."When we started doing the march, we thought there would be about 90 people that we could get up to D.C.," Hogg said. "We got near a million."Video below: Father of Parkland victim hangs banner in view of White House four years after shootingFour years later, March For Our Lives is still going strong with chapters across the country.They’ve helped pass state laws designed to keep guns away from violent offenders. They’ve worked to get more federal funding to control gun violence.'I have to accomplish her dream': Hunter Pollack changes career path after sister is murdered in Parkland massacreIt's become a full-time job nobody wants."We want our job to be done so we can go back to being college students or high school students and young people and young professionals," Hogg said.When they watched the Parkland shooter plead guilty to the murders he committed, both Hogg and Gard are pleased to see this chapter end.Video below: School safety changes made following Parkland school shootingThey just ask you not to call it closure."It's the parents of the kids, the parents who lost their children, I don’t know if there can ever be closure on that," Gard said. "I know for a lot of the people that I talked to, families that I talked to, there is not closure that can come. There’s nothing that will ever bring their kids back, their siblings back, their best friends back."If you or someone you know needs help with mental health, call 211 or the National Suicide Hotline at 988.The Associated Press contributed to this report.

Jurors in the penalty trial of Florida school shooter Nikolas Cruz viewed graphic video Tuesday of him murdering 17 people as he stalked through a three-story classroom building at Parkland's Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School four years ago.

The video, compiled from 13 security cameras inside the building, was not shown to the gallery, where parents of many of the victims sat. Prosecutors say it shows Cruz shooting many of his victims at point-blank range, going back to some as they lay wounded on the floor to kill them with a second volley of shots.

The 12 jurors and 10 alternates stared intently at their video screens. Many held hands to their faces as they viewed the 15-minute recording, which has no sound.

Some started squirming. One juror looked at the screen, looked up at Cruz with his eyes wide and then returned to the video.

Cruz looked down while the video played and did not appear to watch it. He sometimes looked up to exchange whispers with one of his attorneys.

The video was played over the objection of Cruz's attorneys, who argued that any evidentiary value it has is outweighed by the emotions it would raise in the jurors. They argued that witness statements of what happened would be sufficient.

Circuit Judge Elizabeth Scherer dismissed the objection, saying a video that accurately reflects Cruz's crimes does not unfairly prejudice his case. Prosecutors are using the video to prove several aggravating factors, including that Cruz acted in a cold, calculated and cruel manner.

Cruz, 23, pleaded guilty in October to 17 counts of first-degree murder, and 17 more counts of attempted murder for those he wounded. The jury must decide if he should be sentenced to death or life without parole for the nation's deadliest mass shooting to go before a jury.

Later on day two of the trial, jurors heard testimony from Christopher McKenna, who was a freshman during the Feb. 14, 2018, shooting. He had left his English class to go to the bathroom and exchanged greetings with two students, Luke Hoyer and Martin Duque, as they crossed paths in the first-floor hallway. McKenna then entered a stairwell and encountered Cruz assembling his AR-15 semiautomatic rifle.

"He said get out of here. Things are about to get bad," McKenna recalled.

McKenna sprinted out to the parking lot as Cruz went into the hallway and began shooting. McKenna alerted Aaron Feis, an assistant football coach who doubled as a security guard. Feis drove McKenna in his golf cart to an adjacent building for safety, and then went to the three-story building McKenna fled from.

By then, the sounds of gunfire were already ringing out across the campus. Feis went in and was fatally shot immediately by Cruz, who had already killed Hoyer, 15, and Duque, 14, and eight others. Cruz then continued through the second floor, where he fired into classrooms but hit no one. When he reached the third-floor, he killed six more.

The jurors also heard testimony from English teacher Dara Hass, who had three students killed and several wounded in her classroom when Cruz fired through a window in the door.

"The sound was so loud. The students were screaming," said Hass, who wept and dabbed her eyes with tissue as she testified. She thought it might be a drill, but then she spotted the body of 14-year-old Alex Schachter, who had been fatally shot at his desk.

"That's when I saw it wasn't a drill," she said. Two 14-year-old girls also died in the classroom: Alaina Petty and Alyssa Alhadeff.

Carl Juste/Miami Herald via AP, Pool
During testimony, family members emotionally exit the courtroom on the first day of the sentencing trial for convicted Parkland school shooter Nikolas Cruz at the Broward County Judicial Complex in downtown Fort Lauderdale, Fla., Monday, July 18, 2022.

When police arrived and evacuated her students, Hass said she did not want to leave but officers convinced her.

"I wanted to stay with the students who couldn't go," she said, referring to Schachter, Petty and Alhadeff.

One student in her class, Alexander Dworet, said he originally thought the loud bangs were the school's marching band, but then he felt a "hot sensation" on the back of his head where he had been grazed by a bullet and "I realized I was in danger."

Dworet's 17-year-old brother, Nick, was across the hall in his Holocaust studies class. Cruz fired into that classroom, too, killing him.

Jury selection

The jurors currently on the main panel are two banking executives and two technology workers, a probation officer, a human resources professional and a Walmart store stock supervisor. Also included are a librarian, a medical claims adjuster, a legal assistant, a customs officer and a retired insurance executive.

The jury selection was filled with setbacks and possible mistrials over the questioning of possible jurors and COVID-19 cases on the defense.

The defense asked to delay the trial because of the recent school shooting in Uvalde, Texas, that left 21 dead. McNeill’s team argued that the shooting has again raised emotions in Broward County and makes it impossible for Cruz to get a fair trial currently.

Many of the possible jurors were not able to hold seat because of the time commitment for the lengthy process.

Full Recap: Jury sworn in to sentencing trial for Parkland high school shooter

Pleading guilty to all charges

Cruz pleaded guilty in October 2021 to 17 counts of murder and 17 counts of attempted murder in the deadly shooting.

Legal analysts said Cruz’s plan to plead guilty to all charges in the Parkland shooting — along with the guilty plea in a battery on a jail guard charge — is a calculated move by his attorneys for him to avoid the death penalty.

Video below: Cruz pleads guilty in court

By pleading guilty to killing 17 people and attempting to kill 17 more in 2018, legal experts said Cruz is hoping to convince the jury that he is taking some responsibility for his actions.

"He’s trying to save his life, and the only way to do that is to take responsibility and not put all these poor people through a trial," criminal defense attorney Marc Shiner said.

Death penalty trials in Florida and much of the country often take two years to start because of their complexity, but Cruz's was further delayed by the COVID-19 pandemic and extensive legal wrangling.

If Cruz is sentenced to death, that will still not be the end of the process. Death sentences in Florida are given automatic priority review by the Florida Supreme Court.

Trial preparations

Trial preparations were extensive for what was expected to be the biggest murder trial in Broward County history for one of the most infamous crimes in Florida history.

Cruz was arrested about an hour after the attack with an AR-15 semiautomatic rifle on Valentine's Day 2018.

Video below: Body camera of arrest of Nikolas Cruz released

His lawyers repeatedly offered to plead guilty in return for a guaranteed sentence of life in prison, but prosecutors refused to drop their pursuit of the death penalty.

Video below: Cruz interrogation video released

Much of the penalty phase is expected to focus on Cruz’s mental condition at the time of the slayings, with prosecutors emphasizing their horrific nature and Cruz’s intensive planning beforehand.

Victims of the Parkland school shooting

Seventeen students and staff were killed at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School on Feb. 14, 2018. Seventeen others were injured.

Can't see the graphic? Click here.

Settlement with Broward School District

The Broward County School District will pay more than $26 million to the families of the victims.

Board members approved the two legal settlements on in December 2021.

A total of $25 million will be shared by 51 plaintiffs, including families of the 17 dead as well as students and staff who were injured. Another $1.25 million will be paid in one lump sum to Anthony Borges, who suffered some of the most severe injuries.

Video below: Nikolas Cruz outlines shooting plan in video recording

Four years after shooting

For many families, they said there will never be closure for the loss of their loved ones.

Students and families turned into activists.

'I still can't believe this is my reality': Parkland parent creates way to track school violence after son is killed in school shooting

Jim Gard, a math teacher that day, said they were all victims.

"These kids that were in the class, just because they weren't hit doesn't mean they weren’t hit," he said.

And since that day, so many of those victims have refused to just sit back and do nothing. In the days following the shooting, a movement called March For Our Lives was born.

David Hogg was one of the founders.

"When we started doing the march, we thought there would be about 90 people that we could get up to D.C.," Hogg said. "We got near a million."

Video below: Father of Parkland victim hangs banner in view of White House four years after shooting

Four years later, March For Our Lives is still going strong with chapters across the country.

They’ve helped pass state laws designed to keep guns away from violent offenders. They’ve worked to get more federal funding to control gun violence.

'I have to accomplish her dream': Hunter Pollack changes career path after sister is murdered in Parkland massacre

It's become a full-time job nobody wants.

"We want our job to be done so we can go back to being college students or high school students and young people and young professionals," Hogg said.

When they watched the Parkland shooter plead guilty to the murders he committed, both Hogg and Gard are pleased to see this chapter end.

Video below: School safety changes made following Parkland school shooting

They just ask you not to call it closure.

"It's the parents of the kids, the parents who lost their children, I don’t know if there can ever be closure on that," Gard said. "I know for a lot of the people that I talked to, families that I talked to, there is not closure that can come. There’s nothing that will ever bring their kids back, their siblings back, their best friends back."

If you or someone you know needs help with mental health, call 211 or the National Suicide Hotline at 988.

The Associated Press contributed to this report.

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Parkland school shooter acted casually after fleeing

cincylink — Fri, 07 Jul 2023 21:25:32 +0000

Florida school shooter Nikolas Cruz walked casually into a sandwich shop minutes after he murdered 14 students and three staff members at Parkland's Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School four years ago, showing no signs of stress or nervousness, video played at his penalty trial Thursday showed.Cruz then walked to a nearby McDonald's, where, by coincidence, he unsuccessfully sought a ride from the brother of a girl he had seriously wounded. The boy did not know who Cruz was.Thursday's abbreviated court session focused on Cruz's attempted escape after the Feb. 14, 2018, shooting and his arrest, about an hour after he fled the campus. The mostly low-key testimony and evidence stood in contrast with the previous three emotional days, which covered the seven minutes Cruz stalked a three-story classroom building firing his AR-15 semi-automatic rifle into crowded classrooms and hallways.After the shooting, Cruz fled the building, dressed in a burgundy shirt from the Stoneman Douglas Junior Reserve Officer Training Corps — he had been a member when he attended the school — and a New York City Police Department cap.The former Stoneman Douglas student blended in with students who were evacuating campus and went to a nearby Walmart, where security video shows that 25 minutes after he stopped shooting, he turned into the Subway sandwich shop inside the entrance.Store manager Carlos Rugeles testified that Cruz ordered a cherry and blue raspberry Icee. The video shows that when Cruz got his drink and change, he tossed the coins into the tip jar, stuck a straw into the lid and walked out.Eight minutes later, Cruz entered a nearby McDonald's, still drinking his Icee, store video shows. He climbed into a booth with then-Stoneman Douglas freshman John Wilford, who did not know him.Wilford testified that he didn't know exactly what had happened at the school, but after evacuating, he had been trying to call his older sister Maddy — he didn't know she had been seriously wounded by this stranger. When he couldn't reach her, he called his mom, who said she would pick him up.He then tried to make small talk with Cruz."I told him, 'This is so chaotic, it's crazy with all these helicopters and squad cars. What do you think this could be?'" Wilford recalled. "He didn't say much. He had his head down."A minute later, Wilford went to meet his mother in the parking lot. Cruz followed and asked for a ride, but Wilford said no."He was pretty insistent on it. I wasn't really thinking much of it. I just wanted to get home and my sister wasn't answering her phone," Wilford said.Cruz walked away. He was arrested about a half-hour later by Michael Leonard, an officer with the neighboring Coconut Creek Police Department. Leonard testified he was driving through neighborhoods looking for anyone matching the shooter's description.The officer was 3 miles from the school and about to drive back toward it when he spotted Cruz walking on a residential street. He said he stopped and Cruz looked at him. He pulled his gun and ordered Cruz to the ground. Cruz complied.A search found $350 in Cruz's pocket.Cruz, 23, pleaded guilty in October to 17 counts of first-degree murder. The jury must only decide if he should be sentenced to death or life without parole for the nation's deadliest mass shooting to go before a jury.Nine other gunmen who killed at least 17 people died during or immediately after their shootings, either by suicide or police gunfire. The suspect in the 2019 slaying of 23 people at a Walmart in El Paso, Texas, is awaiting trial.When jurors eventually get the case, probably in October or November, they will vote 17 times, once for each of the victims, on whether to recommend capital punishment.For each death sentence, the jury must be unanimous or the sentence for that victim is life. The jurors are told that to vote for death, the prosecution's aggravating circumstances for that victim must, in their judgment, "outweigh" the defense's mitigators. A juror can also vote for life out of mercy for Cruz. During jury selection, the panelists said under oath that they are capable of voting for either sentence. Jury selectionThe jurors currently on the main panel are two banking executives and two technology workers, a probation officer, a human resources professional and a Walmart store stock supervisor. Also included are a librarian, a medical claims adjuster, a legal assistant, a customs officer and a retired insurance executive. The jury selection was filled with setbacks and possible mistrials over the questioning of possible jurors and COVID-19 cases on the defense. The defense asked to delay the trial because of the recent school shooting in Uvalde, Texas, that left 21 dead. McNeill’s team argued that the shooting has again raised emotions in Broward County and makes it impossible for Cruz to get a fair trial currently.Many of the possible jurors were not able to hold seat because of the time commitment for the lengthy process.Full Recap: Jury sworn in to sentencing trial for Parkland high school shooterPleading guilty to all chargesCruz pleaded guilty in October 2021 to 17 counts of murder and 17 counts of attempted murder in the deadly shooting.Legal analysts said Cruz’s plan to plead guilty to all charges in the Parkland shooting — along with the guilty plea in a battery on a jail guard charge — is a calculated move by his attorneys for him to avoid the death penalty.Video below: Cruz pleads guilty in courtBy pleading guilty to killing 17 people and attempting to kill 17 more in 2018, legal experts said Cruz is hoping to convince the jury that he is taking some responsibility for his actions."He’s trying to save his life, and the only way to do that is to take responsibility and not put all these poor people through a trial," criminal defense attorney Marc Shiner said. Death penalty trials in Florida and much of the country often take two years to start because of their complexity, but Cruz's was further delayed by the COVID-19 pandemic and extensive legal wrangling.If Cruz is sentenced to death, that will still not be the end of the process. Death sentences in Florida are given automatic priority review by the Florida Supreme Court. Trial preparationsTrial preparations were extensive for what was expected to be the biggest murder trial in Broward County history for one of the most infamous crimes in Florida history.Cruz was arrested about an hour after the attack with an AR-15 semiautomatic rifle on Valentine's Day 2018.Video below: Body camera of arrest of Nikolas Cruz releasedHis lawyers repeatedly offered to plead guilty in return for a guaranteed sentence of life in prison, but prosecutors refused to drop their pursuit of the death penalty.Video below: Cruz interrogation video releasedMuch of the penalty phase is expected to focus on Cruz’s mental condition at the time of the slayings, with prosecutors emphasizing their horrific nature and Cruz’s intensive planning beforehand. Victims of the Parkland school shootingSeventeen students and staff were killed at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School on Feb. 14, 2018. Seventeen others were injured.Can't see the graphic? Click here.Settlement with Broward School DistrictThe Broward County School District will pay more than $26 million to the families of the victims.Board members approved the two legal settlements on in December 2021.A total of $25 million will be shared by 51 plaintiffs, including families of the 17 dead as well as students and staff who were injured. Another $1.25 million will be paid in one lump sum to Anthony Borges, who suffered some of the most severe injuries.Video below: Nikolas Cruz outlines shooting plan in video recordingFour years after shootingFor many families, they said there will never be closure for the loss of their loved ones.Students and families turned into activists.'I still can't believe this is my reality': Parkland parent creates way to track school violence after son is killed in school shootingJim Gard, a math teacher that day, said they were all victims."These kids that were in the class, just because they weren't hit doesn't mean they weren’t hit," he said.And since that day, so many of those victims have refused to just sit back and do nothing. In the days following the shooting, a movement called March For Our Lives was born.David Hogg was one of the founders."When we started doing the march, we thought there would be about 90 people that we could get up to D.C.," Hogg said. "We got near a million."Video below: Father of Parkland victim hangs banner in view of White House four years after shootingFour years later, March For Our Lives is still going strong with chapters across the country.They’ve helped pass state laws designed to keep guns away from violent offenders. They’ve worked to get more federal funding to control gun violence.'I have to accomplish her dream': Hunter Pollack changes career path after sister is murdered in Parkland massacreIt's become a full-time job nobody wants."We want our job to be done so we can go back to being college students or high school students and young people and young professionals," Hogg said.When they watched the Parkland shooter plead guilty to the murders he committed, both Hogg and Gard are pleased to see this chapter end.Video below: School safety changes made following Parkland school shootingThey just ask you not to call it closure."It's the parents of the kids, the parents who lost their children, I don’t know if there can ever be closure on that," Gard said. "I know for a lot of the people that I talked to, families that I talked to, there is not closure that can come. There’s nothing that will ever bring their kids back, their siblings back, their best friends back."If you or someone you know needs help with mental health, call 211 or the National Suicide Hotline at 988.The Associated Press contributed to this report.

Florida school shooter Nikolas Cruz walked casually into a sandwich shop minutes after he murdered 14 students and three staff members at Parkland's Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School four years ago, showing no signs of stress or nervousness, video played at his penalty trial Thursday showed.

Cruz then walked to a nearby McDonald's, where, by coincidence, he unsuccessfully sought a ride from the brother of a girl he had seriously wounded. The boy did not know who Cruz was.

Thursday's abbreviated court session focused on Cruz's attempted escape after the Feb. 14, 2018, shooting and his arrest, about an hour after he fled the campus. The mostly low-key testimony and evidence stood in contrast with the previous three emotional days, which covered the seven minutes Cruz stalked a three-story classroom building firing his AR-15 semi-automatic rifle into crowded classrooms and hallways.

After the shooting, Cruz fled the building, dressed in a burgundy shirt from the Stoneman Douglas Junior Reserve Officer Training Corps — he had been a member when he attended the school — and a New York City Police Department cap.

The former Stoneman Douglas student blended in with students who were evacuating campus and went to a nearby Walmart, where security video shows that 25 minutes after he stopped shooting, he turned into the Subway sandwich shop inside the entrance.

Store manager Carlos Rugeles testified that Cruz ordered a cherry and blue raspberry Icee. The video shows that when Cruz got his drink and change, he tossed the coins into the tip jar, stuck a straw into the lid and walked out.

Eight minutes later, Cruz entered a nearby McDonald's, still drinking his Icee, store video shows. He climbed into a booth with then-Stoneman Douglas freshman John Wilford, who did not know him.

Wilford testified that he didn't know exactly what had happened at the school, but after evacuating, he had been trying to call his older sister Maddy — he didn't know she had been seriously wounded by this stranger. When he couldn't reach her, he called his mom, who said she would pick him up.

Mike Stocker/South Florida Sun Sentinel via AP, Pool
Former Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School student John Wilford testifies about encountering Nikolas Cruz at a McDonalds shortly after the school shooting.

He then tried to make small talk with Cruz.

"I told him, 'This is so chaotic, it's crazy with all these helicopters and squad cars. What do you think this could be?'" Wilford recalled. "He didn't say much. He had his head down."

A minute later, Wilford went to meet his mother in the parking lot. Cruz followed and asked for a ride, but Wilford said no.

"He was pretty insistent on it. I wasn't really thinking much of it. I just wanted to get home and my sister wasn't answering her phone," Wilford said.

Cruz walked away. He was arrested about a half-hour later by Michael Leonard, an officer with the neighboring Coconut Creek Police Department. Leonard testified he was driving through neighborhoods looking for anyone matching the shooter's description.

The officer was 3 miles from the school and about to drive back toward it when he spotted Cruz walking on a residential street. He said he stopped and Cruz looked at him. He pulled his gun and ordered Cruz to the ground. Cruz complied.

A search found $350 in Cruz's pocket.

Cruz, 23, pleaded guilty in October to 17 counts of first-degree murder. The jury must only decide if he should be sentenced to death or life without parole for the nation's deadliest mass shooting to go before a jury.

Nine other gunmen who killed at least 17 people died during or immediately after their shootings, either by suicide or police gunfire. The suspect in the 2019 slaying of 23 people at a Walmart in El Paso, Texas, is awaiting trial.

When jurors eventually get the case, probably in October or November, they will vote 17 times, once for each of the victims, on whether to recommend capital punishment.

For each death sentence, the jury must be unanimous or the sentence for that victim is life. The jurors are told that to vote for death, the prosecution's aggravating circumstances for that victim must, in their judgment, "outweigh" the defense's mitigators. A juror can also vote for life out of mercy for Cruz. During jury selection, the panelists said under oath that they are capable of voting for either sentence.

Jury selection

The jurors currently on the main panel are two banking executives and two technology workers, a probation officer, a human resources professional and a Walmart store stock supervisor. Also included are a librarian, a medical claims adjuster, a legal assistant, a customs officer and a retired insurance executive.

The jury selection was filled with setbacks and possible mistrials over the questioning of possible jurors and COVID-19 cases on the defense.

The defense asked to delay the trial because of the recent school shooting in Uvalde, Texas, that left 21 dead. McNeill’s team argued that the shooting has again raised emotions in Broward County and makes it impossible for Cruz to get a fair trial currently.

Many of the possible jurors were not able to hold seat because of the time commitment for the lengthy process.

Full Recap: Jury sworn in to sentencing trial for Parkland high school shooter

Pleading guilty to all charges

Cruz pleaded guilty in October 2021 to 17 counts of murder and 17 counts of attempted murder in the deadly shooting.

Legal analysts said Cruz’s plan to plead guilty to all charges in the Parkland shooting — along with the guilty plea in a battery on a jail guard charge — is a calculated move by his attorneys for him to avoid the death penalty.

Video below: Cruz pleads guilty in court

By pleading guilty to killing 17 people and attempting to kill 17 more in 2018, legal experts said Cruz is hoping to convince the jury that he is taking some responsibility for his actions.

"He’s trying to save his life, and the only way to do that is to take responsibility and not put all these poor people through a trial," criminal defense attorney Marc Shiner said.

Death penalty trials in Florida and much of the country often take two years to start because of their complexity, but Cruz's was further delayed by the COVID-19 pandemic and extensive legal wrangling.

If Cruz is sentenced to death, that will still not be the end of the process. Death sentences in Florida are given automatic priority review by the Florida Supreme Court.

Trial preparations

Trial preparations were extensive for what was expected to be the biggest murder trial in Broward County history for one of the most infamous crimes in Florida history.

Cruz was arrested about an hour after the attack with an AR-15 semiautomatic rifle on Valentine's Day 2018.

Video below: Body camera of arrest of Nikolas Cruz released

His lawyers repeatedly offered to plead guilty in return for a guaranteed sentence of life in prison, but prosecutors refused to drop their pursuit of the death penalty.

Video below: Cruz interrogation video released

Much of the penalty phase is expected to focus on Cruz’s mental condition at the time of the slayings, with prosecutors emphasizing their horrific nature and Cruz’s intensive planning beforehand.

Victims of the Parkland school shooting

Seventeen students and staff were killed at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School on Feb. 14, 2018. Seventeen others were injured.

Can't see the graphic? Click here.

Settlement with Broward School District

The Broward County School District will pay more than $26 million to the families of the victims.

Board members approved the two legal settlements on in December 2021.

A total of $25 million will be shared by 51 plaintiffs, including families of the 17 dead as well as students and staff who were injured. Another $1.25 million will be paid in one lump sum to Anthony Borges, who suffered some of the most severe injuries.

Video below: Nikolas Cruz outlines shooting plan in video recording

Four years after shooting

For many families, they said there will never be closure for the loss of their loved ones.

Students and families turned into activists.

'I still can't believe this is my reality': Parkland parent creates way to track school violence after son is killed in school shooting

Jim Gard, a math teacher that day, said they were all victims.

"These kids that were in the class, just because they weren't hit doesn't mean they weren’t hit," he said.

And since that day, so many of those victims have refused to just sit back and do nothing. In the days following the shooting, a movement called March For Our Lives was born.

David Hogg was one of the founders.

"When we started doing the march, we thought there would be about 90 people that we could get up to D.C.," Hogg said. "We got near a million."

Video below: Father of Parkland victim hangs banner in view of White House four years after shooting

Four years later, March For Our Lives is still going strong with chapters across the country.

They’ve helped pass state laws designed to keep guns away from violent offenders. They’ve worked to get more federal funding to control gun violence.

'I have to accomplish her dream': Hunter Pollack changes career path after sister is murdered in Parkland massacre

It's become a full-time job nobody wants.

"We want our job to be done so we can go back to being college students or high school students and young people and young professionals," Hogg said.

When they watched the Parkland shooter plead guilty to the murders he committed, both Hogg and Gard are pleased to see this chapter end.

Video below: School safety changes made following Parkland school shooting

They just ask you not to call it closure.

"It's the parents of the kids, the parents who lost their children, I don’t know if there can ever be closure on that," Gard said. "I know for a lot of the people that I talked to, families that I talked to, there is not closure that can come. There’s nothing that will ever bring their kids back, their siblings back, their best friends back."

If you or someone you know needs help with mental health, call 211 or the National Suicide Hotline at 988.

The Associated Press contributed to this report.

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Remembering the 5 people killed in Philadelphia shooting

cincylink — Thu, 06 Jul 2023 22:58:19 +0000

A father who was preparing to walk his eldest daughter down the aisle. An aspiring actor who appeared as an extra in the "Creed" movie franchise. A teenager who tried to help a wounded friend. These are the stories of those killed in the all-too-familiar thrum of another mass shooting.Five people in a working-class neighborhood of Philadelphia were gunned down Monday in what became the deadliest among a rash of U.S. shootings that occurred around the July Fourth holiday. A gunman in a ski mask and body armor appeared to fire on people at random while they were on the street or in a car, authorities said.Ralph Moralis, 59; Joseph Wamah Jr., 31; Dymir Stanton, 29; Lashyd Merritt, 21; and DaJuan Brown, 15, were killed in the shooting. Four others, including two 2-year-old boys, were also wounded.The alleged shooter was arraigned Wednesday on multiple charges including five counts of murder.The victims' families remain shattered as they now cope with the feeling of senseless loss.Ralph Moralis: The "go-to-guy"Ralph Moralis' daughter was to be married Sunday. But instead of focusing on the joy of her wedding day, she is now planning her father's funeral, said Karen Gleason, his sister-in-law.All the joy they had been feeling leading up to the momentous occasion was torn away when Moralis was shot outside the childhood home where he lived. The entire family, including Moralis' two brothers, have not stopped crying since hearing the news."It's unfathomable," she said. "It's so unbelievable that you can't even go out your front door."The 59-year-old had been prepping for weeks on what he would wear, making sure he wouldn't mess up during his first child's wedding rehearsal. Moralis was always the one willing to go out of his way to help."He was the go-to-guy whether you needed a bike put together for one of the kids or his cousin was saying: 'I need to get to Florida. Can you drive me?'" she said. "He would do that. He was just there always for family and always willing to help."Joseph Wamah Jr.: Aspiring actor with deep artistic talent Joseph Wamah Jr. knew acting was his calling. The 31-year-old studied psychology at Chestnut Hill College but he became active in the local Philadelphia acting community, said close friend Terrance Harden. He even got a role as an extra in one of the "Creed" movies, starring Michael B. Jordan.Harden, who has known Wamah since high school, said the two bonded over their love of filmmaking. Before Wamah was found dead inside a home early Tuesday, Harden had imagined the two would grow old as friends and achieve the level of success that they both wanted for each other."With such a great attitude, such a positive outlook on life, it almost seems like good fortune ought to come your way," he said. "That's why it was so hard to believe that this could have happened to him."Wamah's twin sister Josephine and another sister, Jasmine, were full of anger Wednesday as they spoke at a news conference of a brother who had a smile and hug for everyone."I just still can't believe that my brother is gone. And I just don't understand why this happened. He was a kind soul. He was nice to everyone," Josephine Wamah said.Wamah also loved to cook — despite having little culinary talent. But his real gift was as an artist, his sisters said."He had the worst cooking. We still ate it because he just... he tried. He couldn't cook, but he could sketch his butt off," Josephine Wamah said. "It was so detail-oriented and so passionate. It was so rooted and down to earth. It was just spiritual. You could feel this man's emotions in every brushstroke."Josephine Wamah said she plans to find all of her brother's artwork and share his talent with the world."I just don't understand how someone could just do that to my brother. I really loved him," she said.Lashyd Merritt: A good kid Lashyd Merritt's mother told WPVI-TV in Philadelphia that her son was a good kid who loved his family, especially his nieces and nephews. He loved buying them gifts at Christmas.Marie Merritt said Lashyd Merritt, who would have been 22 in September, was out buying a snack while on a work break Monday. "I don't understand why people just — whatever anger they have within themselves— I don't understand why someone in the neighborhood would have that type of stuff, like guns -- I don't understand that," Marie Merritt said. "And you're just taking good people away,"She wants the suspected shooter to "rot in jail." She also is thinking about how her son would feel."(My heart) is broken. I feel him saying, 'Why me?'"Dajuan Brown: Killed while helping a friend DaJuan Brown's mother, Nashaya Thomas, told WCAU-TV her teenage son was walking to a store when the gunfire started. Brown was helping a 13-year-old friend who had been shot twice in the legs when he was gunned down.He was someone people couldn't help but fall in love with."He lost his life trying to do a selfless act," she said, "and that's how he was when he was here."

PHILADELPHIA —

A father who was preparing to walk his eldest daughter down the aisle. An aspiring actor who appeared as an extra in the "Creed" movie franchise. A teenager who tried to help a wounded friend. These are the stories of those killed in the all-too-familiar thrum of another mass shooting.

Five people in a working-class neighborhood of Philadelphia were gunned down Monday in what became the deadliest among a rash of U.S. shootings that occurred around the July Fourth holiday. A gunman in a ski mask and body armor appeared to fire on people at random while they were on the street or in a car, authorities said.

Ralph Moralis, 59; Joseph Wamah Jr., 31; Dymir Stanton, 29; Lashyd Merritt, 21; and DaJuan Brown, 15, were killed in the shooting.

Four others, including two 2-year-old boys, were also wounded.

The alleged shooter was arraigned Wednesday on multiple charges including five counts of murder.

The victims' families remain shattered as they now cope with the feeling of senseless loss.

Ralph Moralis: The "go-to-guy"

Ralph Moralis' daughter was to be married Sunday. But instead of focusing on the joy of her wedding day, she is now planning her father's funeral, said Karen Gleason, his sister-in-law.

All the joy they had been feeling leading up to the momentous occasion was torn away when Moralis was shot outside the childhood home where he lived. The entire family, including Moralis' two brothers, have not stopped crying since hearing the news.

"It's unfathomable," she said. "It's so unbelievable that you can't even go out your front door."

The 59-year-old had been prepping for weeks on what he would wear, making sure he wouldn't mess up during his first child's wedding rehearsal. Moralis was always the one willing to go out of his way to help.

"He was the go-to-guy whether you needed a bike put together for one of the kids or his cousin was saying: 'I need to get to Florida. Can you drive me?'" she said. "He would do that. He was just there always for family and always willing to help."

Joseph Wamah Jr.: Aspiring actor with deep artistic talent

Joseph Wamah Jr. knew acting was his calling. The 31-year-old studied psychology at Chestnut Hill College but he became active in the local Philadelphia acting community, said close friend Terrance Harden. He even got a role as an extra in one of the "Creed" movies, starring Michael B. Jordan.

Harden, who has known Wamah since high school, said the two bonded over their love of filmmaking. Before Wamah was found dead inside a home early Tuesday, Harden had imagined the two would grow old as friends and achieve the level of success that they both wanted for each other.

Terrance Harden
This July 29, 2012, photo provided by Terrance Harden shows Joseph Wamah Jr., a victim of a shooting on Monday night, July 3, 2023, that made the working-class area of Kingsessing in Philadelphia the site of the nation’s worst violence around the July Fourth holiday. Investigators believe Wamah Jr., who was found in a home early Tuesday, July 4, was the first victim killed, but he wasn’t found by family members until hours later. (Terrance Harden via AP)

"With such a great attitude, such a positive outlook on life, it almost seems like good fortune ought to come your way," he said. "That's why it was so hard to believe that this could have happened to him."

Wamah's twin sister Josephine and another sister, Jasmine, were full of anger Wednesday as they spoke at a news conference of a brother who had a smile and hug for everyone.

"I just still can't believe that my brother is gone. And I just don't understand why this happened. He was a kind soul. He was nice to everyone," Josephine Wamah said.

Wamah also loved to cook — despite having little culinary talent. But his real gift was as an artist, his sisters said.

"He had the worst cooking. We still ate it because he just... he tried. He couldn't cook, but he could sketch his butt off," Josephine Wamah said. "It was so detail-oriented and so passionate. It was so rooted and down to earth. It was just spiritual. You could feel this man's emotions in every brushstroke."

Josephine Wamah said she plans to find all of her brother's artwork and share his talent with the world.

"I just don't understand how someone could just do that to my brother. I really loved him," she said.

Lashyd Merritt: A good kid

Lashyd Merritt's mother told WPVI-TV in Philadelphia that her son was a good kid who loved his family, especially his nieces and nephews. He loved buying them gifts at Christmas.

Marie Merritt said Lashyd Merritt, who would have been 22 in September, was out buying a snack while on a work break Monday.

"I don't understand why people just — whatever anger they have within themselves— I don't understand why someone in the neighborhood would have that type of stuff, like guns -- I don't understand that," Marie Merritt said. "And you're just taking good people away,"

She wants the suspected shooter to "rot in jail." She also is thinking about how her son would feel.

"(My heart) is broken. I feel him saying, 'Why me?'"

Dajuan Brown: Killed while helping a friend

DaJuan Brown's mother, Nashaya Thomas, told WCAU-TV her teenage son was walking to a store when the gunfire started. Brown was helping a 13-year-old friend who had been shot twice in the legs when he was gunned down.

He was someone people couldn't help but fall in love with.

"He lost his life trying to do a selfless act," she said, "and that's how he was when he was here."

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Buffalo tragedy highlights need for Black mental health care workers

cincylink — Tue, 04 Jul 2023 04:00:32 +0000

As Dr. Kenyani Davis makes her rounds at the Community Health Center in Buffalo, New York, she is still trying to process it all, after a mass shooter murdered 10 members of the neighborhood she serves.

"It's a community that got affected, especially when you're talking about a hate crime," Dr. Davis said. "It was every emotion at once."

In the days that followed, her team got to work — something they have always done.

"If they needed us in a medical component, we were there," Dr. Davis said. "If they needed us as community leaders, we were there. If they needed us as friends, if they needed us just to create an open space, we were there."

Across the city, other organizations recognized the need for mental health services, too.

"We were in the crowd with the community in front of Tops praying, crying, just being there, an ear for them to to express themselves," said Melissa Archer, New York Project Hope program coordinator.

When it came to treatment, Archer, a psychiatric nurse practitioner, noticed people on the city's east side, made up of mostly Black residents, were hesitant to seek help.

"People want to see people that look like them so that they don't have to explain certain things they feel," Archer said.

SEE MORE: What Buffalo, NY Is Like Two Months After Tops Mass Shooting

According to the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration, only one in three Black adults with mental illness receives treatment.

The National Alliance on Mental Illness say that's mostly due to socioeconomic challenges, stigma surrounding mental illness and mistrust of the medical industry. Black people are often victims of health care bias when those providing the treatment lack cultural awareness.

"I think one of these things that this event has shed light on and empower people to do is to speak the truth," Dr. Davis said. "When we were there, we had people saying, 'We are angry at White people."

For community leaders in Buffalo, that meant offering more counselors with shared experiences and cultures.

Part of the healing process means meeting people where they are, and for some mental health professionals, that meant setting up shop two minutes from where the incident took place.

The Buffalo Urban League team says the numbers have increased since moving into the neighborhood and making more Black counselors readily available, all thanks to temporary funding from FEMA through New York Project Hope.

According to the U.S. Census Bureau, the number of racial/ethnic minorities within the psychologist workforce more than doubled between 2000 and 2019, increasing 166%. However, researchers predict that increase will still be inadequate to meet the demands of minority patients.

In the meantime, doctors there say they'll continue to stand in the gap for as long as possible.

Newsy is the nation’s only free 24/7 national news network. You can find Newsy using your TV’s digital antenna or stream for free. See all the ways you can watch Newsy here.

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2 dead among as many as 30 shot in south Baltimore mass shooting

cincylink — Mon, 03 Jul 2023 04:00:25 +0000

As many as 30 people were shot in a mass shooting overnight in Baltimore, Maryland, police said.Baltimore Police Department Acting Commissioner Rich Worley said officers received multiple calls just after 12:30 a.m. for a mass shooting in the Brooklyn neighborhood, where there was a block party underway.Worley said officers found an 18-year-old woman dead at the scene. Nine others were taken to hospitals, and as many as 20 others arrived at hospitals across the region on their own.A 20-year-old man also died, and three others were in critical condition.Worley said a suspect is not in custody, but that investigators were reviewing video and talking to witnesses to try to identify a suspect. Baltimore Mayor Brandon Scott implored the public to provide information."This is an absolute tragedy that did not have to happen," Scott said. "Anyone that knows anything about what happened here, anything about this mass shooting, to come forward with any piece of information. Treat this as if it was your family and how you would want people to treat it as as if you were mourning, as if this were an event happening in your community."Residents told our sister station WBAL TV there was a large gathering in the neighborhood before they heard what sounded like fireworks, which they later learned were gunshots.No further information was immediately released.This report will be updated.Raw video below: Police news conference in its entirety

BALTIMORE —

As many as 30 people were shot in a mass shooting overnight in Baltimore, Maryland, police said.

Baltimore Police Department Acting Commissioner Rich Worley said officers received multiple calls just after 12:30 a.m. for a mass shooting in the Brooklyn neighborhood, where there was a block party underway.

Worley said officers found an 18-year-old woman dead at the scene. Nine others were taken to hospitals, and as many as 20 others arrived at hospitals across the region on their own.

A 20-year-old man also died, and three others were in critical condition.

Worley said a suspect is not in custody, but that investigators were reviewing video and talking to witnesses to try to identify a suspect. Baltimore Mayor Brandon Scott implored the public to provide information.

"This is an absolute tragedy that did not have to happen," Scott said. "Anyone that knows anything about what happened here, anything about this mass shooting, to come forward with any piece of information. Treat this as if it was your family and how you would want people to treat it as as if you were mourning, as if this were an event happening in your community."

Residents told our sister station WBAL TV there was a large gathering in the neighborhood before they heard what sounded like fireworks, which they later learned were gunshots.

No further information was immediately released.

This report will be updated.

Raw video below: Police news conference in its entirety

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You may be able to find the same content in another format, or you may be able to find more information, at their web site.

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Over-the-Rhine mass shooting suspects appear in court after injuring 8 last August

cincylink — Tue, 27 Jun 2023 21:10:02 +0000

The two men involved in the mass shooting in Cincinnati's Over-the-Rhine district last August appeared in court on Monday for their pretrial hearing.Cincinnati Police Department says 21 shots were fired in the shooting that injured eight on Aug. 7, 2022.The first barrage of bullets included a shot fired by Cincinnati police officer Joe Shook, who hit a suspect named Diablo McCoats, 29, in the leg. At the press conference last year, officials said 29-year-old McCoats has been indicted on 16 counts of felonious assault and one count of having weapons while under disability.If convicted on all charges, McCoats faces a maximum sentence of 91 years, per court docs.Jarvis Barnes, 34, has been indicted on seven counts of felonious assault and one count of having weapons while under disability.If convicted on all charges, Deters said Barnes faces up to 80 years in prison. Tuesday's hearing established that Sept. 12 will be the final pre-trial before the trial begins on Sept. 18.

CINCINNATI —

The two men involved in the mass shooting in Cincinnati's Over-the-Rhine district last August appeared in court on Monday for their pretrial hearing.

Cincinnati Police Department says 21 shots were fired in the shooting that injured eight on Aug. 7, 2022.

The first barrage of bullets included a shot fired by Cincinnati police officer Joe Shook, who hit a suspect named Diablo McCoats, 29, in the leg.

At the press conference last year, officials said 29-year-old McCoats has been indicted on 16 counts of felonious assault and one count of having weapons while under disability.

If convicted on all charges, McCoats faces a maximum sentence of 91 years, per court docs.

Jarvis Barnes, 34, has been indicted on seven counts of felonious assault and one count of having weapons while under disability.

If convicted on all charges, Deters said Barnes faces up to 80 years in prison.

Tuesday's hearing established that Sept. 12 will be the final pre-trial before the trial begins on Sept. 18.

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Suspect pleads guilty in Colorado Springs mass shooting at LGBTQ+ nightclub

cincylink — Tue, 27 Jun 2023 04:05:17 +0000

The suspect in a mass shooting that killed five people at a Colorado Springs LGBTQ+ nightclub last year has pleaded guilty in the attack. Monday’s plea by Anderson Lee Aldrich comes just seven months after the shooting and spares victim’s families and survivors a long and potentially painful trial.Aldrich pleaded guilty to five counts of murder and 46 counts of attempted murder. Aldrich also pleaded no contest to two counts of bias-motivated crimes, one a felony and the other a misdemeanor.The defendant faces life in prison on the murder charges under the plea agreement.“I intentionally and after deliberation caused the death of each victim,” Aldrich told Judge Michael McHenry.People in courtroom wiped away tears as the judge explained the charges and read out the names of the victims.The plea entered during a court hearing follows a series of jailhouse phone calls from Aldrich to The Associated Press expressing remorse and the intention to face the consequences for the shooting.Several survivors told the AP about the plea agreement after being approached about Aldrich’s comments to AP. They said prosecutors had notified them that Aldrich, who is nonbinary and uses they and them pronouns, would plead guilty to charges that would ensure a sentence of life behind bars.Aldrich originally was charged with more than 300 state counts, including murder and hate crimes. The U.S. Justice Department is considering pursuing federal hate crime charges, according to a senior law enforcement official familiar with the matter who spoke to AP on condition of anonymity to discuss the ongoing case.The attack at Club Q came over a year after Aldrich had been arrested for threatening their grandparents and vowing to become “the next mass killer.” But, charges were ultimately dropped in that case.Victims’ family members and survivors are expected to speak at Monday's hearing about how their lives were forever altered by the terror that erupted just before midnight on Nov. 19 when the suspect walked into Club Q and indiscriminately fired an AR-15-style semiautomatic rifle.Aldrich had been arrested over a year before the attack for threatening their grandparents and vowing to become “the next mass killer.” But, charges in that case were ultimately dropped.The line to get through security early Monday snaked through the large plaza outside the courthouse as victims and others queued up to attend the hearing. One man wore a t-shirt saying “Loved Always & Never Forgotten” in honor of victim Daniel Davis Aston, a 28-year-old bartender and entertainer at Club Q who was killed in the shooting.Aldrich hinted at plans to carry out violent attacks at least a year before the Club Q assault. In June 2021, Aldrich's grandparents told authorities that they were warned not to stand in the way of a plan to stockpile guns, ammo, body armor and a homemade bomb to become “the next mass killer.” Aldrich was then arrested after a standoff with SWAT officers that was livestreamed on Facebook and the evacuation of 10 nearby homes, telling officers “If they breach, I’m a f----ing blow it to holy hell!” Aldrich eventually surrendered.However, the charges against Aldrich were thrown out in July 2022 after Aldrich’s mother and grandparents, the victims in the case, refused to cooperate with prosecutors, evading efforts to serve them with subpoenas to testify, according to court documents unsealed after the shooting. Other relatives told a judge they feared Aldrich would hurt their grandparents if released, painting a picture of an isolated, violent person who did not have a job and was given $30,000 that was spent largely on the purchase of 3D printers to make guns, the records showed.Aldrich was released from jail then and authorities kept two guns — a ghost gun pistol and an MM15 rifle — seized in the arrest. But there was nothing to stop Aldrich from legally purchasing more firearms, raising questions immediately after the shooting about whether authorities should have sought a red flag order to prevent such purchases.The El Paso County Sheriff’s Office said it would not have been able to seek a court order stopping Aldrich from buying or possessing guns because the 2021 arrest record was sealed after the charges were dropped. There was no new evidence that they could use to prove that Aldrich posed a threat “in the near future,” the sheriff’s office said.Video below: Vigil pays respect to Club Q shooting victimsInvestigators later revealed that the two guns Aldrich had during the Club Q attack — the rifle and a handgun — appeared to be ghost guns, or firearms without serial numbers that are homemade and do not require an owner to pass a background check.Aldrich told AP in one of the interviews from jail they were on a “very large plethora of drugs” and abusing steroids at the time of the attack. But they did not answer directly regarding the hate crimes charges. When asked whether the attack was motivated by hate, Aldrich said only that was “completely off base.” Aldrich's attorneys, who have not disputed Aldrich's role in the shooting, have also pushed back on hate being the reason.Some survivors who listened to the recorded phone calls saw Aldrich's comments as an attempt to avoid the death penalty which still exists in the federal system. Colorado abolished it in 2020 and life without prison is now the mandated sentence for first-degree murder in the state. They objected to Aldrich's unwillingness to discuss a motive and their use of passive, general language like “I just can’t believe what happened” and “I wish I could turn back time.”

The suspect in a mass shooting that killed five people at a Colorado Springs LGBTQ+ nightclub last year has pleaded guilty in the attack. Monday’s plea by Anderson Lee Aldrich comes just seven months after the shooting and spares victim’s families and survivors a long and potentially painful trial.

Aldrich pleaded guilty to five counts of murder and 46 counts of attempted murder. Aldrich also pleaded no contest to two counts of bias-motivated crimes, one a felony and the other a misdemeanor.

The defendant faces life in prison on the murder charges under the plea agreement.

“I intentionally and after deliberation caused the death of each victim,” Aldrich told Judge Michael McHenry.

People in courtroom wiped away tears as the judge explained the charges and read out the names of the victims.

The plea entered during a court hearing follows a series of jailhouse phone calls from Aldrich to The Associated Press expressing remorse and the intention to face the consequences for the shooting.

Several survivors told the AP about the plea agreement after being approached about Aldrich’s comments to AP. They said prosecutors had notified them that Aldrich, who is nonbinary and uses they and them pronouns, would plead guilty to charges that would ensure a sentence of life behind bars.

Aldrich originally was charged with more than 300 state counts, including murder and hate crimes. The U.S. Justice Department is considering pursuing federal hate crime charges, according to a senior law enforcement official familiar with the matter who spoke to AP on condition of anonymity to discuss the ongoing case.

The attack at Club Q came over a year after Aldrich had been arrested for threatening their grandparents and vowing to become “the next mass killer.” But, charges were ultimately dropped in that case.

Victims’ family members and survivors are expected to speak at Monday's hearing about how their lives were forever altered by the terror that erupted just before midnight on Nov. 19 when the suspect walked into Club Q and indiscriminately fired an AR-15-style semiautomatic rifle.

Aldrich had been arrested over a year before the attack for threatening their grandparents and vowing to become “the next mass killer.” But, charges in that case were ultimately dropped.

The line to get through security early Monday snaked through the large plaza outside the courthouse as victims and others queued up to attend the hearing. One man wore a t-shirt saying “Loved Always & Never Forgotten” in honor of victim Daniel Davis Aston, a 28-year-old bartender and entertainer at Club Q who was killed in the shooting.

Aldrich hinted at plans to carry out violent attacks at least a year before the Club Q assault. In June 2021, Aldrich's grandparents told authorities that they were warned not to stand in the way of a plan to stockpile guns, ammo, body armor and a homemade bomb to become “the next mass killer.” Aldrich was then arrested after a standoff with SWAT officers that was livestreamed on Facebook and the evacuation of 10 nearby homes, telling officers “If they breach, I’m a f----ing blow it to holy hell!” Aldrich eventually surrendered.

However, the charges against Aldrich were thrown out in July 2022 after Aldrich’s mother and grandparents, the victims in the case, refused to cooperate with prosecutors, evading efforts to serve them with subpoenas to testify, according to court documents unsealed after the shooting. Other relatives told a judge they feared Aldrich would hurt their grandparents if released, painting a picture of an isolated, violent person who did not have a job and was given $30,000 that was spent largely on the purchase of 3D printers to make guns, the records showed.

Aldrich was released from jail then and authorities kept two guns — a ghost gun pistol and an MM15 rifle — seized in the arrest. But there was nothing to stop Aldrich from legally purchasing more firearms, raising questions immediately after the shooting about whether authorities should have sought a red flag order to prevent such purchases.

The El Paso County Sheriff’s Office said it would not have been able to seek a court order stopping Aldrich from buying or possessing guns because the 2021 arrest record was sealed after the charges were dropped. There was no new evidence that they could use to prove that Aldrich posed a threat “in the near future,” the sheriff’s office said.

Video below: Vigil pays respect to Club Q shooting victims

Investigators later revealed that the two guns Aldrich had during the Club Q attack — the rifle and a handgun — appeared to be ghost guns, or firearms without serial numbers that are homemade and do not require an owner to pass a background check.

Aldrich told AP in one of the interviews from jail they were on a “very large plethora of drugs” and abusing steroids at the time of the attack. But they did not answer directly regarding the hate crimes charges. When asked whether the attack was motivated by hate, Aldrich said only that was “completely off base.” Aldrich's attorneys, who have not disputed Aldrich's role in the shooting, have also pushed back on hate being the reason.

Some survivors who listened to the recorded phone calls saw Aldrich's comments as an attempt to avoid the death penalty which still exists in the federal system. Colorado abolished it in 2020 and life without prison is now the mandated sentence for first-degree murder in the state. They objected to Aldrich's unwillingness to discuss a motive and their use of passive, general language like “I just can’t believe what happened” and “I wish I could turn back time.”

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What we know about the Colorado Springs LGBTQ nightclub shooting

cincylink — Thu, 22 Jun 2023 04:11:19 +0000

A 22-year-old gunman killed at least five people and injured 25 others in an LGBTQ nightclub in Colorado Springs, Colorado, just before midnight Saturday, police said Sunday.The suspect in the shooting at Club Q was identified as Anderson Lee Aldrich, according to Colorado Springs Police Chief Adrian Vasquez.Upon entering the club, he immediately opened fire before at least two people inside the club confronted and fought him, preventing further violence, Vasquez said."We owe them a great debt of thanks," he said.Aldrich is being treated at a hospital, police said. Officers did not shoot at him, police said.Colorado has seen some of the worst mass shootings in U.S. history, including the 1999 massacre at Columbine High School. Last year in Colorado Springs, a mass shooting at a birthday party left six dead.Here's what we know about the fatal attack in Colorado Springs:The shooting lasted just minutesThe violence lasted just minutes. Police received numerous 911 calls starting at 11:56 p.m., officers were dispatched at 11:57 p.m., an officer arrived at midnight and the suspect was detained at 12:02 a.m., police said. A total of 39 patrol officers responded, police said, and Fire Department Captain Mike Smaldino said 11 ambulances went to the scene.Aldrich used a long rifle in the shooting and two firearms were found at the scene, Vasquez, the police chief, said.Joshua Thurman told CNN affiliate KOAA he was inside the club dancing when he heard gunshots and saw a muzzle flash."I thought it was the music, so I kept dancing," he said. When he heard another round of shots, Thurman said he ran to a dressing room to hide.He said he heard the sounds of more gunshots, people crying and windows being shattered. When he came out, he saw bodies lying on the ground, broken glass and blood, Thurman said.Authorities initially said 18 people were injured but later adjusted that total up to 25.Nineteen of the 25 injured had gunshot wounds, Colorado Springs Mayor John Suthers told CNN on Sunday. Based on communication with medical personnel, Suthers said he expects the injured victims to survive and the community is "crossing our fingers" for no more fatalities.Police are investigating whether the attack was a hate crimePolice said they were investigating whether the attack was a hate crime, noting Club Q's relationship with the LGBTQ community. The shooting came as the calendar turned to Transgender Day of Remembrance on Sunday."Club Q is a safe haven for our LGBTQ citizens," Vasquez said. "Every citizen has a right to feel safe and secure in our city, to go about our beautiful city without fear of being harmed or treated poorly."In a statement on social media, Club Q said it was "devastated by the senseless attack on our community" and thanked "the quick reactions of heroic customers that subdued the gunman and ended this hate attack."A man with the same name as the suspect was arrested last yearTwo law enforcement sources confirmed that the suspected nightclub shooter's date of birth and name matched a person who was arrested over a bomb threat the previous year, and Colorado Gov. Jared Polis also told CNN he believed they were one and the same: "Everything I heard indicates it is the same person," Polis said.Anderson Lee Aldrich was arrested in June 2021 after a standoff at a Colorado Springs home where his mother lived, according to a news release from the El Paso County Sheriff's Office at the time, and his mother's former landlord.Video obtained by CNN shows Aldrich surrendering to law enforcement last year after allegedly making a bomb threat. Footage from the Ring door camera of the owner of the home shows Aldrich exiting the house with his hands up and barefoot, and walking to sheriff's deputies.Sheriff's deputies said in the June release that they responded to a report by Aldrich's mother that he was "threatening to cause harm to her with a homemade bomb, multiple weapons, and ammunition."Deputies called the suspect, and he "refused to comply with orders to surrender," the press release said, leading them to evacuate nearby homes.Several hours after the initial police call, the sheriff's crisis negotiations unit was able to get Aldrich to leave the house he was in, and he was arrested after walking out the front door. Authorities did not find any explosives in the home.It's not immediately clear how the case was resolved. But the Colorado Springs Gazette reported that the district attorney's office said no formal charges were pursued in the case. The district attorney's office did not respond to a request for comment from CNN.Aldrich also called the Gazette in an attempt to get an earlier story about the 2021 incident removed from the website, the newspaper reported. "There is absolutely nothing there, the case was dropped, and I'm asking you either remove or update the story," Aldrich said in a voice message, according to the Gazette.Attempts by CNN to reach Aldrich's mother for comment were unsuccessful.The club was a 'second home' for the LGBTQ communityClub Q opened in 2002 and was, until recently, the only LGBTQ club in Colorado Springs.The city is the state's second-most populous with just under 500,000 residents.In a July 2020 interview with Colorado Springs Indy, Club Q owner Nic Grzecka said he and his business partner opened the club to get a "permanent" safe place in the city.The venue also hosts events for people of all ages, including brunch and planned an upcoming Thanksgiving event.Lifelong Colorado Springs resident Tiana Nicole Dykes called Club Q "a second home full of chosen family.""I'm there every other week if not every single week. This space means the world to me. The energy, the people, the message. It's an amazing place that didn't deserve this tragedy," Dykes told CNN on Sunday. "Something like a mass shooting at an LGBT+ safe space is damaging beyond belief. There's feelings of disrespect, disbelief, and just pure shock. Nobody ever thinks it's gonna happen to them, and sometimes it does."What political leaders are sayingColorado Gov. Jared Polis, a Democrat and the nation's first openly gay governor, issued a statement Sunday calling the attack "horrific, sickening and devastating" and offered state resources to local law enforcement."We are eternally grateful for the brave individuals who blocked the gunman likely saving lives in the process and for the first responders who responded swiftly to this horrific shooting," he said. "Colorado stands with our LGTBQ community and everyone impacted by this tragedy as we mourn together."Polis told CNN's Jim Acosta there are only two gay bars in Colorado Springs, and Club Q was one of the main venues."Everyone knew it. I knew it, knew this venue. It's just shocking. That's still setting in for people. But I know we're going to bounce back. We're showing love for one another. We're showing healing for one another," the governor said.Colorado's two U.S. senators, both Democrats, offered condolences in statements and said more should be done for the LGBTQ community."We have to protect LGBTQ lives from this hate," Sen. John Hickenlooper said."As we seek justice for this unimaginable act, we must do more to protect the LGBTQ community and stand firm against discrimination and hate in every form," Sen. Michael Bennett said.President Joe Biden also issued a statement saying he was praying for the victims and their families."While no motive in this attack is yet clear, we know that the LGBTQI+ community has been subjected to horrific hate violence in recent years. Gun violence continues to have a devastating and particular impact on LGBTQI+ communities across our nation and threats of violence are increasing," Biden said in the written statement.

COLORADO SPRINGS, Colo. —

A 22-year-old gunman killed at least five people and injured 25 others in an LGBTQ nightclub in Colorado Springs, Colorado, just before midnight Saturday, police said Sunday.

The suspect in the shooting at Club Q was identified as Anderson Lee Aldrich, according to Colorado Springs Police Chief Adrian Vasquez.

Upon entering the club, he immediately opened fire before at least two people inside the club confronted and fought him, preventing further violence, Vasquez said.

"We owe them a great debt of thanks," he said.

Aldrich is being treated at a hospital, police said. Officers did not shoot at him, police said.

Colorado has seen some of the worst mass shootings in U.S. history, including the 1999 massacre at Columbine High School. Last year in Colorado Springs, a mass shooting at a birthday party left six dead.

Here's what we know about the fatal attack in Colorado Springs:

The shooting lasted just minutes

The violence lasted just minutes. Police received numerous 911 calls starting at 11:56 p.m., officers were dispatched at 11:57 p.m., an officer arrived at midnight and the suspect was detained at 12:02 a.m., police said. A total of 39 patrol officers responded, police said, and Fire Department Captain Mike Smaldino said 11 ambulances went to the scene.

Aldrich used a long rifle in the shooting and two firearms were found at the scene, Vasquez, the police chief, said.

Joshua Thurman told CNN affiliate KOAA he was inside the club dancing when he heard gunshots and saw a muzzle flash.

"I thought it was the music, so I kept dancing," he said. When he heard another round of shots, Thurman said he ran to a dressing room to hide.

He said he heard the sounds of more gunshots, people crying and windows being shattered. When he came out, he saw bodies lying on the ground, broken glass and blood, Thurman said.

Authorities initially said 18 people were injured but later adjusted that total up to 25.

Nineteen of the 25 injured had gunshot wounds, Colorado Springs Mayor John Suthers told CNN on Sunday. Based on communication with medical personnel, Suthers said he expects the injured victims to survive and the community is "crossing our fingers" for no more fatalities.

Police are investigating whether the attack was a hate crime

Police said they were investigating whether the attack was a hate crime, noting Club Q's relationship with the LGBTQ community. The shooting came as the calendar turned to Transgender Day of Remembrance on Sunday.

"Club Q is a safe haven for our LGBTQ citizens," Vasquez said. "Every citizen has a right to feel safe and secure in our city, to go about our beautiful city without fear of being harmed or treated poorly."

In a statement on social media, Club Q said it was "devastated by the senseless attack on our community" and thanked "the quick reactions of heroic customers that subdued the gunman and ended this hate attack."

A man with the same name as the suspect was arrested last year

Two law enforcement sources confirmed that the suspected nightclub shooter's date of birth and name matched a person who was arrested over a bomb threat the previous year, and Colorado Gov. Jared Polis also told CNN he believed they were one and the same: "Everything I heard indicates it is the same person," Polis said.

Anderson Lee Aldrich was arrested in June 2021 after a standoff at a Colorado Springs home where his mother lived, according to a news release from the El Paso County Sheriff's Office at the time, and his mother's former landlord.

Video obtained by CNN shows Aldrich surrendering to law enforcement last year after allegedly making a bomb threat. Footage from the Ring door camera of the owner of the home shows Aldrich exiting the house with his hands up and barefoot, and walking to sheriff's deputies.

Sheriff's deputies said in the June release that they responded to a report by Aldrich's mother that he was "threatening to cause harm to her with a homemade bomb, multiple weapons, and ammunition."

Deputies called the suspect, and he "refused to comply with orders to surrender," the press release said, leading them to evacuate nearby homes.

Several hours after the initial police call, the sheriff's crisis negotiations unit was able to get Aldrich to leave the house he was in, and he was arrested after walking out the front door. Authorities did not find any explosives in the home.

It's not immediately clear how the case was resolved. But the Colorado Springs Gazette reported that the district attorney's office said no formal charges were pursued in the case. The district attorney's office did not respond to a request for comment from CNN.

Aldrich also called the Gazette in an attempt to get an earlier story about the 2021 incident removed from the website, the newspaper reported. "There is absolutely nothing there, the case was dropped, and I'm asking you either remove or update the story," Aldrich said in a voice message, according to the Gazette.

Attempts by CNN to reach Aldrich's mother for comment were unsuccessful.

The club was a 'second home' for the LGBTQ community

Club Q opened in 2002 and was, until recently, the only LGBTQ club in Colorado Springs.

The city is the state's second-most populous with just under 500,000 residents.

In a July 2020 interview with Colorado Springs Indy, Club Q owner Nic Grzecka said he and his business partner opened the club to get a "permanent" safe place in the city.

The venue also hosts events for people of all ages, including brunch and planned an upcoming Thanksgiving event.

Lifelong Colorado Springs resident Tiana Nicole Dykes called Club Q "a second home full of chosen family."

"I'm there every other week if not every single week. This space means the world to me. The energy, the people, the message. It's an amazing place that didn't deserve this tragedy," Dykes told CNN on Sunday. "Something like a mass shooting at an LGBT+ safe space is damaging beyond belief. There's feelings of disrespect, disbelief, and just pure shock. Nobody ever thinks it's gonna happen to them, and sometimes it does."

What political leaders are saying

Colorado Gov. Jared Polis, a Democrat and the nation's first openly gay governor, issued a statement Sunday calling the attack "horrific, sickening and devastating" and offered state resources to local law enforcement.

"We are eternally grateful for the brave individuals who blocked the gunman likely saving lives in the process and for the first responders who responded swiftly to this horrific shooting," he said. "Colorado stands with our LGTBQ community and everyone impacted by this tragedy as we mourn together."

Polis told CNN's Jim Acosta there are only two gay bars in Colorado Springs, and Club Q was one of the main venues.

"Everyone knew it. I knew it, knew this venue. It's just shocking. That's still setting in for people. But I know we're going to bounce back. We're showing love for one another. We're showing healing for one another," the governor said.

Colorado's two U.S. senators, both Democrats, offered condolences in statements and said more should be done for the LGBTQ community.

"We have to protect LGBTQ lives from this hate," Sen. John Hickenlooper said.

"As we seek justice for this unimaginable act, we must do more to protect the LGBTQ community and stand firm against discrimination and hate in every form," Sen. Michael Bennett said.

President Joe Biden also issued a statement saying he was praying for the victims and their families.

"While no motive in this attack is yet clear, we know that the LGBTQI+ community has been subjected to horrific hate violence in recent years. Gun violence continues to have a devastating and particular impact on LGBTQI+ communities across our nation and threats of violence are increasing," Biden said in the written statement.

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Experts weigh in on what defines acts of mass violence in America

cincylink — Wed, 21 Jun 2023 08:05:20 +0000

WASHINGTON, D.C. — The places may change names, but the pain remains the same—mass violence inflicted on people going about their lives.

“That's all that we knew. That he had been shot,” said Deborah Hayslett, whose brother was being treated at a hospital after he was shot during a mass shooting at a Walmart in Chesapeake, Virginia on Tuesday night.

What happened in Virginia and at the LGBTQ nightclub in Colorado several days prior, both are called a “mass shooting” because they fit a specific definition. What exactly does that entail, though?

“That's a really interesting question because it's very much debated in the academic literature,” said Jaclyn Schildkraut, an associate professor of criminal justice at the State University of New York at Oswego and co-editor of the Journal of Mass Violence Research. “Regardless of the definition that you use, all of our different data sources are showing the same thing, and that is an upward trend.”

According to the Gun Violence Archive, there have now been 606 mass shootings in America so far in 2022. Those are defined as when four or more people are injured or killed, not including the shooter.

There have also been 36 mass murders, defined as when more than four people were killed, not including the perpetrator.

“But it doesn't really take into account any sort of the contextual factors,” Schildkraut said. “So, as a result, you have things like gang violence and then familicides, or family shootings, kind of lumped in with what happened in Walmart last night, even though they're very different types of events.”

Daniel Webster studies gun violence and mass shootings as co-director of the Center for Gun Violence Solutions at Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health.

“We tend to really compartmentalize the problem of gun violence,” he said, “and, the truth is, there's a lot of similarities across the different forms of gun violence.”

Webster said when it comes to mass shootings, in particular, there are commonalities when it comes to how they unfold.

“Some of the basics are remarkably consistent,” Webster said. “It's generally a male phenomenon. Again, it's easy access to firearms and acting on some sense of grievance.”

Experts say that makes the sheer number of mass shootings in the country, a distinctly American phenomenon.

“We have not seen historic rises in gun violence or mass shootings in other countries,” Webster said. “We are unique, in not a good way.”

Schildkraut, who is also the interim executive director of the Regional Gun Violence Research Consortium at the Rockefeller Institute, said there are things that can be done to minimize the number of mass shootings.

“There is a lot of planning, a lot of premeditation that goes into them, and so, these are not individuals who wake up and snap. These are individuals who invest a lot of time into preparing for what they're intending to do,” she said. “We have to work to be more proactive to prevent gun violence and less reactive. And so, I think kind of keeping those things in mind is really important, as we sort of struggle with, ‘How do we go to places like Walmart to pick up our Thanksgiving dinner and feel unsafe?’”

It is a question that the country is grappling with on this most American of holidays.

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Suspect in mass shooting at Colorado gay nightclub is expected to take a plea deal

cincylink — Fri, 16 Jun 2023 04:20:50 +0000

The suspect in a mass shooting at a Colorado Springs gay nightclub is expected to strike a plea deal to state murder and hate charges that would ensure at least a life sentence for the attack that killed five people and wounded 17, several survivors told The Associated Press.Word of a possible legal resolution of last year’s Club Q massacre follows a series of jailhouse phone calls from the suspect to the AP expressing remorse and the intention to face the consequences at the next scheduled court hearing this month.“I have to take responsibility for what happened,” 23-year-old Anderson Lee Aldrich said in their first public comments about the case.Federal and state authorities and defense attorneys declined to comment on a possible plea deal. But Colorado law requires victims to be notified of such deals, and several people who lost loved ones or were wounded in the attack told the AP that state prosecutors have given them advance word that Aldrich will plead guilty to charges that would ensure the maximum state sentence of life behind bars.Prosecutors also recently asked survivors to prepare for the June 26 hearing by writing victim-impact statements and steeling themselves emotionally for the possible release of the Club Q surveillance video of the attack.“Someone’s gone that can never be brought back through the justice system,” said Wyatt Kent, who was celebrating his 23rd birthday in Club Q when Aldrich opened fire, gunning down Kent’s partner, Daniel Aston, who was working behind the bar. “We are all still missing a lot, a partner, a son, a daughter, a best friend.”Jonathan Pullen, the suspect’s step-grandfather who plans to watch the upcoming hearing on a livestream, said Aldrich “has to realize what happened on that terrible night. It's truly beginning to dawn on him.”Aldrich faces more than 300 state counts, including murder and hate crimes. And the U.S. Justice Department is considering filing federal hate crime charges, according to a senior law enforcement official familiar with the matter who spoke to AP on condition of anonymity to discuss the ongoing case. It’s unclear whether the anticipated resolution to the state prosecution will also resolve the ongoing FBI investigation.Some survivors who listened to the suspect’s recorded comments to the AP lambasted them as a calculated attempt to avoid the federal death penalty, noting they stopped short of discussing a motive, put much of the blame on drugs and characterized the crime in passive, generalities such as “I just can’t believe what happened” and “I wish I could turn back time.” Such language, they said, belied by the maps, diagrams, online rants and other evidence that showed months of plotting and premeditation.“No one has sympathy for him,” said Michael Anderson, who was bartending at Club Q when the shooting broke out and ducked as several patrons were gunned down around him. “This community has to live with what happened, with collective trauma, with PTSD, trying to grieve the loss of our friends, to move past emotional wounds and move past what we heard, saw and smelled.”Terror erupted just before midnight on Nov. 19 when the suspect walked into Club Q, a longtime sanctuary for the LGBTQ community in this mostly conservative city of 480,000, and fired an AR-15-style semiautomatic rifle indiscriminately. Disbelief gave way to screaming and confusion as the music continued to play. Partygoers dove across a bloody dance floor for cover. Friends frantically tried to protect each other and plugged wounds with napkins.The killing only stopped after a Navy petty officer grabbed the barrel of the suspect’s rifle, burning his hand because it was so hot. An Army veteran joined in to help subdue and beat Aldrich until police arrived, finding the shooter had emptied one high-capacity magazine and was armed with several more.Aldrich, who since their arrest has identified as nonbinary and uses the pronouns they and them, allegedly visited Club Q at least six times in the years before the attack. District Attorney Michael Allen told a judge that the suspect’s mother made Aldrich go to the club “against his will and sort of forced that culture on him.”Allen also has said the suspect administered a website that posted a “neo-Nazi white supremacist” shooting training video. Online gaming friends said Aldrich expressed hatred for the police, LGBTQ people and minorities and used anti-Black and anti-gay slurs. And a police detective testified that Aldrich sent an online message with a photo of a rifle scope trained on a gay pride parade.Defense attorneys in previous hearings have not disputed Aldrich’s role in the shooting but have pushed back against allegations it was motivated by hate, arguing the suspect was drugged up on cocaine and medication the night of the attack.“I don’t know if this is common knowledge but I was on a very large plethora of drugs,” Aldrich told the AP. “I had been up for days. I was abusing steroids. ... I’ve finally been able to get off that crap I was on.”Aldrich didn’t answer directly when asked whether the attack was motivated by hate, saying only that’s “completely off base.”Even a former friend of Aldrich found their remarks to be disingenuous. “I’m really glad he’s trying to take accountability but it’s like the ‘why’ is being shoved under the rug,” said Xavier Kraus, who lived across the hall from Aldrich at a Colorado Springs apartment complex.The AP sent Aldrich a handwritten letter several months ago asking them to discuss a 2021 kidnapping arrest following a standoff with a SWAT team, a prosecution that had been dismissed and sealed despite video evidence of Aldrich’s crimes. In that case, just months before the Club Q shooting, they threatened to become “the next mass killer” and stockpiled guns, ammo, body armor and a homemade bomb. The incident was livestreamed on Facebook and prompted the evacuation of 10 nearby homes as authorities discovered a tub with more than 100 pounds of explosive materials.The alleged shooter, who lived with their grandparents at the time and was upset about their plans to move to Florida, threatened to kill the couple and “go out in a blaze,” authorities said. “You guys die today and I’m taking you with me,” they quoted the suspect as saying. “I’m loaded and ready.”The charges were dismissed even after relatives wrote a judge warning that Aldrich was “certain” to commit murder if freed. District Attorney Allen, facing heavy criticism, later attributed the dismissal of the case to Aldrich’s family members refusing to cooperate and repeatedly dodging out-of-state subpoenas.In response to AP’s letter, Aldrich first phoned a reporter in March and asked to be paid for an interview, a request that was declined. They called back late last month, days after prosecutors wrote in a court filing that there was “near-unanimous sentiment” among the victims for “the most expedient determination of case-related issues.”In a series of six calls, each limited by an automated jail phone system to 15 minutes, the suspect said: "Nothing’s ever going to bring back their loved ones. People are going to have to live with injury that can’t be repaired.”Asked why it happened, they said, “I don’t know. That’s why I think it’s so hard to comprehend that it did happen. ... I’m either going to get the death penalty federally or I will go to prison for life, that’s a given.”While the AP normally would not provide a platform to someone alleged to have committed such a crime, editors judged that the suspect’s stated intent to accept responsibility and expression of remorse were newsworthy and should be reported.Former Club Q bartender Anderson was among survivors who told prosecutors they wanted a fast resolution of the criminal case.“My fear is that if this takes years, that prevents the processing and moving on and finding peace beyond this case,” he said. “I would love this wrapped up as quickly as possible under the guarantee that justice is served.”___AP Writer Colleen Slevin in Denver contributed to this report.

The suspect in a mass shooting at a Colorado Springs gay nightclub is expected to strike a plea deal to state murder and hate charges that would ensure at least a life sentence for the attack that killed five people and wounded 17, several survivors told The Associated Press.

Word of a possible legal resolution of last year’s Club Q massacre follows a series of jailhouse phone calls from the suspect to the AP expressing remorse and the intention to face the consequences at the next scheduled court hearing this month.

“I have to take responsibility for what happened,” 23-year-old Anderson Lee Aldrich said in their first public comments about the case.

Federal and state authorities and defense attorneys declined to comment on a possible plea deal. But Colorado law requires victims to be notified of such deals, and several people who lost loved ones or were wounded in the attack told the AP that state prosecutors have given them advance word that Aldrich will plead guilty to charges that would ensure the maximum state sentence of life behind bars.

Prosecutors also recently asked survivors to prepare for the June 26 hearing by writing victim-impact statements and steeling themselves emotionally for the possible release of the Club Q surveillance video of the attack.

“Someone’s gone that can never be brought back through the justice system,” said Wyatt Kent, who was celebrating his 23rd birthday in Club Q when Aldrich opened fire, gunning down Kent’s partner, Daniel Aston, who was working behind the bar. “We are all still missing a lot, a partner, a son, a daughter, a best friend.”

Jonathan Pullen, the suspect’s step-grandfather who plans to watch the upcoming hearing on a livestream, said Aldrich “has to realize what happened on that terrible night. It's truly beginning to dawn on him.”

Aldrich faces more than 300 state counts, including murder and hate crimes. And the U.S. Justice Department is considering filing federal hate crime charges, according to a senior law enforcement official familiar with the matter who spoke to AP on condition of anonymity to discuss the ongoing case. It’s unclear whether the anticipated resolution to the state prosecution will also resolve the ongoing FBI investigation.

Some survivors who listened to the suspect’s recorded comments to the AP lambasted them as a calculated attempt to avoid the federal death penalty, noting they stopped short of discussing a motive, put much of the blame on drugs and characterized the crime in passive, generalities such as “I just can’t believe what happened” and “I wish I could turn back time.” Such language, they said, belied by the maps, diagrams, online rants and other evidence that showed months of plotting and premeditation.

“No one has sympathy for him,” said Michael Anderson, who was bartending at Club Q when the shooting broke out and ducked as several patrons were gunned down around him. “This community has to live with what happened, with collective trauma, with PTSD, trying to grieve the loss of our friends, to move past emotional wounds and move past what we heard, saw and smelled.”

Terror erupted just before midnight on Nov. 19 when the suspect walked into Club Q, a longtime sanctuary for the LGBTQ community in this mostly conservative city of 480,000, and fired an AR-15-style semiautomatic rifle indiscriminately. Disbelief gave way to screaming and confusion as the music continued to play. Partygoers dove across a bloody dance floor for cover. Friends frantically tried to protect each other and plugged wounds with napkins.

The killing only stopped after a Navy petty officer grabbed the barrel of the suspect’s rifle, burning his hand because it was so hot. An Army veteran joined in to help subdue and beat Aldrich until police arrived, finding the shooter had emptied one high-capacity magazine and was armed with several more.

Aldrich, who since their arrest has identified as nonbinary and uses the pronouns they and them, allegedly visited Club Q at least six times in the years before the attack. District Attorney Michael Allen told a judge that the suspect’s mother made Aldrich go to the club “against his will and sort of forced that culture on him.”

Allen also has said the suspect administered a website that posted a “neo-Nazi white supremacist” shooting training video. Online gaming friends said Aldrich expressed hatred for the police, LGBTQ people and minorities and used anti-Black and anti-gay slurs. And a police detective testified that Aldrich sent an online message with a photo of a rifle scope trained on a gay pride parade.

Defense attorneys in previous hearings have not disputed Aldrich’s role in the shooting but have pushed back against allegations it was motivated by hate, arguing the suspect was drugged up on cocaine and medication the night of the attack.

“I don’t know if this is common knowledge but I was on a very large plethora of drugs,” Aldrich told the AP. “I had been up for days. I was abusing steroids. ... I’ve finally been able to get off that crap I was on.”

Aldrich didn’t answer directly when asked whether the attack was motivated by hate, saying only that’s “completely off base.”

Even a former friend of Aldrich found their remarks to be disingenuous. “I’m really glad he’s trying to take accountability but it’s like the ‘why’ is being shoved under the rug,” said Xavier Kraus, who lived across the hall from Aldrich at a Colorado Springs apartment complex.

The AP sent Aldrich a handwritten letter several months ago asking them to discuss a 2021 kidnapping arrest following a standoff with a SWAT team, a prosecution that had been dismissed and sealed despite video evidence of Aldrich’s crimes. In that case, just months before the Club Q shooting, they threatened to become “the next mass killer” and stockpiled guns, ammo, body armor and a homemade bomb. The incident was livestreamed on Facebook and prompted the evacuation of 10 nearby homes as authorities discovered a tub with more than 100 pounds of explosive materials.

The alleged shooter, who lived with their grandparents at the time and was upset about their plans to move to Florida, threatened to kill the couple and “go out in a blaze,” authorities said. “You guys die today and I’m taking you with me,” they quoted the suspect as saying. “I’m loaded and ready.”

The charges were dismissed even after relatives wrote a judge warning that Aldrich was “certain” to commit murder if freed. District Attorney Allen, facing heavy criticism, later attributed the dismissal of the case to Aldrich’s family members refusing to cooperate and repeatedly dodging out-of-state subpoenas.

In response to AP’s letter, Aldrich first phoned a reporter in March and asked to be paid for an interview, a request that was declined. They called back late last month, days after prosecutors wrote in a court filing that there was “near-unanimous sentiment” among the victims for “the most expedient determination of case-related issues.”

In a series of six calls, each limited by an automated jail phone system to 15 minutes, the suspect said: "Nothing’s ever going to bring back their loved ones. People are going to have to live with injury that can’t be repaired.”

Asked why it happened, they said, “I don’t know. That’s why I think it’s so hard to comprehend that it did happen. ... I’m either going to get the death penalty federally or I will go to prison for life, that’s a given.”

While the AP normally would not provide a platform to someone alleged to have committed such a crime, editors judged that the suspect’s stated intent to accept responsibility and expression of remorse were newsworthy and should be reported.

Former Club Q bartender Anderson was among survivors who told prosecutors they wanted a fast resolution of the criminal case.

“My fear is that if this takes years, that prevents the processing and moving on and finding peace beyond this case,” he said. “I would love this wrapped up as quickly as possible under the guarantee that justice is served.”

___

AP Writer Colleen Slevin in Denver contributed to this report.

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9 people hurt in Denver shooting after Nuggets win

cincylink — Wed, 14 Jun 2023 04:10:43 +0000

Nine people were injured in a shooting early Tuesday in Denver in an area where basketball fans had been celebrating the Nuggets' first NBA title win, police said, and a suspect was taken into custody.The shooting happened about 12:30 a.m. and three of the injured were in critical condition, the Denver Police Department said in a statement.The shooting happened about a mile from Ball Arena, where the Nuggets defeated the Miami Heat on Monday night."As far as what led up to this altercation that resulted in the shots being fired, that's still under investigation at this time," police spokesperson Doug Schepman said. "It did occur in the area where we had largest gathering of folks celebrating during the night."A small crowd was in the area at the time of the shooting, he said, but had "diminished quite a bit at that point." He said the shooting was in an area where a lot of people might have come out of bars after the game.Police were interviewing witnesses and Schepman described the ongoing investigation as "expansive."

DENVER —

Nine people were injured in a shooting early Tuesday in Denver in an area where basketball fans had been celebrating the Nuggets' first NBA title win, police said, and a suspect was taken into custody.

The shooting happened about 12:30 a.m. and three of the injured were in critical condition, the Denver Police Department said in a statement.

The shooting happened about a mile from Ball Arena, where the Nuggets defeated the Miami Heat on Monday night.

"As far as what led up to this altercation that resulted in the shots being fired, that's still under investigation at this time," police spokesperson Doug Schepman said. "It did occur in the area where we had largest gathering of folks celebrating during the night."

A small crowd was in the area at the time of the shooting, he said, but had "diminished quite a bit at that point." He said the shooting was in an area where a lot of people might have come out of bars after the game.

Police were interviewing witnesses and Schepman described the ongoing investigation as "expansive."

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Slower streets, better lighting may be used to combat gun violence

cincylink — Mon, 05 Jun 2023 23:27:03 +0000

Like many people who spend their days near Grant Part in Over-the-Rhine, Melissa Blowers can't shake the sound of last week's drive-by shooting that injured four people, including three kids — ages 10, 14, 15."It was shocking," Blowers said. "The noise alone — it was just so loud and jarring."Blowers heard the bullets fly while working at Wesley Chapel Mission Center."We serve over 250 kids in the neighborhood, and they're always down here on this street," she said. "So safety is a major concern for us."Cincinnati Mayor Aftab Pureval said in the aftermath of last week's shooting that he has heard those concerns and is intent on taking action."Absolutely, there are issues of lawlessness," Pureval said.In an effort to fight against the kind of lawlessness that rocked East McMicken Avenue, just north of Liberty Street, last week, Pureval may rip a page out of the playbook the city used after gunshots left eight bystanders injured last summer on Main Street."We put up bike racks in order to prevent loitering," Pureval said. "We closed off the streets because so many of the ... so much of the violence there was due to drag racing and pedestrian safety issues."Police also boosted lighting and added patrols along Main St."Those are the tactics we are likely to deploy in this area, as well," Pureval said. "We’ve already initiated a traffic study to make sure we can slow cars down in that area where that drive-by occurred."Blowers likes the idea of slower traffic, but she wonders what impact bike racks and bright lights might have."I don't know if we can control the personal disputes that happen with bright lights, but I guess it could help," Blowers said.WLWT investigator Todd Dykes has reached out to the city manager's office to find out the time frame for the traffic study, the specific streets involved and when results will be made public.

CINCINNATI —

Like many people who spend their days near Grant Part in Over-the-Rhine, Melissa Blowers can't shake the sound of last week's drive-by shooting that injured four people, including three kids — ages 10, 14, 15.

"It was shocking," Blowers said. "The noise alone — it was just so loud and jarring."

Blowers heard the bullets fly while working at Wesley Chapel Mission Center.

"We serve over 250 kids in the neighborhood, and they're always down here on this street," she said. "So safety is a major concern for us."

Cincinnati Mayor Aftab Pureval said in the aftermath of last week's shooting that he has heard those concerns and is intent on taking action.

"Absolutely, there are issues of lawlessness," Pureval said.

In an effort to fight against the kind of lawlessness that rocked East McMicken Avenue, just north of Liberty Street, last week, Pureval may rip a page out of the playbook the city used after gunshots left eight bystanders injured last summer on Main Street.

"We put up bike racks in order to prevent loitering," Pureval said. "We closed off the streets because so many of the ... so much of the violence there was due to drag racing and pedestrian safety issues."

Police also boosted lighting and added patrols along Main St.

"Those are the tactics we are likely to deploy in this area, as well," Pureval said. "We’ve already initiated a traffic study to make sure we can slow cars down in that area where that drive-by occurred."

Blowers likes the idea of slower traffic, but she wonders what impact bike racks and bright lights might have.

"I don't know if we can control the personal disputes that happen with bright lights, but I guess it could help," Blowers said.

WLWT investigator Todd Dykes has reached out to the city manager's office to find out the time frame for the traffic study, the specific streets involved and when results will be made public.

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Los Angeles mass shooting suspect kills 10 near Lunar New Year festival

cincylink — Mon, 05 Jun 2023 21:21:29 +0000

A gunman killed 10 people and wounded 10 others at a Los Angeles-area ballroom dance club following a Lunar New Year celebration, setting off a manhunt for the suspect in the fifth mass killing in the U.S. this month.Capt. Andrew Meyer of the Los Angeles Sheriff’s Department said Sunday that the wounded were taken to hospitals and their conditions range from stable to critical. He said the 10 people died at the scene in the city of Monterey Park.Meyer said people were “pouring out of the location screaming” when officers arrived at around 10:30 p.m. Saturday. He said officers then went into the ballroom and found victims as firefighters treated the wounded.Meyer gave no description of the male suspect or the weapon he used, or why police gave no information on the shooting for hours while the shooter remained on the run. He also said police were investigating another incident in the nearby city of Alhambra to see whether it was connected.Meyer said it’s too early in the investigation to know if the gunman knew anyone at the ballroom or if it was a hate crime or not. He gave no other details.The Lunar New Year celebration had attracted thousands.Monterey Park is a city of about 60,000 people that sits at the eastern edge of Los Angeles. The majority of its residents are Asian immigrants or their descendants, most of them Chinese. The dance studio in downtown Monterey Park is just a few blocks from city hall on its main thoroughfare of Garvey Avenue, which is dotted with strip malls that are full of small businesses whose signs are in both English and Chinese. Cantonese and Mandarin are both widely spoken, Chinese holidays are celebrated, and Chinese films are screened in the city.The tragedy marked not just the fifth mass killing in the U.S. since the start of the year but also is the deadliest since May 24, 2022 - when 21 people were killed in a school in Uvalde, Texas, according to The Associated Press/USA Today database on mass killings in the U.S. The database also shows that 2022 was also one of the worst years ever in terms of mass killings, with 42 such attacks - the second-highest number since the creation of the tracker in 2006. The database defines a mass killing as four people killed not including the perpetrator.The latest violence comes two months after five people were killed at a Colorado Springs nightclub.Seung Won Choi, who owns the Clam House seafood barbecue restaurant across the street from where the shooting happened, told The Los Angeles Times that three people rushed into his business and told him to lock the door.The people said to Choi that there was a shooter with a gun who had multiple rounds of ammunition on him.Wong Wei, who lives nearby, told The Los Angeles Times that his friend was in a bathroom at the dance club that night when the shooting started. When she came out, he said, she saw a gunman and three bodies.The friend then fled to Wei's home at around 11 p.m., he said, adding that his friends told him that the shooter appeared to fire indiscriminately with a long gun.The celebration in Monterey Park is one of the largest Lunar New Year events in Southern California. Two days of festivities were planned but officials canceled Sunday’s events following the shooting.___Associated Press writer Julie Watson in San Diego contributed to this report.

MONTEREY PARK, Calif. —

A gunman killed 10 people and wounded 10 others at a Los Angeles-area ballroom dance club following a Lunar New Year celebration, setting off a manhunt for the suspect in the fifth mass killing in the U.S. this month.

Capt. Andrew Meyer of the Los Angeles Sheriff’s Department said Sunday that the wounded were taken to hospitals and their conditions range from stable to critical. He said the 10 people died at the scene in the city of Monterey Park.

Meyer said people were “pouring out of the location screaming” when officers arrived at around 10:30 p.m. Saturday. He said officers then went into the ballroom and found victims as firefighters treated the wounded.

Meyer gave no description of the male suspect or the weapon he used, or why police gave no information on the shooting for hours while the shooter remained on the run. He also said police were investigating another incident in the nearby city of Alhambra to see whether it was connected.

Meyer said it’s too early in the investigation to know if the gunman knew anyone at the ballroom or if it was a hate crime or not. He gave no other details.

The Lunar New Year celebration had attracted thousands.

Monterey Park is a city of about 60,000 people that sits at the eastern edge of Los Angeles. The majority of its residents are Asian immigrants or their descendants, most of them Chinese. The dance studio in downtown Monterey Park is just a few blocks from city hall on its main thoroughfare of Garvey Avenue, which is dotted with strip malls that are full of small businesses whose signs are in both English and Chinese. Cantonese and Mandarin are both widely spoken, Chinese holidays are celebrated, and Chinese films are screened in the city.

The tragedy marked not just the fifth mass killing in the U.S. since the start of the year but also is the deadliest since May 24, 2022 - when 21 people were killed in a school in Uvalde, Texas, according to The Associated Press/USA Today database on mass killings in the U.S. The database also shows that 2022 was also one of the worst years ever in terms of mass killings, with 42 such attacks - the second-highest number since the creation of the tracker in 2006. The database defines a mass killing as four people killed not including the perpetrator.

The latest violence comes two months after five people were killed at a Colorado Springs nightclub.

Seung Won Choi, who owns the Clam House seafood barbecue restaurant across the street from where the shooting happened, told The Los Angeles Times that three people rushed into his business and told him to lock the door.

The people said to Choi that there was a shooter with a gun who had multiple rounds of ammunition on him.

Wong Wei, who lives nearby, told The Los Angeles Times that his friend was in a bathroom at the dance club that night when the shooting started. When she came out, he said, she saw a gunman and three bodies.

The friend then fled to Wei's home at around 11 p.m., he said, adding that his friends told him that the shooter appeared to fire indiscriminately with a long gun.

The celebration in Monterey Park is one of the largest Lunar New Year events in Southern California. Two days of festivities were planned but officials canceled Sunday’s events following the shooting.

___

Associated Press writer Julie Watson in San Diego contributed to this report.

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Man charged in 20-plus calls of false threats in US, Canada

cincylink — Wed, 31 May 2023 14:17:42 +0000

TODD? TODD: WESTWOOD HIGH SCHOOL IS ONE OF THE SCHOOLS THAT RECEIVED ONE OF THOSE CALLS. IT WAS A HOAX AND THAT WAS THE CASE FOR ALL OF THESE THREATS. THEY WERE ALL HOAXES. IN A LETTER TO PARENTS, THE SUPERINTENDENT HERE AT WESTWOOD SAYS THE POLICE DEPARTMENT RECEIVED A PHONE CALL THIS MORNING THAT REFERRED TO A POSSIBLE ACTIVE SHOOTER AT WESTWOOD HIGH SCHOOL. EVERYONE IS SAFE. THE WESTWOOD POLICE ARE ON-SITE, POLICE HAVE ASSESSED THE SITUATION TO BE A HOAX AND THE BUILDING IS CLEAR. AT THIS HOUR, THE REGULAR SCHOOL DAY IS UNDERWAY. IN ADDITION TO WESTWOOD, STATE POLICE SAY MANSFIELD AND FOXBORO RECEIVED CALLS THAT WERE ALSO HOAXES. THE HIGH SCHOOL WENT INTO A SHELTER AND PLAY SO LOCKED ON THIS MORNING AND THAT HAS BEEN LIFTED. AS FOR THE INVESTIGATION, THE QUESTION IS WHAT WILL IT TAKE TO CRACK THE CASE AND FIND WHOEVER IS MAKING THE THREATS? HERE IS LAW ENFORCEMENT AND SECURITY ANALYST TODD MCGEE. >> CERTAINLY, WE NEED TECHNOLOGICAL EXPERTS. THIS PERSON, WHOEVER IS CONDUCTING THESE CALLS, PROBABLY HAS A VERY SOPHISTICATED LEVEL OF TECHNOLOGICAL UNDERSTANDING, SO IT’S GOING TO TAKE ANOTHER EXPERT TO BRING THIS TYPE OF THREAT AND THIS PERSON TO JUSTICE. TODD: TO REITERATE, ALL OF THE THREATS TODAY WERE DEEMED HOAXES BUT OBVIOUSLY THE RESPONSE WAS REAL.

U.S. authorities on Thursday said they arrested a Washington state man who made more than 20 “swatting” calls around the country and in Canada, prompting real emergency responses to his fake reports of bombs, shootings or other threats.Video above: Several Massachusetts schools receive hoax threat callsAshton Connor Garcia, 20, of Bremerton, used voice-over-internet technology to conceal his identity as he placed the calls last year — and he treated them as entertainment, broadcasting them on the social media platform Discord, federal prosecutors said.He faces 10 felony counts filed in U.S. District Court in Tacoma, Washington, that could bring up to a decade in prison. Court records did not immediately indicate if Garcia had an attorney who might speak on his behalf.“Every time Mr. Garcia is alleged to have made one of his false reports to law enforcement, he triggered a potentially deadly event — sending heavily armed police officers to an address where they mistakenly believed they would confront someone who was armed and dangerous,” Seattle U.S. Attorney Nick Brown said in a news release. “Fortunately, no one was hurt, but the unpredictable and terrifying dynamic these calls created for Mr. Garcia’s alleged victims cannot be overstated."Garcia's arrest came as a spate of threats and false reports of shooters have been pouring into schools and colleges across the country, unnerving officials, parents and students who are already on edge about actual school shootings — including at a private Christian school in Nashville, Tennessee, this week.Computer-generated calls on Wednesday made hoax claims about active shooters in Pennsylvania, and a day earlier, nearly 30 Massachusetts schools received fake threats.Garcia is not accused of having sent SWAT teams to schools. Instead, prosecutors say, in several cases he collected personal information about his victims and threatened to send emergency responses to their homes unless they turned over money, credit card information or sexually explicit images.Law enforcement entered some of the homes with guns drawn and detained people inside, authorities said.In other cases, he called in fake bomb scares for the Fox News station in Cleveland, Ohio, on July 28 and for a flight from Honolulu to Los Angeles on Aug. 23. In another instance, he is accused of threatening to bomb an airport in Los Angeles unless he received $200,000 in Bitcoin.The indictment does not indicate how investigators identified Garcia as a suspect.Garcia placed the calls to agencies in California, Georgia, Illinois, Kentucky, Michigan, Minnesota, New Jersey, Oho, Pennsylvania, Tennessee, Washington and Edmonton, in Alberta, Canada, the indictment said.Authorities have warned that such hoaxes can prove deadly. In 2017, a police officer in Wichita, Kansas, shot and killed a man while responding to a hoax emergency call. This month, the city agreed to pay $5 million to settle a lawsuit, with the money to go to the two children of 28-year-old Andrew Finch.

SEATTLE —

U.S. authorities on Thursday said they arrested a Washington state man who made more than 20 “swatting” calls around the country and in Canada, prompting real emergency responses to his fake reports of bombs, shootings or other threats.

Video above: Several Massachusetts schools receive hoax threat calls

Ashton Connor Garcia, 20, of Bremerton, used voice-over-internet technology to conceal his identity as he placed the calls last year — and he treated them as entertainment, broadcasting them on the social media platform Discord, federal prosecutors said.

He faces 10 felony counts filed in U.S. District Court in Tacoma, Washington, that could bring up to a decade in prison. Court records did not immediately indicate if Garcia had an attorney who might speak on his behalf.

“Every time Mr. Garcia is alleged to have made one of his false reports to law enforcement, he triggered a potentially deadly event — sending heavily armed police officers to an address where they mistakenly believed they would confront someone who was armed and dangerous,” Seattle U.S. Attorney Nick Brown said in a news release. “Fortunately, no one was hurt, but the unpredictable and terrifying dynamic these calls created for Mr. Garcia’s alleged victims cannot be overstated."

Garcia's arrest came as a spate of threats and false reports of shooters have been pouring into schools and colleges across the country, unnerving officials, parents and students who are already on edge about actual school shootings — including at a private Christian school in Nashville, Tennessee, this week.

Computer-generated calls on Wednesday made hoax claims about active shooters in Pennsylvania, and a day earlier, nearly 30 Massachusetts schools received fake threats.

Garcia is not accused of having sent SWAT teams to schools. Instead, prosecutors say, in several cases he collected personal information about his victims and threatened to send emergency responses to their homes unless they turned over money, credit card information or sexually explicit images.

Law enforcement entered some of the homes with guns drawn and detained people inside, authorities said.

In other cases, he called in fake bomb scares for the Fox News station in Cleveland, Ohio, on July 28 and for a flight from Honolulu to Los Angeles on Aug. 23. In another instance, he is accused of threatening to bomb an airport in Los Angeles unless he received $200,000 in Bitcoin.

The indictment does not indicate how investigators identified Garcia as a suspect.

Garcia placed the calls to agencies in California, Georgia, Illinois, Kentucky, Michigan, Minnesota, New Jersey, Oho, Pennsylvania, Tennessee, Washington and Edmonton, in Alberta, Canada, the indictment said.

Authorities have warned that such hoaxes can prove deadly. In 2017, a police officer in Wichita, Kansas, shot and killed a man while responding to a hoax emergency call. This month, the city agreed to pay $5 million to settle a lawsuit, with the money to go to the two children of 28-year-old Andrew Finch.

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