UPDATE: 13 Dead, Including Gunman, In Shooting At Virginia Beach Municipal Center
UPDATE: 13 dead, including gunman, in shooting at Virginia Beach Municipal Center
VIRGINIA BEACH
A longtime city employee shot and killed 12 people and injured at least four others after opening fire Friday afternoon in the public works building, making it the country’s deadliest mass shooting this year.
Police said officers killed the man, whom they did not name, after he fired at them in the city’s scenic Municipal Center in Princess Anne, a campus of about 30 brick Colonial-style buildings.
The four injured were all in surgery Friday, Police Chief James Cervera said during a news conference a couple of hours after the massacre.
One officer was shot during the exchange but was saved by his bulletproof vest, the chief said.
“This is the most devastating day in the history of Virginia Beach,” Mayor Bobby Dyer said in the news conference. “The people involved are our friends, co-workers, neighbors and colleagues.”
Friday’s rampage is believed to be the worst mass killing in Virginia Beach’s history. Prior to this week, a shooting on June 30, 1994, at the Witchduck Inn held that distinction: Four people — the business owner, two employees and a patron — were shot to death at the restaurant. It also came on the heels of a shooting in Chesapeake’s Holly Cove community over Memorial Day weekend that left one dead and nine others injured.
In the U.S., it is the deadliest attack since the November 2018 shooting at Borderline Bar & Grill in California, when 12 people were killed.
L. Todd Spencer/Staff Police work the scene where 12 people were killed during a mass shooting at the Virginia Beach city public works building on Friday evening, May 31, 2019. The shooter, a current and longtime public utilities employee, also was killed. An officer was shot, but was saved by his bulletproof vest.
The gunfire in Virginia Beach began shortly after 4 p.m. as workers were preparing to leave for the weekend. The shooting occurred in building 2, next to City Hall near the intersection of Nimmo Parkway and Princess Anne Boulevard. The planning, public utilities, public works departments and others are located there. The three-story brick building on Courthouse Drive houses about 400 workers.
Many of the employees work out of small office spaces along long hallways. The doors are typically unlocked and open to the public.
The shooter on Friday was a current employee of the public utilities department, Cervera said. He came armed with a .45-caliber handgun with a sound suppressor on it and shot one victim in a vehicle outside before entering the building. The rest were shot inside.
Cervera said police found victims on every floor of the building.
Four officers responded, found the gunman almost immediately and then initiated what became a long gunfight with the suspect, Cervera said. After an officer shot the suspect, they administered first aid.
Virginia Beach police are investigating with help from the FBI and state police, he said. They’re still working to identify victims and contact family members. They’re also still working to notify the suspect’s next of kin. Once that is done, Cervera said, his department plans to name the suspect only once out of respect for the victims.
Cervera said the city offices now resemble a “war zone.”
Megan Banton, an administrative assistant in the public utilities office where the man worked, said her supervisor heard a noise then shouted for everyone to get down.
The supervisor then pulled Banton and others into her office and shoved a desk against the door while Banton called 911.
“It felt like forever,” Banton said.
Zand Bakhtiari was one of only five people left in the geographic information services department — located on the first floor of the building — at the end of the day Friday when his supervisor, who had left the office, texted to say there was an active shooter and to shelter in place.
Bakhtiari wasn’t nervous until he heard the gunshots — lots of them, one round in quick succession. He said it sounded like an automatic weapon.
“It was repeated, rapid gunfire,” he said. It sounded like it was coming from above or below him on the second floor or the basement, he said.
After a few minutes — Bakhtiari doesn’t know how much time passed — the bullets stopped, but the fire alarm had been set off. And he could smell the gunpowder.
He assumed it was over when he heard the fire alarm, but he and his co-workers didn’t know whether to evacuate or stay put, so they all came out of their individual offices and huddled together.
L. Todd Spencer/StaffA police officer stands out in front of City Hall next to the building where 12 people were killed during a mass shooting at the Virginia Beach city public works building on Friday, May 31, 2019. The shooter, a current and longtime public utilities employee, also was killed.
After about 10 minutes, officers and SWAT team members came in, told them to duck down and keep their hands up as they escorted employees out and checked every room.
Arthur Felton, an 18-year employee in the planning department, was also inside when the shooting started. He evacuated the building after a co-worker heard gunshots.
“I never thought this would happen in my building,” Felton said. “The people who were shot — I’m sure I know most of them.”
Employees’ family members were sent to Princess Anne Middle School to reunite with loved ones.
Jonathon Gruenke/Staff Police personnel from various agencies stand outside Princess Anne Middle School in Virginia Beach on Friday evening, May 31, 2019.
Paul Swain’s fiancee sent him a text message at 4:17 p.m. that said, “They are shooting on my floor.” He said he drove to the Municipal Center so fast he was pulled over for speeding.
The officer let him go when he told him why he was driving fast.
Swain made it to the area but was directed to reunite with his fiancee at Princess Anne Middle School.
“My heart is just pounding,” he said as he waited to see her again. Swain reunited with her in the parking lot.
Police did not allow media on the school’s property. When he walked into the school, he said, he was greeted by staff who had a checklist of names. People were waiting for their families in the cafeteria, he said.
Vicki Cronis-Nohe/Freelance Emergency vehicles fill the parking lot at the Princess Anne Middle School in Virginia Beach, Va, on Friday, May 31, 2019. A longtime city employee opened fire at a municipal building in Virginia Beach on Friday, killing 11 people before police shot and killed him, authorities said. Six other people were wounded in the shooting, including a police officer whose bulletproof vest saved his life, said Virginia Beach Police Chief James Cervera.
Amy Woody is trying to find her neighbor of 20 years who didn’t come home from her job at the city. She said her neighbor always returns home around 4 p.m. but wasn’t answering her text messages or phone calls. Woody arrived at the school shortly after 8:30 p.m. with her two dogs.
“I just want to make sure she is OK,” she said. “It’s definitely a very solemn feeling right now. It’s hard.”
Cheryl Benn rushed to the school after getting a frantic call from her husband, David, who is a traffic engineer and works in the building. At first all she could hear when he called was sirens.
She said her husband barricaded himself in a room away from the shooter and held the door shut until police told him it was safe to leave.
“He was definitely a little freaked out,” Benn said.
While her husband gave detectives a statement, Benn waited outside the school with her dog.
“Some of those people could be his co-workers,” she said.
Public Works spokesman Drew Lankford, who works in the building where the shooting occurred, left the office on Friday afternoon to get a haircut. While he was gone, his daughter called and said there had been a shooter in his work building.
His daughter, who works in the City Hall building nearby, said security told people to get under their desks. He rushed back to the office and saw police taking cover behind parked cars with their guns drawn.
City Councilwoman Barbara Henley had pulled up to the City Hall building just after 4 p.m. to pick up the agenda as she does every week when she heard sirens and saw police cars.
“I thought it was an accident,” Henley said.
As she parked in the lot between buildings 1 and 2, she noticed city employees standing outside using their cellphones. Someone told her there was a shooting and she should leave. Henley had gotten back in her car when she heard a male voice shout, “Get down!”
People scattered.
“I was scared to death,” said Henley, who quickly drove home.
Henley said she’s never seen a situation like this before at the Municipal Center, adding that security has recently been beefed up in the City Hall building as a result of shooting incidents across the nation. Not all the municipal buildings at the complex take the same security measures, she said.
Late on Friday, Virginia Gov. Ralph Northam, who arrived in Virginia Beach a few hours after the shooting, said the people who died were heading into the summer weekend.
“That they should be taken in this manner is the worst kind of tragedy,” Northam said. “Their families are facing painful loss and grief. They each leave a hole and a family in their neighborhood, in this community and in our Commonwealth.”
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“Ghost” In Student’s Closet is a Man Wearing Her Clothes
Imagine if you were living in your students-only apartment building near to campus and kept noticing that your clothes and other items had gone missing. This happened even when you made sure your door was always locked, and you didn’t see any signs that someone had broken in.
A student at the University of North Carolina had this happen to her for a few weeks. When her clothes kept going missing, and she found mysterious handprints on the bathroom walls, she and her roommate were freaked out and thought they might have a ghost in their apartment.
And One Saturday Afternoon…
One Saturday afternoon the student kept hearing a rustling from her closet that sounded like a raccoon. She was like “Who’s here?” and got a fright when someone answered her.
When she opened the closet door, she found a guy sitting inside wearing her clothes. He was wearing her socks, shoes and even had a book bag filled with her clothes.
The student said the intruder, who called himself “Drew”, tried on her hat, went into the bathroom, looked in the mirror and said, “you’re beautiful, can I give you a hug?” He didn’t end up touching her. It’s possible that he was ‘high’ at the time.
Who was Andrew Swofford?
The police took the guy, Andrew Swofford, to jail and discovered he had a record. His rap sheet included identity theft, breaking, larceny and failing to appear in court on other cases.
Swoffard had probably got into the apartment through an open window. After his arrest, when he went quietly without putting up a fight, the maintenance manager of the complex found a living room window unlocked and a bit open with a damaged screen.
The student and her roommate didn’t feel safe after what happened, and they asked for a different apartment. One student who has lived in the apartment building for three years said it hadn’t changed her mind about staying there and it was the first time anything like this had happened.
The property management company is doing some damage control as the incident made the national news and may cause other students to think twice before renewing their leases.
They are taking steps to ensure that other students don’t find strange men in their closets in the future. Everyone is on window inspection duty to make sure no-one gets into an apartment in this way again.
Source: http://bit.ly/2X78xDI
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A Judge Has Blocked Mississippi’s 6-Week Abortion Ban
“Here we go again,” wrote US District Judge Carlton Reeves, who had previously ruled against Mississippi’s 15-week abortion law in November.
Reporting From
Washington, DC
WASHINGTON — A federal judge in Mississippi on Friday temporarily blocked the state from enforcing a new law that largely bans abortion after a fetal heartbeat is detected, usually around six weeks.
“Here we go again,” wrote US District Judge Carlton Reeves, who previously ruled against Mississippi’s 15-week abortion law in November after concluding it was unconstitutional.
Reeves wrote that the US Supreme Court had “repeatedly held” that women have the right to choose to have an abortion before the fetus is viable. A fetus wasn’t viable at 15 weeks, he wrote, which meant it wasn’t viable at six weeks either. He granted a preliminary injunction blocking the state from enforcing the law while the case went forward.
“By banning abortions after the detection of a fetal heartbeat, S.B. 2116 prevents a woman’s free choice, which is central to personal dignity and autonomy,” Reeves wrote. “This injury outweighs any interest the State might have in banning abortions after the detection of a fetal heartbeat.”
A spokesperson for the Mississippi attorney general’s office did not immediately return a request for comment.
Mississippi is one of five states to pass a fetal heartbeat law. Judges in Iowa, Kentucky, and North Dakota previously have blocked abortion bans in those states from taking effect. A lawsuit in Ohio is pending, and reproductive rights groups have vowed to file suit over a law in Georgia. None of these laws have taken effect yet.
Anti-abortion advocates see litigation over laws such as the one passed in Mississippi as vehicles to convince the Supreme Court to reconsider the 1973 decision in Roe v. Wade, which established that women have a constitutional right to abortion. Lower courts remain bound by Roe in the meantime, however.
The ACLU and Planned Parenthood filed a lawsuit Friday challenging a law passed in Alabama that, if it takes effect in November, would be the strictest abortion law in the nation — it makes it a crime for health care providers to perform all abortions unless the life of the women is in “serious” risk.
Reeves, who was confirmed to the US District Court for the Southern District of Mississippi in 2010, has been openly critical of the Trump administration and Senate Republicans, a rarity among federal judges. As BuzzFeed News reported in April, Reeves delivered a speech at a law school in April calling the Trump administration a “great assault on our judiciary” and comparing the president’s criticism of the judiciary to tactics used by the Ku Klux Klan and segregationists.
He blasted the White House and Senate Republicans for the lack of diversity among Trump’s judicial nominees, saying they were “not stumbling unaware towards a homogeneous judiciary.”
Source: http://bit.ly/2Qp4tMI
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14 shot in 48 hours in suspected gang violence in Atlanta
14 shot in 48 hours in suspected gang violence in Atlanta
NEWARK, N.J. (AP) — An MS-13 gang member who once was on the FBI’s top 10 list of most wanted fugitives has admitted killing a man on behalf of the gang and agreeing that a conspirator would commit multiple violent acts. Walter Yovany Gomez pleaded guilty Monday to racketeering conspiracy. Federal prosecutors will recommend that he receive a 25-year prison term when he’s sentenced July 31. A 2013 indictment charged Gomez and another man with the fatal beating and stabbing of a fellow gang member suspected of associating with a rival gang in Plainfield.
Two separate shooting scenes in two separate parts of Atlanta. Two days apart. Each with seven shooting victims. According to Atlanta Police, both shootings are believed to be gang-related.
Investigators said the two shootings are not connected. However, state officials said gang violence is at a crisis level in Georgia.
‘Certified gang member’ charged with second-degree murder in shooting death of 14-year-old
A 16-year-old is facing a second-degree murder charge after deputies say he was involved in the shooting death of a 14-year-old girl earlier this month. In the early morning hours of June 18, deputies said the girl was shot inside a vehicle near the intersection of Kingsway Road and East Clay Avenue in Brandon. The vehicle then drove about two miles to a Walgreens parking lot before someone called 911. Previous: 14-year-old girl dies after being shot in Brandon During a Wednesday morning news conference, Hillsborough County Sheriff Chad Chronister said the 16-year-old suspect is a “certified gang member.
In the first shooting, which took place early Thursday morning in Atlanta’s Old Fourth Ward area, investigators said several dozen shots were fired from two cars at a group of people standing in the 600 block of Parkway Drive, N.E.
According to police investigators, five men and one woman initially appeared to be targeted in the shooting. They later discovered that a seventh victim transported themselves to the hospital.
“Several of them are known, documented gang members,” said Atlanta Police Major Michael O’Connor. “They were out there in the very early morning hours.”
“The neighborhood itself, you know, it’s somewhat challenged – this particular series of apartment complexes that stretches for a while,” O’Connor said. “That’s been the case since I’ve joined the police department. The entire time I’ve been here it’s been something of a drug market over there.”
Guide murdered alongside American doctor had trouble with a local gang, police say
Dr. Gary Swank was visiting the Central American country and he was found dead Sunday alongside a local tour guide, identified as Mario Graniel.
He said it is not a new problem in that neighborhood, which is only a few blocks from the revitalized Ponce City Market area and the BeltLine.
“As we pick one person off, somebody else fills that spot,” O’Connor said. “So we continue to work on it diligently. It’s an ongoing effort; it has been for decades now.”
Police said they have several significant leads in the case. They are looking for multiple suspects and are searching for one silver car and one other dark-colored car.
The second shooting took place in the Mechanicsville neighborhood of Southwest Atlanta late Friday night in the 700 block of Ira Street, S.W. at about 11:15 p.m.
White said that seven people were hit by gunfire when, according to witnesses, a black SUV and a black sedan drove into the location and began firing into a group of people. He said that four vehicles were also damaged by gunfire.
So far this year, 1,229 people have been shot in Chicago, about 100 fewer than the first six months of 2018, and the lowest total since 2015. Police also said there have been 236 murders through the end of June, 21 fewer than the same time period last year. During the violence over the weekend, 17-year-old Jarise Baker was shot and killed early Saturday in the North Lawndale neighborhood. Baker was walking his girlfriend home around 12:30 a.m. near 18th and Keeler, when someone in a passing car shot them both. Baker was shot in the chest and upper body, and died at Mount Sinai Hospital.
The shooting victims took themselves to hospitals for treatment, according to White.
Police said that shooting is also believed to be gang-related. However, is not believed to be connected to the Parkway Drive incident.
In April, Georgia Gov. Brian Kemp launched a gang task force, with the goal of reducing what state officials are calling a crisis.
“Nearly every county in Georgia has reported gang activity,” Kemp said. “I’ve made my position clear when it comes to street gangs and drug cartels. It is a serious issue in our state. One we cannot afford to ignore.”
Kemp said there are about 71,000 gang members in the state of Georgia.
“Most crimes are gang-related, specifically violent crimes – the aggravated assaults, the drive-by shootings, the murders,” according to Jaret Usher, the former Cobb County prosecutor who is leading the task force.
“When you look further into why these are happening and the motivation behind them and the evidence that comes out, the statistics do back up that they are gang-motivated and gang-related.”
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‘I gotta check on everybody else’: VB shooting witness recalls heroic moment of victim Ryan ‘Keith’ Cox
VIRGINIA BEACH, Va. (WAVY) — Before he was known as one of the dozen victims killed in Friday’s mass shooting, Keith Cox was known as a hero.
Christi Dewar was one of the city employees at the Virginia Beach Municipal Center in Building 2 that was spared from the rampage — and she says she owes it to her late friend, Cox.
It began with popping sounds. Dewar says she thought it was the sound of construction. Special Coverage: Virginia Beach Mass Shooting
But then Dewar saw people running down the halls, yelling “active shooter!” She and seven other people began to run too. That’s when they came across Cox.
“He said ‘get in Lori’s office now. Barricade the office. Get in there.’ and I said ‘come on Keith’ and he said ‘I gotta check on everybody else.’ And we closed and locked the door and we pushed the cabinet up against the door and it was not too long after that DeWayne tried to come in and he fired four shots. And I looked out and two of the shots had almost come through the cabinet, the back of the cabinet,” said Christi.
Virginia Beach Police identified the shooting suspect as longtime city employee DeWayne Craddock, 40, who had submitted his resignation earlier that day.
After the gunfire stopped, Dewar says police came to escort them out of the building.
“They took us down the south stairwell. There was a body there and I didn’t know who it was, couldn’t tell. There’s so much blood everywhere and I started just shaking and crying, just heaving,” said Dewar. “The officer said ‘you’re strong, you can do this. You need to step over and come with me.’ I said ‘I can’t.’ He said ‘yes you can.’ I found out later that the person I had to step over was one of my friends Missy.”
After the shooting, Dewar reached out to Cox’s parents. She wanted to let them know how brave their son was.
Dewar said, “If it wasn’t for him there would have been several more people that had perished. He was a hero. A guardian angel that walked this earth that didn’t deserve to leave us so soon.”
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WATCH: Alligator breaks into woman’s kitchen in Florida; video goes viral!
Clarifying that the red liquid in the video is not blood, the police department tweeted, “The male alligator was 10 to 11 feet in length. During the apprehension, the alligator knocked over several bottles of wine. The red liquid in the video is wine, not blood.”
When she went to investigate the place, she found herself facing the large reptile in her kitchen. “I had this beautiful face staring at me as though he belonged there,” Wischhusen told Spectrum News. A video of the large intruder was also shared by the official handle of the Clearwater Police Department. A homeowner in Florida was surprised when she found out that an 11-foot alligator had broken into her kitchen early Friday morning. According to a CNN report, 77-year-old Mary Wischhusen was woken up at around 3.30 am by a loud crash at her house in Clearwater, Florida.
e of the Clearwater Police Department.
An unwanted overnight visitor was removed from a home on Eagles Landing in #Clearwater. The 11-foot-long gator broke into the home through some low windows in the kitchen. @myclearwaterPD and a trapper responded to the scene. The gator was captured and there were no injuries. pic.twitter.com/MKNH0UPQXp
— City of Clearwater, FL (@MyClearwater) May 31, 2019
See you later, alligator 🐊 A scaly 11-foot-long gator broke into a Clearwater home overnight through some low windows in their kitchen. Clearwater Police officers and a trapper responded to the scene to capture and remove the gator. There were no injuries. pic.twitter.com/jsOxRNfkEV
— Clearwater Police Department (@myclearwaterPD) May 31, 2019
Clarifying that the red liquid in the video is not blood, the police department tweeted, “The male alligator was 10 to 11 feet in length. During the apprehension, the alligator knocked over several bottles of wine. The red liquid in the video is wine, not blood.” More visuals were also shared by a Twitter account @MyClearwater.
Once shared online, it did not take long for the video and the pictures to go viral, triggering many reactions online.
We know you've been chomping at the bit for more visuals from today's alligator trespassing in Clearwater🐊 The male alligator was 10 to 11 feet in length. During the apprehension, the alligator knocked over several bottles of wine. The red liquid in the video is wine, not blood. pic.twitter.com/x6ktib6ajl
— Clearwater Police Department (@myclearwaterPD) May 31, 2019
According to the news website, the police called a trapper and the animal was safely removed from the home. However, many wine bottles were knocked by the reptile.
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20 people dead in El Paso shooting, 26 injured Texas governor says!
20 people dead in El Paso shooting, 26 injured Texas governor says!
(CNN)Twenty people were killed and more than two dozen were injured in a mass shooting at an El Paso shopping center on Saturday, according to Texas and local authorities.”Lives were taken who should still be with us today,” Gov. Greg Abbott said at a news conference.Twenty-six people were injured, according to El Paso Police Chief Greg Allen.What we know about the shooting in El Paso, Texas“The ages and genders of all these people injured and killed are numerous in the age groups,” Allen said. “The situation, needless to say, is a horrific one.”A 21-year-old white man from Allen, Texas, is in police custody, Allen said. Authorities are looking at potentially bringing capital murder charges against him.FOLLOW LIVE UPDATESThe case also has a “nexus to a potential hate crime,” he said.”Right now, we have a manifesto from this individual that indicates to some degree a nexus to a potential hate crime,” Allen said.FBI El Paso Special Agent in Charge Emmerson Buie said more investigative work was needed before determining whether there was a possible hate crime.
Authorities on the scene of a shooting at a Walmart near Cielo Vista Mall in El Paso.CNN reported the suspect is 21-year-old Patrick Crusius of Allen, just outside Dallas, according to three sources.Two federal law enforcement sources and one state government source confirmed the suspect’s identity. The federal sources said investigators are reviewing an online writing posted days before the shooting that may speak to a motive.The online posting was believed to be written by Crusius, the sources said, but that has not been confirmed.
‘This was a massacre’
The first call of an active shooter went out at 10:39 a.m. local time, Allen said. The first officer arrived on scene six minutes later.El Paso Police Sgt. Robert Gomez previously told reporters police were initially given multiple possible locations for the shooting, at a Walmart and the Cielo Vista Mall next door.
WalmartCielo Vista Mall
“This is a large crime scene, a large area,” Gomez said of the scene Saturday afternoon.Multiple agencies responded to the scene, including the FBI, the sheriff’s department, the state Department of Public Safety and Border Patrol.The crime scene will “be in play for a long period,” Allen said. “Unfortunately, the deceased will remain at the scene until the scene is processed properly for evidentiary purposes to be gathered for later prosecution.”
El Paso Police Department Sgt. Robert Gomez briefs media on a shooting that occurred at a Walmart.Officials from two local hospitals said they had received at least 23 people.Thirteen people were taken to University Medical Center of El Paso, spokesman Ryan Mielke told CNN, and one of them has died. Two children with non-life-threatening injuries were transferred to a children’s medical facility, Mielke said.Eleven victims were transported to the Del Sol Medical Center, hospital spokesman Victor Guerrero said. Nine are in critical but stable condition, he said.At least two of the patients are in a “life-threatening predicament,” according to Del Sol Medical Center Dr. Stephen Flaherty. He said the patients ranged in age from 25 to 82. Two are in stable condition, he said, and seven required emergency operations.”This was a massacre,” US Rep. Veronica Escobar, who represents the area, told CNN. Escobar has received conflicting reports on the numbers of casualties, she said, but added, “The numbers are shocking.”
Footage shows people lying on the ground outside Walmart
Walmart issued a statement regarding the shooting, saying, “We’re in shock over the tragic events at Cielo Vista Mall in El Paso. … We’re praying for the victims, the community & our associates, as well as the first responders.”Inside the mall, crowds hid inside stores after hearing reports of an active shooter, according to 26-year-old Brandon Chavez, an employee at Forever 21.Chavez had just started his shift when he saw customers and staff members running to the stock room to take shelter.”There were about 20 children and adults, plus employees, hiding, all cramped like sardines,” he told CNN. “Most of us were desperate, some were on their phones. There were girls crying, people trying to talk to each other and women with babies in their arms.”
Shoppers exit with their hands up after a shooting in El Paso, Texas, on Saturday.Store employees had closed the glass doors but he could see police officers walking around the mall and evacuating people from other stores.After police officers knocked on the store’s doors, Chavez said his group had to leave the store, forming a line with their hands up and running.In a shaky Snapchat video aired by CNN, a woman holding the camera frantically runs with a small group of girls or women through a mall department store and into a parking lot.As the group hurries past racks of clothes and cases of merchandise, voices off camera shout, “Hands up!”Once in the parking lot, one member of the group asks, “What happened?””I don’t know,” the woman holding the camera responds. “I don’t know.”Another video, shot from outside the Walmart, showed people lying on the ground, some of them next to a table set up by the store’s entrance.
Authorities respond to an active shooter at a Walmart near Cielo Vista Mall in El Paso.”There’s a man lying down at the stand that a school set up,” the man holding the camera says in Spanish.”Help!” a man screams in English.”We need CPR,” someone else says. “We need CPR.”
‘Our community will heal,’ mayor says
Mayor Dee Margo said Saturday evening that his city would rise above this “senseless and evil act of violence.””We will be defined by the unity and compassion we showed in the wake of this tragedy,” he said. “United, our community will heal.”Nowhere was that spirit more on display than at blood donation centers. Authorities had said donations were urgently needed, and said if local residents wanted to help, they should make appointments to do so.Frances Yepez, waiting in line at one blood donation center, said the center was at max capacity and dozens of people were waiting to make appointments for Sunday or Monday.”It’s easy to make a dollar, but it’s harder to make a difference,” she said. “So I get out there and do whatever I can do to help.”She said the mood there was somber, and she could hear sniffling as the crowd of people learned updates over the television.
White House pledges ‘total support’
President Donald Trump has been briefed on the shooting, and the White House is monitoring the situation, deputy press secretary Steven Groves said in a statement.”Terrible shootings in El Paso, Texas,” the President tweeted Saturday afternoon. “Reports are very bad, many killed. Working with State and Local authorities, and Law Enforcement. Spoke to Governor to pledge total support of Federal Government. God be with you all!”
Terrible shootings in ElPaso, Texas. Reports are very bad, many killed. Working with State and Local authorities, and Law Enforcement. Spoke to Governor to pledge total support of Federal Government. God be with you all!
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) August 3, 2019
Democratic presidential candidate Beto O’Rourke, who once represented the area in Congress, addressed the shooting while at a speaking event in Las Vegas.”We know there is a lot of injury, a lot of suffering in El Paso right now,” he said. “I am incredibly sad and it is very hard to think about this.””But I’ll tell you, El Paso is the strongest place in the world,” he added. “This community is going to come together.”O’Rourke said he would be cutting short his trip to Las Vegas to return to El Paso.Gov. Abbott tweeted late Saturday afternoon that he had arrived in El Paso.”Texans grieve today for the people of this wonderful place. We united in support of all the victims. We thank First Responders for their swift action,” the governor said. “We ask God to bind up the wounds of all who’ve been harmed.”The scene was unfolding in the same week two employees were fatally shot at a Walmart store in Southaven, Mississippi, and three people were shot and killed at the Gilroy Garlic Festival in California.
CNN’s Josh Campbell, Evan Perez, Ed Lavandera, Theresa Waldrop, Artemis Moshtaghian, Shawn Nottingham and Jay Croft contributed to this report.
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DABABY KNOCKS OUT RAPPER CAM COLDHEART IN MALL!
DaBaby had to put the paws on Cam Coldheart inside the Louis Vuitton store on Saturday.
The videos kick off with Cam recording and talking hot. “You a b*tch. Y’all look at the n**ga DaBaby. That n**ga DaBaby in here talking some shit,” Coldheart can be heard saying. “He walking up on me and shit like he about to do something. What you gon’ do? What you taking your shit off for?”
“When bullying Baby on the internet goes wrong,” the “Suge” rapper said. Cam is seen in the video with a bloody face and his pants around his ankles.
There’s no telling how that happened but he went online claiming that he was jumped by DaBaby and his security guard.
After posting the footage of the fight, the “Baby on Baby” rapper posted another video to his Instagram account. It was a clip from his “Suge” music video where the lyrics say “I’ll slap the shit out a n**ga/No talkin’, I don’t like to argue with n**gas (I don’t).”
This who drama stems from Cam saying DaBaby is falsely repping North Carolina and he’s originally from Ohio. The Billion Dollar Baby CEO simply laughed at Cam’s claims and told him to “DO SUMN.” Well he tried to and things just didn’t end too well for him.
Source: http://bit.ly/2X90Uwv
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YouTuber Jake Paul Is Taking The Allegation Of A Woman Being Drugged At His House Party “Very Seriously,” His Lawyer Says
Los Angeles authorities are investigating a woman’s allegation that someone may have put something in her drink, causing her to “black out,” at Paul’s massive house party in Calabasas.
A woman’s allegation that she blacked out after possibly being drugged at Jake Paul’s party at his Calabasas mansion is being taken “very seriously” by the 22-year-old YouTuber, his lawyer stated on Tuesday.
The Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Department is investigating “a possible single occurrence of unwillful impairment” based on the woman’s complaint filed Sunday, a day after Paul threw the party for rapper Desiigner’s 22nd birthday.
The woman told police that she may have blacked out after “something was put in her drink” at the party, authorities said.
“We take this claim very seriously,” Paul’s attorney, Stanton “Larry” Stein, said. “And we are working with authorities to make absolutely sure we do our part to uncover the truth.”
A representative for Paul, who did not wish to be identified, said that Los Angeles authorities had not yet questioned Paul or even approached him for an interview as part of the investigation.
The representative said that Paul never saw anyone pass out at the party and that he “certainly wasn’t involved” or anywhere around where the woman may have lost consciousness.
A spokesperson for the Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Department declined to provide details about the investigation on Tuesday.
Paul’s representative suggested that one could expect at least some of the guests to drink excessively and get sick at a party that was attended by hundreds of young people.
The representative said that Paul’s party planner had hired 38 security officers who checked everybody’s IDs and were stationed both inside and outside Paul’s mansion to help keep the party under control.
The planner had also arranged for an ambulance with paramedics on the driveway because the party featured motocross and boxing events.
Instagram: @undefined
Arman Izadi, a nightclub promoter and self-proclaimed “mood director,” said in an Instagram post that he was in charge of Paul’s $500,000 party.
Izadi had previously pleaded guilty in Las Vegas to attempted battery with substantial bodily harm, the Daily Beast reported last year.
Izadi was also arrested in 2013 on charges related to robbery, kidnapping, pimping, and battery after three women testified to a grand jury that Izadi had recruited them at parties and made them work as prostitutes, the Daily Beast reported. Most of the charges against him were later dropped amid allegations of misconduct by one of the Las Vegas detectives working on Izadi’s case.
Izadi didn’t immediately respond to a request for comment.
Instagram: @undefined Arman Izadi (left) with Jake Paul (center).
A singer who attended Paul’s party on Saturday said that she did not see or hear about anyone being drugged, but that she saw an “inebriated” woman being escorted out of the party by a few security officers.
Rosette Luve said on Tuesday that she saw the woman walking, adding that she looked “super intoxicated.” Luve said that she hadn’t heard about drinks being spiked with drugs and that nothing happened to her girlfriends who “drank all night.”
Another guest at the party, Tasha Mackk, stated that she didn’t see any drugs at the party.
“Just a bar and a good time,” she said.
Source:http://bit.ly/3053LZ8
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Who is this alien? Why, it’s the psychedelic frogfish.
“Who is this alien?” is Mashable’s enduring series about the exceptionally peculiar critters that inhabit a relatively small, ocean-dominated world in the outer realms of the Milky Way galaxy, called Earth. Many of these lifeforms, you’ll find, are quite alien.
Hiding in the nooks and crannies of dead piles of Indonesian coral is a pudgy fish, wholly covered in swirls of orange and white. Seen from the right perspective, the critter might be mistaken for a vibrantly colored brain.
But amid the explosion of whirling lines are cryptic, aquamarine eyes and a camouflaged frown. Inhabiting shallow seas around the tropical Ambon Island, this creature was mostly unknown to the scientific world until 2008.
It’s the psychedelic frogfish.
“It’s an incredibly vibrant frogfish,” said Rachel Arnold, a marine scientist who coauthored the research that identified the kaleidoscopic creature as a new species.
Many frogfish — a stocky group of fish notorious for violently gobbling their prey — are also known for blending into their undersea worlds. Some look like sponges, and others like seaweed, noted Arnold. The psychedelic frogfish — or Histiophryne psychedelica — certainly takes camouflaging to an extreme level. “They do aggressive mimicry,” she said. The fish take on an appearance similar to species of tropical coral with whirling, orange patterns. “It reminded me of many patterns of corals I have seen,” said David Hall, an underwater wildlife photographer who captured the first shots of the frogfish.
A psychedelic frogfish in Ambon, Indonesia.
This allows the lumbering, ungainly fish to hole up in the shadowy coral as unassuming prey comes near. At the right time, perhaps when naive prey swim near or inside a fateful cavern amid the coral, the psychedelic frogfish will promptly “swallow them whole,” said Arnold.
Curiously, when Arnold traveled to Ambon to see these astonishing critters, hiding out amid coral rubble some 10 to 15 feet beneath the ocean surface, the psychedelic frogfish didn’t match the surrounding environment, which was devoid of the brain-like, orange corals that the psychedelic frogfish often resembles.
It’s unknown why the psychedelic frogfish live in these particular dark holes, then, and also why the fish seem to vanish from their Ambon homes for extended lengths of time, only to turn up once again.
“They’re still a bit of an enigma,” said Arnold. “It shows up and disappears for long periods of time.”
What’s more, the fish are fantastically-patterned, but never easy to find here — even when they’re known to be around. “If I had to search for these fish on my own, I would never have found them,” said the photographer Hall, noting that he relied upon a local guide who had previously spotted a psychedelic frogfish.
Though relatively new to science, the psychedelic frogfish are well-known to Indonesian locals — though before Hall no one had a camera in the right place at the right time.
A pair of psychedelic frogfish in Ambon, Indonesia.
“It’s the local people that really knew about its existence,” said Arnold. “The local people really understand more about this fish than we do.”
Yet with limited time diving around these elusive frogfish, Arnold and her team deciphered a good deal about the species. Most known frogfishes have a lure hanging from their head, which they hold out to attract prey, said Hall. But the psychedelic frogfish doesn’t carry a lure. It just waits for unwitting prey to pass by.
“The local people really understand more about this fish than we do”
True to its name, the psychedelic frogfish often “hops” around to get places, using its fins to push off the bottom of the seafloor. Curiously, when egg-bearing females emerge from their dark holes, they wrap their dorsal (back side) and tail fin around a peach-colored clutch of some 200 eggs, looking for safe harbor to place the priceless sacks of life.
Leaving hundreds of eggs on the coral-littered seafloor, however, poses modern-day problems. “Conservation-wise, it’s a pretty big red flag,” explained Arnold, noting that it would be easy for collectors — perhaps eager to capture the hallucinatory fish — to sleuth out the eggs and over-harvest the species.
Each psychedelic frogfish — while all almost fantastical and brilliantly patterned — is markedly distinct. Though, amid the profusion of lines and swirls, their unique line expressions might be indiscernible to the human eye.
“Their striping is like their fingerprint,” said Arnold.
Source: http://bit.ly/2vtj6F1
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A Former Cop Was Sentenced To 12 And A Half Years In Prison For Fatally Shooting An Unarmed Australian Yoga Teacher
“Uber took my daughter past the point of no return.”
The family of a 12-year-old Florida girl who died by suicide after taking an Uber alone is demanding the ride-hailing company make changes to enforce its policy of not allowing minors to use the service without an adult.
On the morning of Jan. 10 while her parents were sleeping, Benita Diamond downloaded the Uber app on her mother’s phone and requested a ride to a downtown Orlando parking garage, where she killed herself.
“I believe that if the driver had questioned or followed the rules or denied a ride, my daughter would be here today,” the girl’s mother, Lisha Chen, said during a press conference Thursday.
Uber requires all account holders to be at least 18 years old and prohibits children from riding without an adult. Drivers are instructed to decline ride requests if they suspect the person requesting the ride is underage and may request ID to confirm, according to the company.
“If a rider is underage, please do not start the trip or allow them to ride,” Uber’s website states.
But, according to her family, the 12-year-old was able to create an account without her parents knowledge on Jan. 8, using just a name, an email address, and a gift card she received for Christmas. Two days later, an Uber driver picked up the 4-foot-11-inch seventh-grader and drove her to the City Commons Parking Garage.
“At no point was she asked her name, was she asked her age — no questions were asked why a little girl under 5 feet tall dragging a polka-dot backpack was out in the wee hours of the morning by herself,” the family’s attorney, Laura Douglas, said.
An Uber spokesperson said in an email to BuzzFeed News that the incident had not been reported to the company over the last six months and that it was now investigating and planned to “take appropriate action.”
The spokesperson said that when the company receives a report of an underage rider it investigates to determine whether the driver or account holder should lose access to the app.
“Drivers are asked to report situations where a rider is underage to Uber for further review/investigation by our 24/7 customer support team,” the spokesperson said.
Benita’s parents described their daughter as a happy child who excelled in school and at playing the piano and performing jujitsu. They said she did not have a history of behavioral issues or mental illness.
“Everybody was shocked because nobody suspected she had any problems,” Chen said, adding that they still don’t know why she killed herself.
Ronald Diamond, the girl’s father, said their daughter wrote in a suicide note that she thought she would have more difficulty getting an Uber and that she was “basically … past the point of no return now.”
“I think if Uber had followed their policy, without a doubt our daughter would still be here. That would have been the one red flag that we would have caught,” Diamond said. “Uber took my daughter past the point of no return.”
The family is considering filing a lawsuit against the company in the hopes that Uber will better enforce its policies and make changes to prevent minors from creating accounts.
“I want other families not to go through this,” the girl’s grandfather Richard Diamond said. “It’s not just about suicide. It’s about all the other things that horrific happen to young kids when they’re on their own.”
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