"The pastor, Howell, was going to fire Parangan, the maintenance man. The maintenance man pulled out a gun and tried to kill the pastor, the pastor drew his own gun and shot the maintenance man."
“Talk sense to a fool and he calls you foolish.”
Wednesday, December 31, 2014
Canada police: Man kills 8 people before taking own life
http://www.msn.com/en-us/news/
taking-own-life/ar-BBhmCfU
EDMONTON, Alberta - A man with a lengthy criminal record killed six adults
and two young children before taking his own life in Edmonton in what the
police chief on Tuesday called the western Canadian city's worst mass
murder.
Edmonton Police Chief Rod Knecht told a news conference late Tuesday night
that there was no suggestion of gang involvement and said the motive for the
"senseless mass murder" appears to have been "planned and deliberate"
domestic violence.
"It's terrible for the city," Knecht said. "The scene ... has been described
as chaotic, horrific. Particularly when there's children involved, it has a
tremendous impact on our folks."
Knecht did not release the name of the suspect, but said the man was
well-known to police and had a criminal record dating back to September
1987.
Cindy Duong, 37, was fatally shot in a home in south Edmonton on Monday,
while two men and three women between the ages of 25 and 50, and a girl and
a boy - both under the age of 10 - were found dead a few hours later at a
home in the northeast.
The suspect was found dead by his own hand in a restaurant in the Edmonton
bedroom community of Fort Saskatchewan on Tuesday morning. A police tactical
team had surrounded the area and reportedly smashed through the front of the
restaurant with a vehicle before finding the suspect dead.
Duong's body was found around 7 p.m. Monday when police responded to a
report of a man entering the south-side home, opening fire and fleeing,
Knecht said.
An hour and a half later, officers responded to reports of a suicidal man at
a northeast residence in a quiet cul de sac, the same home where the suspect
had been arrested in November 2012 and charged with domestic and sexual
assault.
Family members reported in the call that the man was "depressed and
over-emotional."
When officers arrived, no one answered the door, Knecht said. They searched
the exterior of the home but found nothing overtly suspicious and did not go
inside.
"We can't just arbitrarily go into that residence," explained the chief.
Hours later police were contacted by a second person and returned to the
residence. When they went inside, they found a scene of carnage with seven
bodies.
Neighbor Moe Assiff said he saw officers come out and talk to a woman
sitting with a man in a white car outside the house.
"She just let out a hysterical scream. It was eerie," Assiff said. "She was
screaming about her kids: 'My kids! The kids!,' grabbing her hair and trying
to pull her hair out. The cops then ushered her down the road into a police
cruiser."
Outside the restaurant where the suspect's body was found, police found a
parked black SUV that they say was seen near the location of the first
shooting. Knecht said the suspect had a business interest in the restaurant,
but would not say if he was the owner.
Investigators have determined the 9 mm handgun used in the killings was a
registered weapon that had been stolen in Surrey, British Columbia, in 2006.
In Edmonton, a city of 878,000 people, mass murders are extremely rare.
Knecht said the case was the worst mass killing in the city since at least
1956, when six people were murdered.
John Etter Clark, a provincial politician who served as a member of the
Legislative Assembly of Alberta for four years, killed his wife, son, three
daughters and an employee of their family farm before taking his own life in
1956. Clark had been suffering from frequent nervous breakdowns in the years
before the killings.
taking-own-life/ar-BBhmCfU
EDMONTON, Alberta - A man with a lengthy criminal record killed six adults
and two young children before taking his own life in Edmonton in what the
police chief on Tuesday called the western Canadian city's worst mass
murder.
Edmonton Police Chief Rod Knecht told a news conference late Tuesday night
that there was no suggestion of gang involvement and said the motive for the
"senseless mass murder" appears to have been "planned and deliberate"
domestic violence.
"It's terrible for the city," Knecht said. "The scene ... has been described
as chaotic, horrific. Particularly when there's children involved, it has a
tremendous impact on our folks."
Knecht did not release the name of the suspect, but said the man was
well-known to police and had a criminal record dating back to September
1987.
Cindy Duong, 37, was fatally shot in a home in south Edmonton on Monday,
while two men and three women between the ages of 25 and 50, and a girl and
a boy - both under the age of 10 - were found dead a few hours later at a
home in the northeast.
The suspect was found dead by his own hand in a restaurant in the Edmonton
bedroom community of Fort Saskatchewan on Tuesday morning. A police tactical
team had surrounded the area and reportedly smashed through the front of the
restaurant with a vehicle before finding the suspect dead.
Duong's body was found around 7 p.m. Monday when police responded to a
report of a man entering the south-side home, opening fire and fleeing,
Knecht said.
An hour and a half later, officers responded to reports of a suicidal man at
a northeast residence in a quiet cul de sac, the same home where the suspect
had been arrested in November 2012 and charged with domestic and sexual
assault.
Family members reported in the call that the man was "depressed and
over-emotional."
When officers arrived, no one answered the door, Knecht said. They searched
the exterior of the home but found nothing overtly suspicious and did not go
inside.
"We can't just arbitrarily go into that residence," explained the chief.
Hours later police were contacted by a second person and returned to the
residence. When they went inside, they found a scene of carnage with seven
bodies.
Neighbor Moe Assiff said he saw officers come out and talk to a woman
sitting with a man in a white car outside the house.
"She just let out a hysterical scream. It was eerie," Assiff said. "She was
screaming about her kids: 'My kids! The kids!,' grabbing her hair and trying
to pull her hair out. The cops then ushered her down the road into a police
cruiser."
Outside the restaurant where the suspect's body was found, police found a
parked black SUV that they say was seen near the location of the first
shooting. Knecht said the suspect had a business interest in the restaurant,
but would not say if he was the owner.
Investigators have determined the 9 mm handgun used in the killings was a
registered weapon that had been stolen in Surrey, British Columbia, in 2006.
In Edmonton, a city of 878,000 people, mass murders are extremely rare.
Knecht said the case was the worst mass killing in the city since at least
1956, when six people were murdered.
John Etter Clark, a provincial politician who served as a member of the
Legislative Assembly of Alberta for four years, killed his wife, son, three
daughters and an employee of their family farm before taking his own life in
1956. Clark had been suffering from frequent nervous breakdowns in the years
before the killings.
Tuesday, December 30, 2014
'How To Stab A Jew' Video Becomes A Big Hit On Palestinian Social Media
http://www.breitbart.com/
o-becomes-a-big-hit-on-
A video being widely circulated in Palestinian social media networks teaches
jihadists how to stab a Jewish person in a manner that ensures their speedy
death.
The video is reportedly being circulated by a group calling themselves the
"resisters of occupation in the occupied West Bank and Jerusalem," according
to a Jewish Press report.
The video shows two men, a "teacher" and a "victim", dressed in a Keffiyeh
headscarf-garb which was popularized by the first Palestinian leader, Yasser
Arafat. The teacher then demonstrates how to casually walk up to someone and
stab them in an efficient and deadly manner.
The demonstration emphasizes that in order to inflict maximum damage, the
knife should be twisted after stabbing the Jewish person.
The video comes as 2014 has seen an exponential increase in Arab stabbing
attacks against Israeli Jews.
o-becomes-a-big-hit-on-
A video being widely circulated in Palestinian social media networks teaches
jihadists how to stab a Jewish person in a manner that ensures their speedy
death.
The video is reportedly being circulated by a group calling themselves the
"resisters of occupation in the occupied West Bank and Jerusalem," according
to a Jewish Press report.
The video shows two men, a "teacher" and a "victim", dressed in a Keffiyeh
headscarf-garb which was popularized by the first Palestinian leader, Yasser
Arafat. The teacher then demonstrates how to casually walk up to someone and
stab them in an efficient and deadly manner.
The demonstration emphasizes that in order to inflict maximum damage, the
knife should be twisted after stabbing the Jewish person.
The video comes as 2014 has seen an exponential increase in Arab stabbing
attacks against Israeli Jews.
Madison police confirm at least one of the seven shootings
http://www.wqow.com/story/
-shootings-from-over-the-
MADISON (WKOW)-- Madison police have confirmed gang ties to at least one of
the shootings that happened this weekend in the Madison area. Investigators
are trying to find a possible connection with these seven shootings and
others that happened earlier this month.
Gang experts were called in Sunday to help with the investigation. These
experts say the suspects who were arrested in connection with the shooting
in the 7400 block of West Valley Ridge Drive late Saturday night have gang
connections in the Madison area.
-shootings-from-over-the-
MADISON (WKOW)-- Madison police have confirmed gang ties to at least one of
the shootings that happened this weekend in the Madison area. Investigators
are trying to find a possible connection with these seven shootings and
others that happened earlier this month.
Gang experts were called in Sunday to help with the investigation. These
experts say the suspects who were arrested in connection with the shooting
in the 7400 block of West Valley Ridge Drive late Saturday night have gang
connections in the Madison area.
Saturday, December 27, 2014
NY man says wife shot him to avoid messy divorce
http://www.msn.com/en-us/news/
-divorce/ar-BBheXlH
YONKERS, N.Y. - A real estate developer who was shot in the head as he slept
at home says his cheating wife did it in an attempt to kill him and avoid a
messy divorce.
Kenneth Dearden provided an unusually detailed look at the case from his
point of view by filing a lawsuit against his wife, a New York Police
Department psychologist, a year after the shooting and two weeks before she
was arrested. He said he was sleeping in their upscale suburban home on Nov.
14, 2013, and woke up with a searing pain in his jaw - from a gunshot to the
base of his skull. He survived, possibly because the shooter apparently used
an antique derringer that had been a gift to his wife from her parents.
Dearden said his wife had been having an affair with a man since 2011 and
the man was pressuring her to end her 18-year marriage.
"With Plaintiff no longer in the picture, Defendant could avoid a
contentious divorce, keep the marital home and never admit the marital
infidelity to any family or friends," says Dearden's lawsuit, which alleges
assault, battery and emotional distress and seeks unspecified damages.
-divorce/ar-BBheXlH
YONKERS, N.Y. - A real estate developer who was shot in the head as he slept
at home says his cheating wife did it in an attempt to kill him and avoid a
messy divorce.
Kenneth Dearden provided an unusually detailed look at the case from his
point of view by filing a lawsuit against his wife, a New York Police
Department psychologist, a year after the shooting and two weeks before she
was arrested. He said he was sleeping in their upscale suburban home on Nov.
14, 2013, and woke up with a searing pain in his jaw - from a gunshot to the
base of his skull. He survived, possibly because the shooter apparently used
an antique derringer that had been a gift to his wife from her parents.
Dearden said his wife had been having an affair with a man since 2011 and
the man was pressuring her to end her 18-year marriage.
"With Plaintiff no longer in the picture, Defendant could avoid a
contentious divorce, keep the marital home and never admit the marital
infidelity to any family or friends," says Dearden's lawsuit, which alleges
assault, battery and emotional distress and seeks unspecified damages.
Two Reasons I Would Hate to Be a Cop
In the wake of brutal execution-style killings of two police officers in New York City as the Black Lives Matter protest movement rages on, it’s a tough time to be a cop. The Washington Times reports:
Police around the nation have gone on high alert, told by higher-ups and union representatives to wear bulletproof vests, keep off social media and make arrests only in cases most pressing and crucial to the safety of the public at large.
Such orders create a odd dissonance which has to be confusing and frustrating for law enforcement professionals. On the one hand, they’re tasked with enforcing an increasing number of laws which all levels of government remain keen to craft. On the other hand, they’re expected to show “restraint” and only engage if they really, really have to.
It’s a scenario which brings to mind the two reasons I would hate to be a cop nowadays. First, modern policing has long since abandoned the scope of protection and service to become a revenue generator for government. How much of a cop’s day is actually spent protecting people’s rights versus hunting for perpetrators of victimless crimes? We need fewer laws. Those which survive the purge should be those which objectively protect individual rights. Few modern laws would qualify.
The second reason I would hate to be a cop, as evidenced by the Times story, is that police are increasingly expected to refrain from doing their job, yet blamed the moment anything bad happens. Don’t arrest protestors, but somehow stop them from looting and setting things on fire. How’s that supposed to work?
Proper law enforcement starts with proper laws. Whittle them down to those which protect life, liberty, and property. Then empower officers to enforce those laws aggressively. That would go a long way to improving the job, to say nothing of our society.
Unlike 'Unbroken' bombardier, woman will never forgive her Japanese captors
http://www.msn.com/en-us/news/
ver-forgive-her-japanese-
Heimke is now 85 and lives in Overland Park, Kan. Her story of internment as
a young girl during World War II tells of mean men, hunger, rats,
blood-soaked mattresses, clogged toilets and, most of all, a fear that it
would never end.
She watched her mother struggle daily to keep the family together and fed.
People died around her. Her father's ribs stuck out like steel bars.
No one should expect any Louie Zamperini-like absolution from her.
Zamperini was an American bombardier who was held as a POW and tortured by
the Japanese after his plane went down in the Pacific. Part of his story, as
told in the best-selling book "Unbroken" and now a movie that opened
Christmas Day, is that after the war he traveled to Japan and forgave the
guards who mistreated him.
When asked whether she could do the same, Heimke lifted her eyes from her
scrapbook and locked onto those of her questioner.
"He's a better Christian than I am," she said of Zamperini. "I'm not there
and doubt I will ever be."
ver-forgive-her-japanese-
Heimke is now 85 and lives in Overland Park, Kan. Her story of internment as
a young girl during World War II tells of mean men, hunger, rats,
blood-soaked mattresses, clogged toilets and, most of all, a fear that it
would never end.
She watched her mother struggle daily to keep the family together and fed.
People died around her. Her father's ribs stuck out like steel bars.
No one should expect any Louie Zamperini-like absolution from her.
Zamperini was an American bombardier who was held as a POW and tortured by
the Japanese after his plane went down in the Pacific. Part of his story, as
told in the best-selling book "Unbroken" and now a movie that opened
Christmas Day, is that after the war he traveled to Japan and forgave the
guards who mistreated him.
When asked whether she could do the same, Heimke lifted her eyes from her
scrapbook and locked onto those of her questioner.
"He's a better Christian than I am," she said of Zamperini. "I'm not there
and doubt I will ever be."
WATCH: Toronto Restaurant owner fights off mugger
http://cnews.canoe.ca/CNEWS/
Dig the video. Mild-mannered restaurateur kicks ass.
Dig the video. Mild-mannered restaurateur kicks ass.
Tuesday, December 23, 2014
This is what an economy looks like in Free Fall
http://www.americanthinker.
ke_in_free_fall.html
The Russian economy is in free fall as the ruble has lost half it's value
during the dizzying slide in oil prices. Last Tuesday, the ruble tumbled 10%
- a follow up to Monday's 10% slide. This precipitated panic buying in the
stores as Russian consumers, fearing their rubles will only become less
valuable in the near term, crowded retail stores to buy up everything in
sight.
Politico:
Although this past week's currency crisis marked the worst fall for the
ruble since Russia defaulted on its debt in 1998, no one was waiting in
bread lines or starting a run on the bank. Instead, anyone with any cash at
all went on a buying spree. Long lines snaked through Ikea branches around
Moscow into the early hours of Wednesday morning as people picked up
furniture, bedding and other household goods at what had suddenly become
bargain-basement prices. Crowds of eager buyers emptied shelves of computer
monitors and snapped up flat-screen televisions at consumer electronics
chains.
People were purchasing refrigerators, washing machines, cameras-anything
that was less likely to lose its value as fast as the plummeting ruble. Cars
in some dealerships were being sold at 30 percent to 50 percent above the
recommended retail price, yet "people run and bring their last money," one
social network user wrote.
"Yesterday the line for the cash register was to the other end of the
hall," Ravil Daizrakhmanov, an employee of the consumer electronics store
M.video, said Wednesday. "They were buying very expensive tech products."
The ruble has lost over half its value this year as falling oil prices and
Western sanctions over the Ukraine crisis hit Russia's energy-dependent
economy. But a drop of 10 percent on Monday and another 10 percent on what
has come to be known as "Black Tuesday" further shook consumers, undermined
investor confidence and revealed divisions among the country's elite on how
to react. Nonetheless, Russians' approval for President Vladimir Putin has
remained sky-high.
Buying continued on Wednesday as major electronics chains had yet to raise
their prices. "I apologize; I argued with them, but they sold every last
one," an M.video employee informed a man who was trying to purchase a
washing machine. "F-k your apologies," the man yelled back as he stormed off
to complain to a manager.
Others were just out for a good deal. Even after the ruble came down to 67
to the dollar, an iPhone 5S at electronics retailers now cost $100 less than
in the United States. Apple.ru even halted online sales on Tuesday "due to
extreme fluctuations in the value of the ruble."
Inflation is getting worse. Prices went up 8.3% in October to 9.1% in
November. Food prices are spiking and Russians are crowding grocery stores,
buying thousands of dollars in food, hedging their bets against prices going
even higher.
With all of this catastrophic news, you would think Putin's approval ratings
would be in the tank. In fact, 81% of the country supports him. The people
blame the west and the sanctions imposed for Russia's takeover of Crimea for
the rotten economy.
Why shouldn't they? Despite the fact that currency speculators and the dive
in oil prices are far more responsible for Russia's economic predicament,
when the president of the United States brags that sanctions have brought
Putin to his knees - and Putin himself deflects blame for his mismanagement
by citing sanctions - the Russian people are only to glad to ignore reality
and accept the myth.
Some analysts are saying oil could fall to $40 bbl. That would be a
cataclysm that could bring the Russian economy to its knees. In this worse
case scenario, Putin wouldn't be the first leader to look abroad for an
adventure to distract the people from their misery. Wars have begun over
less, so the Russian meltdown bears watching.
ke_in_free_fall.html
The Russian economy is in free fall as the ruble has lost half it's value
during the dizzying slide in oil prices. Last Tuesday, the ruble tumbled 10%
- a follow up to Monday's 10% slide. This precipitated panic buying in the
stores as Russian consumers, fearing their rubles will only become less
valuable in the near term, crowded retail stores to buy up everything in
sight.
Politico:
Although this past week's currency crisis marked the worst fall for the
ruble since Russia defaulted on its debt in 1998, no one was waiting in
bread lines or starting a run on the bank. Instead, anyone with any cash at
all went on a buying spree. Long lines snaked through Ikea branches around
Moscow into the early hours of Wednesday morning as people picked up
furniture, bedding and other household goods at what had suddenly become
bargain-basement prices. Crowds of eager buyers emptied shelves of computer
monitors and snapped up flat-screen televisions at consumer electronics
chains.
People were purchasing refrigerators, washing machines, cameras-anything
that was less likely to lose its value as fast as the plummeting ruble. Cars
in some dealerships were being sold at 30 percent to 50 percent above the
recommended retail price, yet "people run and bring their last money," one
social network user wrote.
"Yesterday the line for the cash register was to the other end of the
hall," Ravil Daizrakhmanov, an employee of the consumer electronics store
M.video, said Wednesday. "They were buying very expensive tech products."
The ruble has lost over half its value this year as falling oil prices and
Western sanctions over the Ukraine crisis hit Russia's energy-dependent
economy. But a drop of 10 percent on Monday and another 10 percent on what
has come to be known as "Black Tuesday" further shook consumers, undermined
investor confidence and revealed divisions among the country's elite on how
to react. Nonetheless, Russians' approval for President Vladimir Putin has
remained sky-high.
Buying continued on Wednesday as major electronics chains had yet to raise
their prices. "I apologize; I argued with them, but they sold every last
one," an M.video employee informed a man who was trying to purchase a
washing machine. "F-k your apologies," the man yelled back as he stormed off
to complain to a manager.
Others were just out for a good deal. Even after the ruble came down to 67
to the dollar, an iPhone 5S at electronics retailers now cost $100 less than
in the United States. Apple.ru even halted online sales on Tuesday "due to
extreme fluctuations in the value of the ruble."
Inflation is getting worse. Prices went up 8.3% in October to 9.1% in
November. Food prices are spiking and Russians are crowding grocery stores,
buying thousands of dollars in food, hedging their bets against prices going
even higher.
With all of this catastrophic news, you would think Putin's approval ratings
would be in the tank. In fact, 81% of the country supports him. The people
blame the west and the sanctions imposed for Russia's takeover of Crimea for
the rotten economy.
Why shouldn't they? Despite the fact that currency speculators and the dive
in oil prices are far more responsible for Russia's economic predicament,
when the president of the United States brags that sanctions have brought
Putin to his knees - and Putin himself deflects blame for his mismanagement
by citing sanctions - the Russian people are only to glad to ignore reality
and accept the myth.
Some analysts are saying oil could fall to $40 bbl. That would be a
cataclysm that could bring the Russian economy to its knees. In this worse
case scenario, Putin wouldn't be the first leader to look abroad for an
adventure to distract the people from their misery. Wars have begun over
less, so the Russian meltdown bears watching.
Bratton: Tensions in NYC like 1970s
http://www.politico.com/story/
70s-113740.html
New York Police Department Commissioner Bill Bratton said Monday that
tensions in the city are echoing those in the 1970s — a fear he expressed
only days prior to the ambush killings of two police officers.
“Who would’ve ever thought déjà vu all over again, that we would be back
where we were 40-some-odd years ago,” Bratton said in an interview on NBC’s
“Today.”
When asked whether he had seen such tensions or divide before, Bratton
replied, “1970, when I first came into policing — my first 10 years were
around this type of tension.”
Bratton’s assessment comes as two NYPD officers were shot and killed
Saturday afternoon. The suspect of the killings invoked the police-involved
deaths of Missouri teen Michael Brown and New Yorker Eric Garner in an
Instagram post before shooting officers Rafael Ramos and Wenjian Liu in
their patrol car.
Bratton identified protests that followed the decisions by separate grand
juries to not indict police officers in Brown and Garner’s deaths as a
factor in the subsequent killings of Ramos and Liu.
“It’s quite apparent, quite obvious, that the targeting of these two police
officers was a direct spinoff of this issue of these demonstrations,” the
police chief said.
70s-113740.html
New York Police Department Commissioner Bill Bratton said Monday that
tensions in the city are echoing those in the 1970s — a fear he expressed
only days prior to the ambush killings of two police officers.
“Who would’ve ever thought déjà vu all over again, that we would be back
where we were 40-some-odd years ago,” Bratton said in an interview on NBC’s
“Today.”
When asked whether he had seen such tensions or divide before, Bratton
replied, “1970, when I first came into policing — my first 10 years were
around this type of tension.”
Bratton’s assessment comes as two NYPD officers were shot and killed
Saturday afternoon. The suspect of the killings invoked the police-involved
deaths of Missouri teen Michael Brown and New Yorker Eric Garner in an
Instagram post before shooting officers Rafael Ramos and Wenjian Liu in
their patrol car.
Bratton identified protests that followed the decisions by separate grand
juries to not indict police officers in Brown and Garner’s deaths as a
factor in the subsequent killings of Ramos and Liu.
“It’s quite apparent, quite obvious, that the targeting of these two police
officers was a direct spinoff of this issue of these demonstrations,” the
police chief said.
Man Dressed As Santa Shoots 2 At Detroit Gas Station
http://detroit.cbslocal.com/
oit-gas-station/
He's making a list and checking it twice....I think we now which list those guys were on.
oit-gas-station/
He's making a list and checking it twice....I think we now which list those guys were on.
California Officer Kills Teen After Machete Attack
http://www.nytimes.com/
tml?_r=0
WILLOW CREEK, Calif. - A California Highway Patrol officer shot and killed a
17-year-old who attacked him with a machete, and the officer was
hospitalized with major injuries, officials said.
The officer had responded to a report of a car hitting a telephone pole
Thursday in the Humboldt County community of Willow Creek, CHP Capt. Adam
Jager told the Eureka Times-Standard (http://bit.ly/1DVeozS ).
The officer and the boy stepped to the rear of the damaged car when the teen
attacked the officer, Jager said. The officer raised his left arm to defend
himself, Jager said, and also was struck on the hand and face.
Jager said the officer shot the teen an undisclosed number of times before
locking himself in his patrol car and calling for backup. The teenager
returned to his car and was honking the horn, Jager said.
Another officer arrived about 10 minutes later and found the teen lying
naked next to his car, Jager said. The boy did not respond to the officer's
commands, and the officer used a stun gun to place the teen in handcuffs.
Jager described the teen as "completely erratic and irrational."
Paramedics treated the boy, who died at the scene. Officials said they had
no history with the teen and the motive for the attack was unclear.
Officials did not immediately release the name of the teen or the officer,
who was in stable condition. He has been on the job for two years and
recently transferred from the San Francisco Bay Area to Humboldt County,
about 100 miles south of the Oregon state line.
Klamath-Trinity Joint Unified School District Superintendent Jon Ray told
the newspaper that several area schools closed Friday in light of the
incident.
"It has a large impact, especially with students and kids, when they know
somebody and know them very well and see them every day at school," Ray
said. "It is hard to get through something like that."
tml?_r=0
WILLOW CREEK, Calif. - A California Highway Patrol officer shot and killed a
17-year-old who attacked him with a machete, and the officer was
hospitalized with major injuries, officials said.
The officer had responded to a report of a car hitting a telephone pole
Thursday in the Humboldt County community of Willow Creek, CHP Capt. Adam
Jager told the Eureka Times-Standard (http://bit.ly/1DVeozS ).
The officer and the boy stepped to the rear of the damaged car when the teen
attacked the officer, Jager said. The officer raised his left arm to defend
himself, Jager said, and also was struck on the hand and face.
Jager said the officer shot the teen an undisclosed number of times before
locking himself in his patrol car and calling for backup. The teenager
returned to his car and was honking the horn, Jager said.
Another officer arrived about 10 minutes later and found the teen lying
naked next to his car, Jager said. The boy did not respond to the officer's
commands, and the officer used a stun gun to place the teen in handcuffs.
Jager described the teen as "completely erratic and irrational."
Paramedics treated the boy, who died at the scene. Officials said they had
no history with the teen and the motive for the attack was unclear.
Officials did not immediately release the name of the teen or the officer,
who was in stable condition. He has been on the job for two years and
recently transferred from the San Francisco Bay Area to Humboldt County,
about 100 miles south of the Oregon state line.
Klamath-Trinity Joint Unified School District Superintendent Jon Ray told
the newspaper that several area schools closed Friday in light of the
incident.
"It has a large impact, especially with students and kids, when they know
somebody and know them very well and see them every day at school," Ray
said. "It is hard to get through something like that."
Ambushed New York officers were 'simply assassinated,' Bratton says
Are we returning to the climate that existed in the late 1960's and '70's when police were targeted for assassination by anarchists and revolutionaries?
NEW YORK—A man who posted anti-police rantings on the Internet ambushed and shot to death two New York City police officers at they sat in their patrol car Saturday, authorities said.
"Two of New York's finest were shot and killed with no warning, no provocation," Police Commissioner William J. Bratton said. "They were quite simply assassinated—targeted for their uniform."
The officers were identified as Rafael Ramos, 40, who was married with a 13-year-old son, and Wenjin Liu, who was married a few months ago.
Bratton, speaking at a news conference Saturday night, said the gunman took a shooting stance on the passenger's side of the patrol car and fired several times, striking both officers in the head.
The gunman fled to a subway station and shot himself in the head, Bratton said. He was taken to a Brooklyn hospital, where he was pronounced dead.
The man also shot and seriously wounded his girlfriend in Baltimore County, Md., on Saturday morning, Bratton said. County detectives received information from the victim's family that the man had associations in Brooklyn and could be going there. Maryland authorities sent a wanted flier about the man to New York at 2:45.
"Tragically, this was essentially at the same time that our officers were being ambushed and murdered," Bratton said.
The shooting, which occurred around 2:50 p.m. outside a housing project, comes amid heightened tension between New York police and activists who have held nearly nightly marches to protest what they say is police brutality
Monday, December 22, 2014
Criticism Is a Given in Police Work
The other side of the story. Amusing anecdotes and so typical. Frequently when citizens call on the police to arrest a violent troublemaker they expect the police to do so decisively and without delay. Yet at the same time many of these same citizens seem to have no concept on what it takes to actually subdue and take into custody a violent, resisting offender. They seem to imagine that the police have some magic way of subduing people and thus are frequently shocked when the police use “force’ to take the suspect into custody. Even when the police use some method that doesn’t require “physical force”, such as a Taser, stun gun or pepper spray, they are still shocked. Isn’t that what they wanted, something that incapacitates people without laying hands (or nightsticks) on them, sort of like the Star Trek “phaser”? Go figure? Of course that gives one an indication of why criminals so frequently believe they will not meet any resistance from the people they victimize.
From the “Add It Up” column American Handgunner magazine, March/April 2013 Issue
-Assaults on cops in 2011: 54,774
- Percentage of the time suspects used only fists, hands or feet during attacks: 79.9%
- Law enforcement officers killed in the line of duty in 2011: 72
- Assailants identified in the murders of those officers: 77
- Assailants with prior criminal records: 64
- Number of hot dogs in a package: 10
- Number of buns in a package: 8 (Go figure it?)
-Percentage of Handgunner readers planning on buying a revolver soon: 38%
Percentage of Handgunner readers who reload: 44%
Iraq's Shiite fighters desert over shortages
BAGHDAD — Abu Murtada al-Moussawi answered the call last summer from Iraq's top Shiite cleric to help save the country from the Islamic State group, but after less than three months on the front lines he and several friends returned home because they had run out of food.
"Sometimes, we didn't have enough money to buy mobile scratch cards to call our families," al-Moussawi, a Shiite from the southern city of Basra, said. "Everybody felt like we were being forgotten by the government."
Now Iraq's Shiite religious establishment is urging the faithful to donate food, money and supplies. The clerics hope to prevent a repeat of last summer's collapse of Iraq's demoralized army in the face of the Islamic State group's lightning advance, which saw the extremists capture the country's second largest city Mosul and sweep south toward the capital.
Shortly after the June blitz across northern Iraq, tens of thousands of Shiite men answered a nationwide call-to-arms by the top Shiite cleric, Grand Ayatollah Ali al-Sistani. Many volunteers came from the country's most impoverished areas and were barely able to make ends meet even before taking up arms.
The Shiite fighters are credited with helping to stall the militants' advance outside Baghdad, breaking the siege of the northern Shiite-majority town of Amirli in August, and later driving the militants out of Jurf al-Sakher south of the capital.
Al-Moussawi was deployed along with fellow militiamen in Latifiyah, a town 30 kilometers (20 miles) south of Baghdad, with orders to keep the Islamic State group out of Sunni areas along the so-called Baghdad Belt. But over the past two months, the number of men in al-Moussawi's unit has dwindled, with as many as 1,000 deserting over economic hardship, he said.
In the upscale Baghdad neighborhood of Harthiya, a representative from al-Sistani's office recently urged his followers to donate food and money to the Shiite militias — warning that many fighters had already deserted.
He said that instead of spending money on cooking the traditional large meals to mark a recent holiday, Shiites should instead donate to front-line militiamen. Since then, donations of money, clothing and food have begun pouring into the local Shiite mosque and charity office.
Issam Abbas said he and other merchants in Basra have begun sending four truckloads of food and water to the front lines each month as their contribution to the war against the Islamic State group.
"I and other traders cannot leave our businesses, so we consider our monthly donations as a jihad against the terrorists," he said.
In the Baghdad Shiite stronghold of Sadr City, desperately-needed ammunition is being purchased through donations by wealthy Shiites. The drive to send weapons to the Shiite fighters has pushed the price of a single bullet from 40 cents to about $2, while an AK-47 is now sold for $800 compared to just $350 a few months ago.
Hassan Saleh, owner of a cafe in Sadr City, took part in battles against the IS group north of Baghdad in September. But he and his fellow militiamen never received any financial support from the government and depended completely on donations and their own money to meet their daily needs, he said. In early October, he returned home to look after his family.
"The government's negligence toward us has created bitterness among the volunteer fighters risking their lives in order to protect the country," he said. "We did not receive any salary, while the government is continuing to pay the salaries of the soldiers and the policemen who abandoned their positions without fighting in June."
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