AMBER GUYGER’S TEARS vs BOTHAM JEAN’S FAMILY TEARS:
IF BOTHAM JEAN SHOT AMBER HE WOULD HAVE BEEN SENTENCED TO LIFE.
AMBER’S TEARS WON’T RESURRECT BOTHAM JEAN.
FORGIVENESS DOES NOT ELIMINATE CONSEQUENCES.
Post Sources: ABC News, Inside Edition, Salon.com, Youtube
**** This time white tears didn't work: Why Amber Guyger's guilty verdict surprised me
The former Dallas police officer was found guilty of murdering her neighbor Botham Jean in his own apartment
Finally, a cop's white tears didn't work.
Fired Dallas police officer Amber R. Guyger, a white woman who shot and killed her unarmed black neighbor, Botham Shem Jean, was found guilty of murder on the second day of jury deliberations, an all-too-rare instance of the justice system holding police officers accountable for reckless actions.
The guilty verdict shocked me, and not because I’m used to being let down by the juries, grand juries, prosecutors and judges presiding over cops' cases.
It shocked me because Guyger had a weapon stronger than the law on her side; even more powerful than the gun she carried.
Guyger was armed with white tears. And in America, white tears are a source of ultimate power.
White tears helped kill Emmett Till, the 14-year-old black boy accused of whistling at a white woman in Mississippi back in 1955.
White tears almost allowed Susan Smith to get away with killing her own kids after claiming that an African American man was the culprit.
And white tears could have ruined the life of an innocent black man in Quincy, Mass, when a white woman said she was assaulted by a black male in his early 20s and only after police reviewed surveillance footage admitted she had made it up. Guyger invoked that power of white tears in court: "I was scared he was going to kill me," she said to the jury.
This time the outcome was justice.
Guyger, 31, lived in the same apartment complex as Jean.
On September 6, 2018, she entered Jean's apartment, which is on a different floor from hers. She says she thought she was in her apartment.
There she saw Jean eating ice cream, and she says she thought he was an intruder, so she shot him.
Jean died from his injuries in a nearby hospital.
Three days later, Guyger was arrested by Texas Rangers who took over the investigation.
Guyger was initially charged with manslaughter and terminated from the police force.
After a series of protests, public outrage, and a sorry attempt by the Dallas police department to smear Jean’s reputation as a Christian man, Guyger was charged with murder by a Dallas grand jury.
The disgraced Guyger faced a multiracial and multiethnic jury during her week-long trial that ended Tuesday in that shocking verdict.
Even though it seems like it would have been an open-and-shut case, African Americans know better.
We have seen how often cops continue to enjoy freedom after killing black people, even when the victims posed no threat, had no weapons, and the incidents were even caught on tape.
Freddie Gray, Eric Garner and Michael Brown — just to name a few — had no firearms on them.
They should be alive today and are not. All of their killers walked.
How does this happen? Cops who kill too often earn a get-out-of-jail-free card when they say “I feared for my life and the lives of my fellow officers.”
And Guyger tried it as well, claiming she was afraid Jean was going to kill her — even though by her logic he would have been more justified in shooting, because she had intruded into his apartment.
Guyger got the verdict she deserves, but I'd hold off on celebrating this turn of justice until she's sentenced.
Her conviction carries a sentence from five to 99 years, and she could easily receive a lesser penalty and be home soon.
And even if she is made to serve decades in prison, an innocent man is dead.
What will Dallas do to prevent another Amber Guyger incident?
Police officers have enormous powers — to take someone's freedom, to take their lives even.
Those powers were granted to Guyger, who then made a colossal, life-ending error in judgment while wielding those powers, with no checks in place to prevent those powers from killing a man.
According to Guyger, she was too tired to recognize her own home that night.
And yet she had enough cognitive control to fire deadly shots at a living being.
Jean had no weapon and, once again, was in his own home; and yet Guyger felt shooting him was her only option.
That's a serious issue — of training, of recruitment, of assessment — that goes deeper than one man's killing, and needs to be aggressively handled by the Dallas Police Department.
JEFFREY EPSTEIN’S AUTOPSY RESULTS; BROKEN NECK BONES RELATED TO STRANGULATION:
EPSTEIN WOULD NOT HAVE SNITCHED ON HIS HIGH PROFILED CLIENTS SO WHY WAS HE KILLED IN SUCH A GRUESOME MANNER?
FEDERAL PROSECUTION STAFF HAD GATHERED ENOUGH INVESTIGATIVE EVIDENCE TO LINK EPSTEIN’S ELITE CLIENTS TO CHILD SEX TRAFFICKING CRIMES.
THUS IT’S SAFE TO SAY EPSTEIN WAS MURDERED JUST PRIOR TO HIS TRIAL TO KEEP FROM HAVING HIS ELITE CLIENTS EXPOSED & HUMILIATED.
MORAL TO THIS STORY:
THE WHOLE WORLD NOW KNOWS THAT MANY SUPER WEALTHY PEOPLE ENJOY HAVING SEX WITH CHILDREN.
Post Sources: CBC News, CBS News, MSNBC, Washington Post, The Independent, PBS News, Yahoo News, Youtube
***** Autopsy finds broken bones in Jeffrey Epstein’s neck, deepening questions around his death
An autopsy found that financier Jeffrey Epstein sustained multiple breaks in his neck bones, according to two people familiar with the findings, deepening the mystery about the circumstances around his death.
Among the bones broken in Epstein’s neck was the hyoid bone, which in men is near the Adam’s apple. Such breaks can occur in those who hang themselves, particularly if they are older, according to forensics experts and studies on the subject. But they are more common in victims of homicide by strangulation, the experts said.
The details are the first findings to emerge from the autopsy of Epstein, a convicted sex offender and multimillionaire in federal custody on charges of sex trafficking. He died early Saturday morning after guards found him hanging in his cell at the Metropolitan Correctional Center in Manhattan and he could not be revived.
Attorney General William P. Barr, whose department oversees the Bureau of Prisons facility where Epstein died, has described his death as an “apparent suicide.” Justice officials declined to comment on the new information from Epstein’s autopsy.
The office of New York City’s chief medical examiner, Barbara Sampson, completed an autopsy of Epstein’s body Sunday. But Sampson listed the cause of his death as pending.
Asked about the neck injuries Sampson said in a statement that no single factor in an autopsy can alone provide a conclusive answer about what happened.
“In all forensic investigations, all information must be synthesized to determine the cause and manner of death. Everything must be consistent; no single finding can be evaluated in a vacuum.”
The details add to the bizarre circumstances surrounding Epstein’s death, which have launched a wave of questions and conspiracy theories about how he could have died in federal custody. Even President Trump has egged on speculation, without evidence, that Epstein — whose alleged victims say they were pushed to have sex with his powerful and celebrity friends — might have been killed to keep him from spilling the secrets of others.
The revelation of Epstein’s neck injuries follows reports that officers at the Metropolitan Correctional Center broke protocol and failed to properly monitor him.
Corrections officers had not checked on Epstein for “several” hours before he was found hanging in his cell, a person familiar with the matter said, one of a series of missteps in the hours leading up to his death.
Veteran prosecutors and law enforcement officials were shocked that one of the most high-profile inmates in the country wasn’t more carefully watched. Barr said over the weekend he was “appalled” at serious “irregularities” in jail protocol, and he later transferred the warden to another facility.
People familiar with the autopsy, who spoke on the condition of anonymity due to the sensitive stage of the investigation, said Sampson’s office is seeking additional information on Epstein’s condition in the hours before his death. That could include video evidence of the jail hallways, which may establish whether anyone entered Epstein’s cell during the night he died; results of a toxicology screening to determine if there was any unusual substance in his body; and interviews with guards and inmates who were near his cell.
Jonathan L. Arden, president of the National Association of Medical Examiners, said a hyoid can be broken in many circumstances but is more commonly associated with homicidal strangulation than suicidal hanging.
Arden, who was not involved in the Epstein autopsy, said that in general, a finding of a broken hyoid requires pathologists to conduct more extensive investigation. That investigation can include analysis of the location of the noose, how narrow the noose is, and if the body experienced any substantial drop in the course of the hanging.
The age of the deceased is also important, Arden said. The hyoid starts out as three small bones with joint-like connections but hardens during middle age into a U-shape that can break more easily.
“If, hypothetically, the hyoid bone is broken, that would generally raise questions about strangulation, but it is not definitive and does not exclude suicidal hanging,” he said.
A handful of studies conducted over the past decade have produced conflicting results about the likelihood of a hyoid break in a suicide. In a study of 20 suicidal hangings in Thailand, published in 2010, one-fourth of the men who hanged themselves had broken hyoids. In a larger study of suicidal hangings of young adults and middle-aged people in India, conducted from 2010 to 2013, hyoid damage was found in just 16 of 264 cases, or 6 percent. The study addressed the discrepancies in academic reviews, saying wide variations in findings of hyoid breaks are “possibly due to factors like age of the victim, weight of the victim, type of suspension and height of suspension.”
Hyoid fractures have previously sparked controversy in jailhouse and other contentious deaths.
In 2008, Ronnie L. White, a teenager accused of killing a police officer, died of an apparent suicide in a suburban Washington jail cell. But two days later, the cause of death was changed to homicide when a Maryland state medical examiner discovered the teen had a broken hyoid.
The incident fanned racial tension and fueled conspiracy theories about the suspect’s death in Prince George’s County, Md.
Medical examiners concluded White was probably strangled with a sheet, towel or “crux of the elbow.” The officer who moved his body pleaded guilty to obstruction. But no one was ever charged in White’s death. A federal judge said in 2013 that it remained a mystery whether the inmate was slain or took his own life.
The hyoid bone played a central role in a heated dispute last year over another high-profile death in New York, that of Eric Garner. A New York police officer was accused of using an improper chokehold while trying to arrest Garner and of causing his death. A police officers’ association claimed that an autopsy from Sampson’s office found there was no break of Garner’s hyoid bone, and that this proved that the officer could not have strangled Garner and caused his death.
This “demonstrates conclusively that Mr. Garner did not die of strangulation of the neck from a chokehold,” the Patrolmen’s Benevolent Association said.
But Sampson rejected that claim, saying she stood by her conclusion that Garner died of “compression of neck (chokehold), compression of chest and prone positioning during physical restraint by police.” Sampson’s office said Garner’s bronchial asthma, obesity and high blood pressure were contributing factors.
In a widely circulated video of the 2014 incident, the officer was seen grabbing Garner around the neck, pushing him and his face into the pavement. Garner is overheard pleading several times: “I can’t breathe.”
Two weeks later, Sampson’s office concluded the officer’s actions were the primary cause of his death.
————————————————————
**** Epstein death: Broken neck bones in autopsy raise questions about apparent suicide of accused sex trafficker
Jeffrey Epstein had suffered broken bones in his neck of a kind more commonly seen in deaths by strangulation than suicides, according to reports.
The disgraced 66-year-old financier was found hanging in his cell at a federal prison in New York on Saturday while awaiting trial on sex trafficking charges.
His death was described as an “apparent suicide” by attorney general William Barr, who criticised “serious irregularities” at the jail.
Authorities have not yet released details of the autopsy, but The Washington Post claimed on Thursday that it discovered “multiple breaks in his neck bones”, including the hyoid bone.
While the injury to the hyoid can occur in suicides by hanging, particularly in older people, it raises further questions about the circumstances of the multi-millionaire’s death.
“If, hypothetically, the hyoid bone is broken, that would generally raise questions about strangulation, but it is not definitive and does not exclude suicidal hanging,” Jonathan Arden, president of the National Association of Medical Examiners, told the Post.
The case has already attracted several conspiracy theories, including one promoted by president Donald Trump on Twitter.
It has also caused outrage among Epstein’s victims and their representatives, who had hoped that Epstein’s trial next year would produce the justice they thought he had long evaded.
The office of New York City’s chief medical examiner Barbara Sampson, which has not commented on the findings of the autopsy, is said to be seeking further information about Epstein’s condition in the hours before his death.
Epstein had previously been placed on suicide watch after being found unconscious on the floor of his cell with marks on his neck last month.
However he was not under that regime at the time of his death and guards had not checked on him for up to three hours before he was found hanging at the Metropolitan Correctional Centre in lower Manhattan.
Epstein, who once counted Mr Trump and former president Bill Clinton as friends, died a day after new legal documents, unsealed by a court, provided more details about the young girls he was said to have abused over several decades.
Several investigations are being carried out into the circumstances, including a “psychological reconstruction” and an “after action” review by the prison, as well as probes by the FBI and US Department of Justice’s inspector general.
EL PASO SHOOTING - ACT OF POLITICAL INTIMIDATION (TERRORISM) AGAINST TRUMP ADMIN FOR ENFORCING ILLEGAL IMMIGRATION LAWS:
OHIO SHOOTING - CAREFULLY PLOTTED SMOKESCREEN USED TO MAKE EL PASO SHOOTING APPEAR AS ACT OF RETALIATION OVER RACISM & ILLEGAL IMMIGRATION AND TO PUSH CONGRESS TO PASS GUN CONTROL.
IT’S NOT ABOUT RACISM, IT’S PURE POLITICAL INTIMIDATION OVER ILLEGAL IMMIGRATION.
I’M NOT OPPOSED TO GUN CONTROL BUT POLITICAL INTIMIDATION, FALSE CLAIMS OF RACISM AND KILLING INNOCENT PEOPLE IS NOT HOW IT SHOULD BE LEGISLATED.
Post Sources: ABC News, CBS News, Fox News, MSNBC, Youtube
****** Trump: Hate has no place in our country; El Paso shooting is being treated as a case of ‘domestic terrorism’
President Donald Trump on Sunday weighed in on two mass shootings that occurred 13 hours apart in Texas and Ohio, acknowledging “perhaps more has to be done” to address gun violence.
“We’ve done actually a lot,” Trump told reporters of his administration’s work on the issue, “but perhaps more has to be done.”
Trump, who made the comments to reporters on a tarmac in New Jersey after a weekend spent at his golf club in Bedminster, has overseen a ban on so-called bump stocks, but has not pursued large-scale gun control efforts. His predecessor, President Barack Obama, took executive actions on gun control, including on background checks and mental health.
Early Sunday, a shooter opened fire in Dayton, Ohio, killing nine people in the city’s Oregon District, a popular downtown area. The shooter was shot and killed by responding officers. Hours before on Saturday, a shooter opened fire at an El Paso, Texas, shopping center, killing at least 20 people. A 21-year-old white supremacist is in custody in the Texas domestic terrorism case.
Speaking broadly of the two recent mass shootings, Trump said, “I just want to say that these are two incredible places, we love the people.”
The President, who has regularly used incendiary language at rallies across the country, added, “Hate has no place in our country and we’re gonna take care of it.”
Praising law enforcement, Trump added that the massacres could have been worse. “It would have been unbelievable. It (was) horrible but it would have been so much worse,” he said.
Trump then said he would be making an official statement around 10 a.m. ET Monday on the mass shootings.
Earlier Sunday, Trump tweeted, “God bless the people of El Paso Texas. God bless the people of Dayton, Ohio,” and, separately, ordered American flags to be flown at half-staff as “a mark of solemn respect” for the victims of the tragedies.
Trump called the El Paso, Texas, shooting an “act of cowardice” on Saturday and said there “are no reasons or excuses that will ever justify killing people.”
The President also relayed earlier in a tweet that he had spoken with Texas Gov. Greg Abbott, a Republican, about the El Paso shooting and had offered the “total support” of the federal government to the state.
“Today’s shooting in El Paso, Texas, was not only tragic, it was an act of cowardice. I know that I stand with everyone in this Country to condemn today’s hateful act. There are no reasons or excuses that will ever justify killing innocent people,” Trump tweeted Saturday night.
Trump ended his comments to reporters Sunday stating “on behalf of our first lady and myself, condolences to all. We have to get it stopped. This has been going on for years.”
Ohio Democratic Sen. Sherrod Brown wrote in a tweet Sunday that “thoughts and prayers are not enough, we have a responsibility to act.”
“We are also angry — angry that shooting after shooting politicians in Washington and Columbus refuse to pass sensible gun-safety laws to protect our communities,” Brown said.
Three sources have identified the suspect as 21-year-old Patrick Crusius of Allen, Texas.
The case appears to meet the statutory definition of domestic terrorism, Bash said. Saturday’s shooting at an El Paso shopping center — which left at least 20 people dead and 26 injured — “appears to be designed to intimidate a civilian population, to say the least,” he said.
“We’re going to do what we do to terrorists in this country, which is to deliver swift and certain justice,” Bash said.
El Paso County District Attorney Jaime Esparza said the suspect faces capital murder charges and will be eligible for the death penalty.
“We will seek the death penalty,” he said.
Racist ‘manifesto’ posted on 8chan
Authorities are investigating a racist, anti-immigrant screed that they believe was posted by a man who opened fire Saturday morning, shortly after 10:30 a.m. local time.
About 20 minutes earlier, a post on the online message board 8chan believed to be from the suspect laid out a dark vision of America overrun by Hispanic immigrants. The 2,300-word document, which police called a “manifesto,” was attached to a post that said, “I’m probably going to die today.”
The writing is filled with white nationalist language and racist hatred aimed at immigrants and Latinos. It blames immigrants and first-generation Americans for taking away jobs.
The writer cited a fear that an influential Hispanic population in Texas would make the state a “Democratic stronghold,” though he said “the Republican Party is also terrible,” because the GOP is in his mind pro-corporation, which could lead to more immigration.
The writer of the document said they had held these beliefs for years before Donald Trump was elected President.
It took less than a month to plan the shooting, the author says.
The mass shooting happened in one of the largest and safest cities on the US-Mexico border, a place central to the Trump administration’s hardline stance on immigration and a city that Rep. Cesar Blanco called “ground zero” of the administration’s family separations policy.
El Paso County had an estimated population of 840,000 people as of July 2018, according to the US Census Bureau. An estimated 83% were Hispanic or Latino.
Saturday’s shooting is at least the third atrocity this year where a shooting suspect is thought to have posted to 8chan in advance of an attack.
Before the mass shooting in Christchurch, New Zealand, in March, an account believed to belong to the gunman posted a link to an 87-page white nationalist manifesto on Twitter and 8chan.
And 73 minutes before the deadly shooting at Congregation Chabad synagogue in Poway, California, in April, someone identifying himself as the suspect in that attack posted a link to a hate-speech-filled manifesto hyperlinked on 8chan.
A week bookended by shootings
The El Paso shooting was one of several that happened across the country over the last eight days. It was followed just 13 hours later by another mass shooting in Dayton, Ohio.
At least nine people were killed and at least 26 were injured in a popular nightclub district by a lone gunman, identified as 24-year-old Connor Betts. Dayton Police said the suspect is dead.
Last Sunday, a 19-year-old gunman wearing tactical gear opened fire at the Gilroy Garlic Festival in California, killing three people, including a 6-year-old boy and a 13-year-old girl.
And gunfire erupted Tuesday at another neighborhood Walmart in Mississippi, killing two employees and wounding a police officer. At least 34 people were left dead across all four scenes.
The first call of an active shooter in El Paso went out at 10:39 a.m. local time, El Paso Police Chief Greg Allen said. The first officer arrived on scene at the Walmart near the Cielo Vista Mall six minutes later.
Adria Gonzalez was walking by the meat section on a Saturday morning shopping trip with her mom when she heard the shots.
She said she stepped up to see what was happening and that’s when she saw the shooter near the main entrance, wearing headphones or earmuffs and carrying a gun.
“I could only think about getting my mom and others out of the store,” she said. “We gotta get out of here.”
After she saw the shooter, Gonzalez said she saw a grade-school aged boy get shot in the leg, a man bleeding on the floor and another man, covered in blood, reaching for a nearby child.
“We heard two to three shots, four to five shots, then six to seven shots,” Gonzalez told CNN.
She and her mother took off — along with about 40 other people, Gonzalez said. They waited in a storage area of the store until they no longer heard the gunfire.
“You see this happening in the movies, but when you live it yourself, when you see a person killing, the blood everywhere, you are in shock,” she said.
‘I never knew there was an odor to blood’
Officials from two local hospitals said they had received at least 24 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, Dr. Stephen Flaherty said.
Eight are in stable condition and three are in critical condition, and the patients ranged in age from 35 to 82, he said.
Of the 20 killed, three were Mexican nationals, according to a tweet from President Andrés Manuel López Obrador. Of the 26 injured, six were Mexican, Foreign Affairs Secretary Marcelo Ebrard wrote on Twitter.
“The ages and genders of all these people injured and killed are numerous in the age groups,” Allen, the police chief, said Saturday. “The situation, needless to say, is a horrific one.”
The next day, when asked why he used the word “horrific” to describe the scene, Allen told reporters, “There’s not words you can place to say something like that. You have to see it for yourself.”
“When I first got to this job,” he said, “I never knew there was an odor to blood, but there is … I can’t tell you what it means … It will leave an impression that you’ll never forget.”
MALEAH DAVIS, 4, RAPED & MURDERED IN COLD BLOOD BY HER MONSTER STEP-FATHER DARION VENCE (MALEAH’S LAW):
DARION VENCE DISPOSED OF MALEAH IN A TRASH BAG....HE SHOULD RECEIVE THE DEATH PENALTY.
BOTH CPS & MALEAH’S MOTHER BRITTANY BOWENS ARE TO BLAME FOR HER MURDER.
WHY DID CPS RETURN MALEAH & HER BROTHER FOLLOWING EVIDENCE OF SUBSTANTIATED SERIOUS ABUSE FOUND IN THE HOME??
WHAT KIND OF HEAD INJURY CAUSED MALEAH TO HAVE MULTIPLE BRAIN SURGERIES?
CONGRESS (BOTH PARTIES) NEEDS TO AUDIT & OVERHAUL CHILD PROTECTIVE SERVICES IMMEDIATELY IN EVERY STATE & WASHINGTON DC.
CONGRESS SHOULD ALSO CREATE NEW CPS LEGISLATION ENTITLED “MALEAH’S LAW”.
MOST CPS SYSTEM SUPERVISORS ARE SORORITY BLACK WOMEN WHO DON’T REALLY CARE ABOUT LOW INCOME ABUSED BLACK CHILDREN.
PLEASE FIRE MOST BLACK CPS SUPERVISORS AND REPLACE THEM WITH WHITE WOMEN.
YES I SAID WHAT I SAID.
DON’T LET MALEAH’S PREMATURE DEATH BE IN VAIN.
Post Sources: CBS News, KHOU, USA Today, Youtube
***** Dogs detect human decomposition in car of man arrested in case of missing girl Maleah Davis, 4
Trained dogs detected the scent of human decomposition in the car of a man arrested in connection with the puzzling disappearance of Maleah Davis, 4, outside Houston, a prosecutor said.
Derion Vence was in jail Sunday on a $1 million bond after he was arrested Saturday and charged with tampering with evidence – a human corpse. Vence is set to appear in court Monday.
Vence, 26, lived with Maleah’s mother, Brittany Bowens, and is believed to be the last person to see the girl before her disappearance more than a week ago.
Houston police said Maleah has not been found and the investigation is continuing. Authorities have declined to say whether they believe Vence killed the girl, but prosecutors said in court documents filed Saturday that Vence could face additional charges, including murder.
Police have said blood found in Vence’s apartment was linked to Maleah.
Vence initially told police he was assaulted by three men in a truck after stopping for a flat tire on the way to pick up Bowens at the airport on the night of May 4.
Vence said Maleah and his 2-year-old son were with him and they were all abducted by the three men, who knocked him unconscious.
When he came to the next day in Sugar Land, about 20 miles southwest of Houston, the girl was missing, Vence told police. He also said the Nissan Altima he was driving was stolen.
Police said surveillance video showed Vence getting dropped off at Methodist Sugar Land Hospital in the silver Altima last Sunday.
Police found the car in a parking lot Thursday.
At Vence’s probable cause court hearing Saturday night, Harris County prosecutor Pat Stayton said two dogs trained to find cadavers reacted to the trunk of the car.
“The dogs were responding to the scent of human decomposition in the vehicle,” Stayton said.
Surveillance video from a neighbor had shown Vence carrying a large, blue laundry basket with a large trash bag from his apartment on May 3, Stayton said. Vence returned three minutes later without the basket and later he was seen leaving the apartment with cleaning supplies, including bleach.
In the car, police found a laundry basket that looked like the one Vence took out of his apartment, Stayton said.
Police have described Vence as Maleah’s stepfather, but Bowens said through a spokesman that Vence is her former fiancé.
Child Protective Services removed Maleah and her brothers from the home Vence and Bowens shared in August after the girl sustained a head wound, but the children were returned in February, according to an agency spokeswoman.
The Houston Chronicle reported that Maleah’s grandmother, Brenda Bowens, had tried to get the kids placed at her home instead of in foster care when Child Protective Services conducted an investigation starting in August.
MANUEL ORREGO-SAVALA WHO KILLED NFL PLAYER EDWIN JACKSON IS SENTENCED TO 16 YRS IN PRISON (ILLEGAL IMMIGRANT):
MANUEL ORREGO-SAVALA (FROM GUATEMALA) WAS DRUNK DRIVING, KILLED EDWIN JACKSON & HIS UBER DRIVER, THEN COWARDLY LEFT THE SCENE.
SAVALA IS ANOTHER REASON WHY AMERICA DOES NOT NEED OPEN BORDERS BUT NEEDS LOGICAL ILLEGAL IMMIGRATION REFORM ASAP.
IMMIGRATION REFORM IS NOT RACISM AGAINST LATINOS.....IT’S LAW AND ORDER TO PROTECT OUR NATION.
Post Sources: AP, Fox News, NBC News, Youtube
****** Guatemalan Man living illegally in USA gets 16 years for crash that killed Colts linebacker Edwin Jackson and an Uber driver
A man from Guatemala living illegally in the U.S. was sentenced Friday to the maximum of 16 years in prison for a drunken-driving crash that killed Indianapolis Colts linebacker Edwin Jackson and his Uber driver.
Manuel Orrego-Savala, 37, pleaded guilty in July to two counts of operating a motor vehicle with a blood-alcohol content of .15 or more, causing death. The sentence marked the maximum possible under his plea agreement.
Investigators said Orrego-Savala had a blood-alcohol content of 0.19 — nearly 2 ½ times Indiana's legal limit — when his F-150 truck crashed into Jackson and his Uber driver, Jeffrey Monroe, 54, on Feb. 4 along Interstate 70 in Indianapolis.
Monroe, of Avon, Indiana, had pulled over when the 26-year-old Jackson became ill. Both men were standing outside Monroe's car on the highway's shoulder when Orrego-Savala's truck crashed into them.
Authorities said Orrego-Savala was walking away from the crash when a state trooper detained him. Under his plea agreement, prosecutors dropped two counts of failing to remain at the scene of an accident.
A Marion County judge sentenced Orrego-Savala after hearing an emotional testimony from Monroe’s widow, Deborah Monroe, and Jackson's mother. The widow told Orrego-Savala that the crashed killed “the greatest love of my life” and destroyed their retirement plans that included travel and fulfilling her husband’s dream of going to the Great Wall of China.
"My family and I are serving a life sentence because of you," she said, speaking directly to Orrego-Savala, who kept his head lowered during much of Friday's hearing.
"You're a drunk, a liar, a murderer and a coward," Monroe said.
Jackson grew up in Atlanta and started eight games for the Colts during the 2016 season, finishing third on the team with 61 tackles. Jackson was considered a possible starter at inside linebacker for 2017 but missed the season after suffering a training camp injury.
His mother, Mary Ellen Powell Jackson, told the court she was preparing to leave Sunday services when she learned that he had died in a crash in a phone call.
Our hearts have been ripped apart and we're always asking, 'Why Edwin?'" she said, recalling him as a hardworking, handsome athlete, and a good, obedient and caring son who had "a heart of gold."
Orrego-Savala was deported in 2007 and 2009. Federal authorities said he illegally re-entered the U.S. and faces federal immigration charges that could potentially result in a 10-year sentence, said Jeremy Johnson, a Marion County deputy prosecutor.
“I’m grateful he was an illegal immigrant because our federal government will give him 10 more years. So that’s 26 years he’ll spend in prison for what he did,” Monroe said according to FOX 59.
CHARISSE STINSON 21, KILLS 2 YR-OLD SON JORDAN IN COLD BLOOD (BLAME DSS):
WHAT WAS CHARISSE’S MOTIVE??
WHY DID DSS/CPS RETURN THE CHILD TO CHARISSE AFTER CLEAR EVIDENCE OF ABUSE??
DSS CHILD ABUSE & ELDER ABUSE OFFICES IN FLORIDA, NORTH CAROLINA & SOUTH CAROLINA DO NOT PROTECT ABUSED CHILDREN, NOR ABUSED SENIOR CITIZENS.
ESPECIALLY DSS OFFICES IN CHARLOTTE, NORTH CAROLINA.
MOST DSS OFFICES ARE NOTHING MORE THAN SOCIAL CLUBS TO HIRE BLACK GREEK SORORITY SISTERS & FRAT BROTHERS.
WHY ISN’T THE FEDERAL OFFICE OF HEALTH & HUMAN SERVICES DOING ANYTHING?
DON’T LET LITTLE JORDAN HAVE DIED IN VAIN.
CONGRESS NEEDS TO IMMEDIATELY ORDER AUDITS OF ALL DSS/ CPS/ ELDER ABUSE OFFICES.
Post Sources: ABC News, Fox News, Youtube
**** Charisse Stinson: Mother of missing 2-year-old Largo boy admits to causing son's death, report says
LARGO, Fla. — The mother of a 2-year-old Largo boy, who was the center of a statewide Amber Alert, has been charged with murder in the death of her son.
Officers arrested 21-year-old Charisse Stinson and charged her with First Degree Murder in the death of Jordan Belliveau.
Jordan was found dead in the wooded area of Lake Avenue and McMullen Road in Largo on Tuesday afternoon.
According to an arrest affidavit written by Largo Police, Stinson admitted to causing the death of her son.
The report alleges Stinson, "in a moment of frustration," struck Jordan in the face with the back of her hand "which in turn caused the back of his head to strike an interior wall of her home. After the blow to the head, the victim suffered seizures during the night, which lead to further decline [in his health], resulting in his death."
The report goes on to state that Stinson did not seek medical help, but rather took her son to a wooded area and left him to die. Authorities say Jordan's body had injuries matching what Stinson told them happened.
According to police, initially Stinson told them that she was walking on East Bay Drive with Jordan around 9:30 p.m. Saturday when they were offered a ride in a white Toyota Camry by someone they did not know who told them his name was Antwan.
She then told police that once inside the car, "Antwan" struck her in the face multiple times, causing her to lose consciousness. She claimed that she didn’t regain consciousness until around 1:30 a.m. Sunday, when she awoke in a wooded area at Largo Central Park to find Jordan missing.
Her story prompted a statewide Amber Alert. Investigators even released a composite sketch of the alleged suspect, based on Stinson's description.
When asked why she took the ride from "Antwan," Stinson told police it was because Jordan was kind of heavy and she didn't want to have to carry him all the way to her destination.
As the search for Jordan continued, ABC Action News learned authorities were at the Stinson's apartment on Sunday picking up evidence and trying to determine when was the last time Jordan was there.
Police later told ABC Action News they discovered bloody children’s items inside of the apartment. On Monday, they took those items into evidence but said they were not certain if they were connected to Jordan’s disappearance.
Jordan’s mother told investigators her son cut his chin and recently received stitches for the injury. Detectives also took a few items of children’s clothing into evidence Tuesday which were found rolled up in a rug outside of Jordan’s mother’s apartment.
Stinson was arrested shortly after 8:30 p.m. Tuesday and charged with First Degree Murder in the death of Jordan. She is expected to make a first appearance in court Wednesday afternoon.
ABC Action News reached out to Jordan’s father, who was too distraught to speak with us.
"I can't speak on how my brother feels because I never lost a child. I just know my brother is devoted right now," said Stephon Davis, the child's uncle. "I just want my nephew to be laid in peace and his mama and whoever involved in this, justice.”
Digging into court documents, ABC Action News discovered that Stinson and Jordan's father had a history of domestic battery. A Largo arrest report from July stated that Jordan's father drove the boy to Stinson's home, to exchange custody of Jordan. According to the report, Stinson "did not want the child yet," which caused an argument that became physical when the father punched Stinson.
The Department of Children and Families could not release any information on the case, saying in part, “The loss of this child is profoundly saddening. We are actively working with the Pinellas County Sheriff's Office and the Largo Police Department during the course of their criminal investigation. Pinellas County Sheriff's Office conducts all child protective investigations in Pinellas County, not DCF.”
A young production assistant thought she had landed the job of her dreams when, in the summer of 2015, she started work on "Going In Style," a bank heist comedy starring Morgan Freeman, Michael Caine and Alan Arkin.
But the job quickly devolved into several months of harassment, she told CNN. She alleges that Freeman subjected her to unwanted touching and comments about her figure and clothing on a near-daily basis. Freeman would rest his hand on her lower back or rub her lower back, she said.
In one incident, she said, Freeman "kept trying to lift up my skirt and asking if I was wearing underwear." He never successfully lifted her skirt, she said -- he would touch it and try to lift it, she would move away, and then he'd try again.
Eventually, she said, "Alan [Arkin] made a comment telling him to stop. Morgan got freaked out and didn't know what to say."
Freeman's alleged inappropriate behavior was not limited to that one movie set, according to other sources who spoke to CNN. A woman who was a senior member of the production staff of the movie "Now You See Me" in 2012 told CNN that Freeman sexually harassed her and her female assistant on numerous occasions by making comments about their bodies.
"He did comment on our bodies... We knew that if he was coming by ... not to wear any top that would show our breasts, not to wear anything that would show our bottoms, meaning not wearing clothes that [were] fitted," she said.
At 80 years old, Freeman is one of Hollywood's biggest stars, with a movie career that spans nearly five decades. His starring roles in movies like "Driving Miss Daisy" and "Shawshank Redemption" in the late 1980s and early 1990s made him a household name.
He won an Oscar for Best Supporting Actor for 2004's "Million Dollar Baby," and has earned four other Oscar nominations. His voiceover work has also become iconic, including his narration for the Academy Award-winning documentaries "The Long Way Home" and "March of the Penguins."
In all, 16 people spoke to CNN about Freeman as part of this investigation, eight of whom said they were victims of what some called harassment and others called inappropriate behavior by Freeman. Eight said they witnessed Freeman's alleged conduct.
These 16 people together described a pattern of inappropriate behavior by Freeman on set, while promoting his movies and at his production company Revelations Entertainment.
Of those 16, seven people described an environment at Revelations Entertainment that included allegations of harassment or inappropriate behavior by Freeman there, with one incident allegedly witnessed by Lori McCreary, Freeman's co-founder in the enterprise, and another in which she was the target of demeaning comments by Freeman in a public setting.
One of those seven people alleged that McCreary made a discriminatory remark regarding a female candidate for a job at the Producers Guild of America, where McCreary is co-president.
Four people who worked in production capacities on movie sets with Freeman over the last ten years described him as repeatedly behaving in ways that made women feel uncomfortable at work. Two, including the production assistant on "Going in Style" whose skirt he allegedly attempted to lift, said Freeman subjected them to unwanted touching.
Three said he made public comments about women's clothing or bodies. But each of them said they didn't report Freeman's behavior, with most saying it was because they feared for their jobs. Instead, some of the women -- both on movie sets and at Revelations -- said, they came up with ways to combat the alleged harassment on their own, such as by changing the way they dressed when they knew he would be around.
CNN reached out to dozens more people who worked for or with Freeman. Some praised Freeman, saying they never witnessed any questionable behavior or that he was a consummate professional on set and in the office.
Several other times during this investigation, when a CNN reporter contacted a person who had worked with Freeman to try to ask them if they had seen or been subjected to inappropriate behavior by an actor they had worked with -- not initially even naming the actor they were asking about -- the person would immediately tell them they knew exactly who the reporter had in mind: Morgan Freeman.
Some of those people were sources for this investigation while others declined to comment further or did not want what they said used in this story.
The pattern of behavior described by those who spoke with CNN shows another example of the systematic problems that exist in the entertainment industry. The allegations against Freeman are not about things that happened in private; they are about things that allegedly happened in public, in front of witnesses -- even in front of cameras.
Before #MeToo, many men in the industry could behave without fear of consequences, because many times when a powerful man did so, it was the victim who suffered repercussions.
CNN reached out to Freeman's spokesperson for comment and then, at his request, emailed him a detailed list of the accusations against Freeman. The spokesperson did not respond to multiple follow-ups by email seeking comment on the accusations.
After this article was published, Freeman released a statement in which he said, "Anyone who knows me or has worked with me knows I am not someone who would intentionally offend or knowingly make anyone feel uneasy. I apologize to anyone who felt uncomfortable or disrespected — that was never my intent."
CNN also reached out to a spokesperson for McCreary, and then provided her with a detailed list of accusations regarding Freeman's alleged behavior at Revelations and details of the accusation against her as well as a number of questions for her regarding Freeman's alleged behavior at Revelations and the environment there.
The spokesperson did not respond to multiple follow-ups by email seeking comment.
The allegations of inappropriate behavior by Freeman are not limited to the confines of his company or to movie sets. Three entertainment reporters who spoke to CNN said Freeman made inappropriate remarks to them during press junkets, which are publicity events for journalists who cover new films, typically attended by the movie's biggest stars.
One of the three, CNN entertainment reporter Chloe Melas, the co-author of this article, says she was subjected to inappropriate behavior by Freeman more than a year ago, when she interviewed him at a press junket for "Going in Style."
According to Melas, who was six months pregnant at the time, Freeman, in a room full of people, including his co-stars Arkin and Caine, shook Melas' hand, not letting go while repeatedly looking her up and down and saying more than once a variation of, "I wish I was there." She says he also said to her, "You are ripe." Cameras were on and recording during one of Freeman's remarks to Melas -- "Boy, do I wish I was there" -- but not for the rest. As is common practice with such junkets, Melas was the only CNN employee there at the time.
Afterward, Melas reported what had happened to her supervisor, who instructed her to inform CNN human resources. According to Melas, she was told that CNN HR contacted their counterparts at human resources for Warner Bros., which produced and distributed the movie, and which like CNN is owned by Time Warner. Melas said she was also told that Warner Bros.
HR could not corroborate the account because only one of Freeman's remarks was on video and the Warner Bros. employees present did not notice anything.
Melas and her supervisor agreed that she would not cover the movie.
Asked for comment, a spokesperson for Warner Bros. confirmed that what Melas was told was accurate, but declined to comment further. A representative for Caine declined to comment. A representative for Arkin said he was not available for comment.
After the encounter with Freeman, Melas started making calls to see if other women had experienced anything similar, or whether this was an isolated incident. She soon learned that other women had similar stories -- and so she, and later her co-author, began this months-long reporting process.
Freeman and Lori McCreary founded Revelations Entertainment in 1996. Variety reported last year that Freeman started the company with McCreary because he was frustrated by the lack of choice roles for black actors and because he wanted to reveal the truth about serious issues -- a mission that inspired the name "Revelations."
The company's credits include a list of ambitious films about religion, apartheid, astronomy and stem cell research. Revelations also produced the film "Along Came a Spider" and the hit CBS show "Madam Secretary," both of which feature strong female leads.
But former staffers who spoke with CNN say that behind the façade of a progressive and artistic agenda the company's two founders created what one called a "toxic" work environment.
Six former staffers said they witnessed Freeman's questionable behavior around women, which they said included sexual comments and one said included an incident of unsolicited touching. One female former staffer said she was the target of sexual comments by Freeman.
The female former employee at Revelations told CNN that Freeman was flanked by a group of men on the set of "Through the Wormhole" when she met the actor for the first time. He "looked me up and down," she said, and then asked her, "How do you feel about sexual harassment?"
"I was stunned," she told CNN. "This is the person that I worked for, this is his company, I didn't expect it at all ... I said timidly, 'I love it' in a sarcastic way hoping to make light of the situation because I was so confused and then he turned to the guys on the crew ... and said, 'See guys, this is how you do it.'"
One woman who was a manager at Revelations told CNN that sometimes Freeman would "come over to my desk to say hi and he'd just stand there and stare at me. He would stare at my breasts."
"If I ever passed him he would stare at me in an awkward way, would look me up and down sometimes stopping and just staring," she said. "One time he stopped, looked me up and down as I walked into a room of people, and everyone burst out laughing. And I literally froze feeling very uncomfortable and one of the people in the office said, 'Don't worry, that's just Morgan.'"
"That sort of interaction was when I stopped wearing a skirt around the office when he was there," said the former manager. "I can't say it was an accident that I'd be wearing a potato sack and a ponytail on certain days when he was there and do my best to avoid him when he was in the office."
Freeman was not in the office on a daily basis, the former employees said.
But when he did show up, he behaved like a "creepy uncle," in the words of a male former employee. "One time I witnessed Morgan walk up to an intern and start massaging her" shoulder, he said. "The intern got visibly red and wiggled out of his grasp, it was awkward." The incident stood out to him because Freeman was using only one hand to touch the intern, as his other was injured in a 2008 car accident that was widely covered by the press.
Another former employee told CNN she was present when the male former employee told several people about this incident shortly after it occurred.
CNN spoke to two male witnesses who each saw a separate occasion in which Freeman asked women to twirl. One instance occurred at the office, while another happened at an off-site company event.
Another incident stood out to people who spoke with CNN who witnessed it. Two former staffers who were there, and a writer for the show "Madam Secretary" who also attended, each described the scene to CNN.
For his 79th birthday, Revelations threw Freeman a party in the office. According to the sources, roughly 30 people attended the party, some of whom were new to the company and had never met the actor. McCreary was among those in attendance, the sources said.
People at the party had to stand in a circle, a former executive at the company who attended the party told CNN, and tell Freeman who they were and what they did.
Then, the former executive said, Freeman went up to women in the circle and would "stand maybe within an inch of their face and just look them up and down and not say anything, and then would move on to the next woman and he'd stand like within an inch of their face and look them up and down and not say anything, and it was really, really strange." The former executive added, "It was really weird and he did it to every woman but of course he didn't do it to any of the men. He didn't speak to any of the men."
The writer for "Madam Secretary" who was at the party said, "We saw Morgan go around to the girls in the circle and get really close to their faces, he didn't do it to the men. I don't know what he said but we all thought it was strange and couldn't wait to get the hell out of there. Absolutely there were sexual undertones to it."
After the #MeToo movement began, the same writer said, writers on the show joked -- with that incident in mind -- "that Morgan would be the next person to be called out."
McCreary herself has also been the subject of demeaning comments by Freeman. In front of what was reportedly an audience of 400 people at 2016's Produced By conference, Freeman described what she was wearing during their first meeting, saying, "She had on a dress cut to here."
"She wants to be thought of as serious," said Freeman of McCreary, who was on the same panel. "But you can't get away from the short dresses."
Freeman stood by his comments when he appeared a few days later on the "Today" show and host Savannah Guthrie said some people were "surprised" by the remarks he made on the panel.
"It was just something I said in jest about when I first met her, it was more than 20 years ago," he said to Guthrie. "How is that news?"
The Hollywood Reporter reported at the time that McCreary "did not visibly react to the comment." One of the former Revelations executives told CNN that McCreary was visibly upset when she returned to the office.
"I tried to console her and she was clearly upset and I think she was surprised and found it hurtful and embarrassing," said the former executive. "She was devastated."
Five sources told CNN that there was no formal human resources department at Revelations at the time. There was a rotation of executives who served as the point of contact for HR issues, but former staffers said they did not feel comfortable talking to senior personnel about their workplace grievances.
This prompted some staffers to form a "survivors club" where they gathered to vent about their experiences at Revelations, according to five sources who have been to the gatherings, which take place outside of the office.
Publicly, McCreary champions the #MeToo and Time's Up movements.
Two days before January's Screen Actors Guild awards, at which Freeman accepted a Lifetime Achievement Award, McCreary released a statement on behalf of the Producers Guild of America (PGA), to say that its board ratified new anti-sexual harassment guidelines for its members.
"The PGA is indebted to Time's Up as a resource in creating our protocols," she said in a press release issued with her co-president Gary Lucchesi, referring to the initiative aimed at fighting harassment and discrimination against women.
Yet the former Revelations employee who said Freeman asked her how she felt about sexual harassment also alleged that on a phone call with a member of PGA, McCreary said of a candidate vying for a position at PGA East, "she'll never be able to do a good job, she has a family."
Two former senior level Revelations employees said McCreary would openly mock women who had to leave work early for family commitments and school functions. McCreary also allegedly said that some employees couldn't handle big workloads because they had to "run home" to their families and therefore couldn't stay late at work, according to one of the sources. She openly advocated for work-life balance, that source said, but she would make "snide" remarks to those who left work early.
A spokesperson for the PGA said in a statement, "The Producers Guild of America is an Equal Opportunity Employer that does not question or consider marital or parental status in its hiring practices. As soon as CNN notified us about the allegation, we investigated the matter and have found that it has no merit. Lori McCreary is an outstanding PGA President. In all of her work with the Guild, she has been a consistent, vocal, and proactive advocate for women and all who are underrepresented in our community."
A spokesperson for McCreary did not respond to repeated follow-up requests for comment regarding the allegations against McCreary.
One of the former male Revelations employees recounted to CNN what he called the "shocking" remarks that Freeman made while he was on set for a number of Freeman's movies.
What he says he witnessed follows the pattern described by the women who said they were harassed by Freeman.
"[He'd say] things like 'I'd like to have an hour with her' or make vulgar and sexual comments about women," the former employee said. "He would be verbally inappropriate and it was just shocking.
You're more shocked than anything because it's hard to have the wherewithal to say to him 'That's inappropriate.' You're just like 'whoa.' It's hard because on any set he is the most powerful person on it. It's weird because you just don't expect it from Morgan Freeman, someone who you respect."
The female production assistant (PA) mentioned at the beginning of this story who worked on "Going In Style" said she was in her early 20s when Freeman, then 78 years old, harassed her. She said the experience led to her decision to leave the movie industry.
"It was constant comments about the way I looked," she said, adding that Freeman often made the comments within earshot of others on the production staff. She said she frequently came home from work in tears.
The woman recalled a time when she went to the set wearing a dress with a t-shirt over it to cover her exposed back, but "Morgan said to me that I shouldn't be wearing the shirt over my dress."
Another female production assistant who witnessed this particular alleged incident told CNN that Freeman's behavior towards the younger female production staff was an unchecked and persistent issue during filming.
Both women said the t-shirt incident took place in front of a group of people and that they heard at least one other woman publicly chastise Freeman for that particular comment. The behavior was discussed among the women he targeted, the female production assistant said.
A third woman who worked on a recent movie of Freeman's recalled an incident at the film's wrap party. "He was looking at my breasts, and I told him, 'My eyes are up here.' Then we went to take a group photo and he pressed himself up against me. It was inappropriate."
CNN spoke to one of the woman's colleagues on the film, who said that as soon as the photo was taken, the woman walked over and told a group of people what Freeman had done to her.
Another production assistant, who worked with Freeman on "The Dark Knight," told CNN that although she was never personally targeted by Freeman, she witnessed some inappropriate comments Freeman made to female members of the crew. She also said that female members of the crew would at times discuss how Freeman had made them feel uncomfortable.
"Morgan did things in a way that an older more established person can get away with because they have that power," she told CNN. "They can't be replaced, but you can be replaced very easily, that's just kind of the dynamic on set. PA's can be replaced, grips can be replaced, electricians can be replaced, but the actors -- once they're in, they're in.
Had it been somebody else on the crew... I would feel comfortable reporting them because I wouldn't feel like my job would be in danger by reporting them, but if you report somebody like Morgan Freeman that the movie would lose a lot of money by replacing them or getting them in trouble, then you're the trouble maker and you'll get fired because you're just a PA."
Freeman's alleged fixation on how women dressed was apparent when he hit the road to promote his films, as was his alleged pattern of looking women up and down while making sexually suggestive comments to them.
As the entertainment producer at Chicago's WGN-TV, Tyra Martin spent hours interviewing Freeman at various press junkets. Over the course of a decade, she said, she sat down with him at least nine times and grew accustomed to his comments about her appearance. But Martin made it clear in an interview with CNN that she was always "in on the joke." WGN produced videos featuring some of Freeman's remarks to Martin, describing it as him flirting with her. But Martin felt that one incident crossed a line.
"When I stood up, I pulled my skirt part of my dress down and he did say, 'Oh, don't pull it down now.'" Martin said. "That gave me pause but I never felt uncomfortable."
It is unclear whether video of that incident exists.
An entertainment reporter who is a member of the Hollywood Foreign Press Association said Freeman made comments about her skirt and her legs during two different junkets. Much like many of the women in this report and those who declined to go on the record, the reporter said Freeman's fame and power kept her from speaking out.
"I was just trying to do my job and I brushed it off," said the reporter, who did not want to be identified for this story because she's fearful of losing out on interviews with other celebrities.
"You don't want to put him on the spot because one, he's famous and two, it's on camera and three, you just want to do your job."
TThe gunman who allegedly killed at least 17 people at a Florida high school on Wednesday was a former student who posted disturbing material on social media and was "crazy about guns".
Police identified the suspect as Nikolas Cruz, a 19-year-old who had been expelled from Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School in Parkland, about 45 miles (72 km) north of Miami.
The suspect was wearing a gas mask and carrying smoke grenades, Sen. Bill Nelson of Florida told CNN.
Mr Nelson, who said he had been briefed by the FBI, said the attacker "set off the fire alarm so the kids would come pouring out of the classrooms into the hall. And there the carnage began."
He said he did not know if the gunman had used the smoke grenades but he assumed that's why he had a gas mask on.
Frightened students ran out onto the streets as shots rang out before SWAT team members swarmed the building.
Authorities later announced that they had taken the suspect into custody and took him to hospital after locating him in Coral Springs, a little over a mile away from the school. The gunman surrendered to police without a struggle, Broward County Sheriff Scott Israel said.
Inside the suspect's disturbing Instagram page
The Instagram page of the alleged shooter paints a picture of a man obsessed with guns and knives.
One of the more recent posts shows target practice, captioned "Group therapy. Sometimes it really f---ing works."
Others show him posing proudly with his weapons, which include pistols and knives, and in one Instagram post, he seemingly asks followers for advice on a certain model of gun.
He also posed for selfies where he wore all black clothes and a balaclava.
One photograph shows a dead toad, which he claims to have killed.
His Instagram profile contained the word “annihilator.”
One post about purchasing a shotgun reads: “I plan on getting this but I need more information on it so if someone could give advice on how much I’m spending and background cheeks [sic] please to god let me know."
Students at the school have confirmed the Instagram page is his.
One student, who escaped the shooting, wrote on Twitter: "He literally had an Instagram where he posted pictures of animals he killed gruesomely."
Flagged as a threat
Jim Gard, a Maths teacher, said Cruz had been in his class last year.
“We were told last year that he wasn’t allowed on campus with a backpack on him,” Mr Gard told the Miami Herald. “There were problems with him last year threatening students.”
However, Robert Runcie, the Broward County School District Superintendent, told reporters he was not aware of any concerns raised about the student.
“We received no warnings,” Mr Runcie said outside the school. “Potentially there could have been signs out there. But we didn't have any warning or phone calls or threats that were made.”
One student, who did not wish to be named, told TV station WSVN-7 that Cruz had said he had guns at home and talked about using them.
“He’s been a troubled kid,” the student said. “He’s always had a certain amount of issues going on. He shot guns because he felt it gave him, I guess, an exhilarating feeling.”
'Very disturbing' social media history
Mr Israel said the gunman had an AR-15 assault rifle and "countless magazines".
“We already began to dissect his websites and the things on social media that he was on and some of the things that came to mind are very, very disturbing," he said.
His Instagram account was taken down after the shooting, but screenshots were sent to various media outlets.
“Everything he posts is about weapons,” one student told ABC News. “It’s sick.”
Daniel Huerfano, a student who fled Wednesday's attack, said he recognised Cruz from an Instagram photo in which Cruz posed with a gun in front of his face. Huerfano recalled Cruz as a shy student and remembered seeing him walking around with his lunch bag.
"He was that weird kid that you see ... like a loner," he added.
One pupil said other teenagers had long thought the suspect would “shoot up the school”.
The pupil told local television station WFOR-TV: “A lot of people were saying it was going to be him. A lot of kids threw jokes around saying that he was going to be the one to shoot up the school. It turns out that everyone predicted it. That’s crazy.”
Broward County Mayor Beam Furr said during an interview with CNN that the shooter was getting treatment at a mental health clinic for a while, but that he hadn't been back to the clinic for more than a year.
"It wasn't like there wasn't concern for him," Mr Furr said. "We try to keep our eyes out on those kids who aren't connected ... Most teachers try to steer them toward some kind of connections. ... In this case, we didn't find a way to connect with this kid."
Another student, named as Brandon, was asked whether he was surprised to learn the identity of the gunman, and replied: “No.” He continued: “He told me he got kicked out of two private schools, and was held back twice. He seemed a little off.”
'Crazy about guns'
Chad Williams, 18, a senior at Stoneman Douglas High school, remembered Cruz as a troubled classmate from when they attended middle school together. He said Cruz would set off the fire alarm, day after day, and finally got expelled in the eighth grade.
More recently, Williams saw Cruz carrying several publications about guns when they ran into each other at the high school. Williams thought Cruz was there to pick up a younger sibling.
“He was crazy about guns,” Williams told Reuters, speaking by the side of the road near the high school. “He was kind of an outcast. He didn’t have many friends. He would do anything crazy for a laugh, but he was trouble.”
Victoria Olvera, a 17-year-old junior, said Cruz was expelled last school year after a fight with his ex-girlfriend's new boyfriend. She said Cruz had been abusive to his girlfriend.
'If anyone would do it, it was him'
Dakota Mutchler, 17, said he used to be close friends with Cruz but hadn't seen him in more than a year following his expulsion from school.
"He started progressively getting a little more weird," Mutchler said. "He started going after one of my friends, threatening her, and I cut him off from there.
"I think everyone had in their minds if anybody was going to do it, it was going to be him."
Travis Julmice, an 18-year-old senior, said he had not been in a class with Cruz since middle school.
"You could tell he was a little off," Julmice told Reuters at the Coral Springs hotel. "He was always like a troubled kid, getting in-school suspension a lot. And detentions."
THIS IS NOT ABOUT DISCRIMINATION AGAINST MUSLIMS OR LATINOS.
IT’S SOLELY ABOUT NATIONAL SECURITY.
Sources: Yahoo News, CBC News, Fox News, Youtube
Tuesday night, January 30, 2018 Donald J. Trump our 45th legally elected leader of the Free world (USA), delivered his first State of the Union address before the entire world.
During his speech Trump talked about his administration’s first year achievements as all U.S. Presidents have done when delivering their SOTU speeches.
Trump then proceeded to provide an update on the cornerstone topic of his administration’s agenda and the topic which helped to secure his 2016 election.
That topic is ILLEGAL IMMIGRATION REFORM.
Trump mentioned during his SOTU address that he is halting the FAKE Syrian Refugee program until further notice.
Considering how most of the Men who entered America’s borders under the guise of “Syrian Refugees” were actually from IRAQ and were actually members of ISIL, I can see how choosing to halt this program although not POLITICALLY CORRECT, would be in the best interest of our country as it relates to NATIONAL SECURITY.
Trump then went on to discuss his agenda for dealing with GANG WARFARE as in the notorious, most Cold-Blooded Gang to ever exist.......the MS-13.
MS-13 is an international Gang comprised solely of Young LATINO Men, not BLACK Men.
These Young LATINO Men hail from MEXICO, South America, Central America and Honduras.
MS-13 Gang Members are so cold-blooded and violent, they also target and viciously MURDER LATINO citizens just as easily as they frequently Kill American citizens.
This Gang uses MURDER to Terrorize, Intimidate and Control entire American Communities.
In many instances even the POLICE are afraid of MS-13 Gang Members.
Choosing to prosecute and deport Young LATINO Men who are active members of MS-13 is not a POLITICALLY CORRECT decision for Trump’s administration because for years Politicians and other Elected Officials have feared throwing Latino or Middle Eastern Men into Jail, or Deporting them even for MURDER or TERRORISM because it’s not POLITICALLY CORRECT.
However these Politicians and Elected Officials had absolutely No Fear of throwing Young BLACK Men into Jail in a New York minute, even for minor offenses.
Can you say Double Standard based on RACE??
Yet were it not for BLACK Voters, neither VIRGINIA nor ALABAMA Democrats would have won the 2017 elections.
So I commend Pres Trump for standing up for what is right for the USA even when it’s not Popular or POLITICALLY CORRECT to do so.
To wrap it up........
If you are from MEXICO and have been living in the United States for more than 10 years and enjoying America’s FREEDOM and RESOURCES, yet you have NEVER applied for LEGAL CITIZENSHIP, you should be made to Apply ASAP or be Deported.
One of the longest standing ovations during President Trump’s first State of the Union address came when he introduced the parents of two teenage victims of gang violence.
Evelyn Rodriguez, Freddy Cuevas, Elizabeth Alvarado and Robert Mickens were invited by the White House to attend Tuesday’s speech. Their daughters — Kayla Cuevas and Nisa Mickens respectively — were killed by members of the MS-13 gang on Long Island in September 2016, on the eve of Nisa’s 16th birthday. Federal authorities later arrested 13 gang members in connection with their deaths. Ten of those arrested had entered the country illegally.
Trump used their killings to highlight what he views as America’s “open borders” that “have allowed drugs and gangs to pour into our most vulnerable communities.”
“These two precious girls were brutally murdered while walking together in their hometown,” Trump said. “Six members of the savage gang MS-13 have been charged with Kayla and Nisa’s murders. Many of these gang members took advantage of glaring loopholes in our laws to enter the country as unaccompanied alien minors — and wound up in Kayla and Nisa’s high school.”
The president turned to their parents, who were seated next to first lady Melania Trump.
“Evelyn, Elizabeth, Freddy, and Robert: Tonight, everyone in this chamber is praying for you,” Trump said. “Everyone in America is grieving for you. And 320 million hearts are breaking for you. We cannot imagine the depth of your sorrow, but we can make sure that other families never have to endure this pain.”
The parents then received a long standing ovation as they wiped away tears.
Trump called on Congress to “finally close the deadly loopholes that have allowed MS-13 and other criminals to break into our country.”
“We have proposed new legislation that will fix our immigration laws and support our ICE and Border Patrol agents, so that this cannot ever happen again,” he continued. “So tonight, I am extending an open hand to work with members of both parties — Democrats and Republicans — to protect our citizens of every background, color, religion and creed. My duty, and the sacred duty of every elected official in this chamber, is to defend Americans — to protect their safety, their families, their communities, and their right to the American Dream. Because Americans are dreamers too.”
WALTER SCOTT'S KILLER GETS 20 YRS IN PRISON THANKS TO TRUMP:
BLACK MEN SHOULD NOT BE SHOT DEAD JUST BECAUSE THEY OWE CHILD SUPPORT.
BLACK MEN WHO OWE CHILD SUPPORT DESERVE FULL-TIME JOBS TO PAY THEIR DEBTS, NOT JAIL, NOR DEATH.
IF OBAMA WERE PRESIDENT, THAT WHITE OFFICER WOULD HAVE BEEN ACQUITTED.
IF OBAMA WERE PRESIDENT, WALTER SCOTT'S MOTHER WOULD HAVE GOTTEN A CHECK BUT NO JUSTICE.
FORGIVENESS DOES NOT ELIMINATE CONSEQUENCES.
WHITE POLITICIANS CAN REPRESENT BLACK VOTERS FAIRLY & PROPERLY REGARDLESS OF PARTY.
TAKE HEED ATLANTA (MARY NORWOOD).
TAKE HEED ATLANTA (MARY NORWOOD).
Sources: ABC News, Youtube
***** White ex-cop gets 20 years for Walter Scott slaying
One by one, relatives of the late Walter Scott urged a judge to mete out a significant punishment for Michael Slager, the white former police officer who fatally shot Scott, an unarmed black man, in the back after a 2015 traffic stop.
Through tears, Scott's family told Slager they felt sorrow for him and the loss his young children would feel in his absence. In the end, a judge sentenced Slager to 20 years in prison, giving the Scott family the justice they had sought ever since a stranger came to them with the shocking video of Scott being killed.
"I forgive Michael Slager. I forgive you," Scott's mother, Judy, said as she turned toward her son's killer. "I pray for you, that you would repent and let Jesus come in your life."
Sitting just a few feet away, Slager wiped tears from his eyes and mouthed: "I'm sorry."
The punishment wrapped up a case that became a rallying cry for the Black Lives Matter movement. Slager, 36, is one of only a few police officers to go to prison for a fatal shooting, and his sentence is by far the stiffest since the shootings came under extra scrutiny in recent years.
Attorneys for the former North Charleston officer said he shot the 50-year-old Scott in self-defense after the two fought and Scott grabbed Slager's stun gun. They said race didn't play a role in the shooting and Slager never had any "racial animus" toward minorities.
Still, Slager pleaded guilty in federal court to violating Scott's civil rights. As part of a plea agreement reached in May, prosecutors dropped state murder charges.
"This is a tragedy that shouldn't have happened," U.S. District Judge David Norton said.
Slager apologized to the Scott family, calling Scott's mother and brothers by their names.
"With my actions that day, Walter Scott is no longer with his family, and I am responsible for that," Slager said. Of their forgiveness, he added: "I am very grateful for that."
Slager's emotions stood in stark contrast to his stoic demeanor during his state murder trial when jurors deadlocked over a verdict. He has several weeks to appeal his sentence and will be housed at the Charleston County jail until he's assigned to a federal prison.
After the sentencing, Judy Scott and Walter's two brothers told reporters that, while they had made peace with the case, they remained adamant the officer should pay for his crime.
"Who are we not to forgive?" Rodney Scott said.
A bystander recorded the shooting on a cellphone, and it was shared around the world, setting off protests across the U.S. as demonstrators said it was another egregious example of police officers mistreating African-Americans.
Slager fired at Scott's back from 17 feet (5 meters) away. Five of eight bullets hit him.
The video was seized on by many as vivid proof of what they had been arguing for years: that white officers too often use deadly force unnecessarily against black people.
When the jury failed to reach a verdict in the state murder case, many black people and others were shocked and distressed, because the video seemed to some to be an open-and-shut case. Some despaired of ever seeing justice.
The shooting angered local African-Americans who complained for years that North Charleston police harassed blacks, pulling them over or questioning them unnecessarily as they cracked down on crime. But after the shooting, the Scott family successfully pleaded for calm, asking everyone to let the justice system run its course.
Two months after the shooting, a young white man killed nine black church members in a racially motivated massacre during a Bible study in Charleston. The family members of those victims struck a similar forgiveness tone after that attack.
Before Slager's sentence was handed down, the judge had to decide whether the shooting amounted to second-degree murder or manslaughter. Norton found that it was murder.
"No matter what sentence I give, neither the Scott family nor the Slager family is going to think that it's right," the judge said.
After the shooting, Slager picked up his stun gun and placed it next to Scott. Slager contended he was securing the weapon. Prosecutors think he put it there to bolster his self-defense story.
The judge also found that Slager obstructed justice when he made statements to state police after the shooting.
A pre-sentencing report for Slager found that he committed manslaughter and recommended 10 to nearly 13 years in prison. But the judge was not bound by that review.
If Slager had faced another state trial and been convicted of murder, he could have been sentenced to anywhere from 30 years to life in prison.
Convictions in police officer shootings are uncommon in the U.S. and prison time is even rarer.
South Carolina has been aggressive in charging white officers who shoot unarmed black people. Four have pleaded guilty in state or federal court in the past six years. But only Slager and former state trooper Sean Groubert, who shot a man as he tried to get his wallet during a seat belt violation check, will have been sent to prison. Groubert was sentenced to five years behind bars.
Nearly three days after Kenneka Jenkins was found dead inside a walk-in freezer in a Rosemont hotel, police have said very little about what happened to the 19-year-old.
No cause of death has been released and police won't say if there were signs of trauma on her body when it was discovered early Sunday morning at the Crowne Plaza Hotel.
Yet that has not kept thousands and thousands of online commenters from accusing and making threats against people they think set Jenkins up and then attacked her. "The day of punishment will come," one person posted, though police have not even said whether a crime has been committed.
Much of the speculation is based on a livestream video that was apparently broadcast from a hotel room shortly before Jenkins disappeared.
The video — which has gotten more than 4 million views — features a woman in mirrored sunglasses talking to the camera. Reflected in her glasses is the other side of the room, where Jenkins appears to be sitting.
The video has been shared more than 53,000 times and has drawn nearly 35,000 comments. Some viewers claim to hear her cry for help, others hear someone say she is being attacked.
But words are often garbled or obscured by music or other people talking. The images reflected in the woman's sunglasses appear clear at times, but it's still hard to tell what exactly Jenkins is doing.
Investigators say they have been reviewing the Facebook video as well as surveillance video, and have been talking with people who were in the room. But they have said very little so far about what they have found.
Here is a timeline of events that unfolded over the weekend at the hotel, as disclosed by family and police, followed by what we do not know about the case.
Yet that has not kept thousands and thousands of online commenters from accusing and making threats against people they think set Jenkins up and then attacked her. "The day of punishment will come," one person posted, though police have not even said whether a crime has been committed.
Much of the speculation is based on a livestream video that was apparently broadcast from a hotel room shortly before Jenkins disappeared. The video — which has gotten more than 4 million views — features a woman in mirrored sunglasses talking to the camera. Reflected in her glasses is the other side of the room, where Jenkins appears to be sitting.
The video has been shared more than 53,000 times and has drawn nearly 35,000 comments. Some viewers claim to hear her cry for help, others hear someone say she is being attacked.
But words are often garbled or obscured by music or other people talking.
The images reflected in the woman's sunglasses appear clear at times, but it's still hard to tell what exactly Jenkins is doing.
Investigators say they have been reviewing the Facebook video as well as surveillance video, and have been talking with people who were in the room. But they have said very little so far about what they have found.
Here is a timeline of events that unfolded over the weekend at the hotel, as disclosed by family and police, followed by what we do not know about the case.
• 12:48 a.m. Sunday. Jenkins is pronounced dead, according to the Cook County medical examiner's office. The cause of death remains undetermined after an autopsy the next day, pending further studies and investigation.
• Around 5 a.m. Sunday. Martin is allowed to see her daughter's body. She says the body had been removed from the freezer, which appeared to have been defrosted. “Her hair had soaking water up on there," she told reporters.
What We Don't Know
• What Jenkins was doing between the time she left home at 11:30 p.m. Friday and the time the video began around 1:35 a.m. Saturday.
• Who was in the hotel room. Police have not said how many were in the room and whether Jenkins knew all or most of them.
• What witnesses have told police about what went on in the room. Do they contradict each other?
Jenkins' mother has said her friends’ stories about what happened have changed. Is anyone considered a suspect?
• Whether Jenkins left alone or with someone, and whether anyone else was with her at the front desk.
• Who finally found Jenkins? How? Police have not said whether video shows her entering the freezer or whether there was anyone with her.
• We don't know how Jenkins died or whether there were signs of trauma. Jenkins' family said they were initially told by police that Jenkins apparently let herself into the freezer while drunk and died inside.
But a police spokesman said on Monday that nothing has been ruled out.
The medical examiner's office says the cause of death remains undetermined pending further studies and investigation.
• Police initially said the freezer was running at the time, but a spokesman later appeared to back off that comment.
It's also unknown whether there was a lever inside that would have allowed Jenkins to get out.
• The body of 19-year-old Kenneka Jenkins was discovered in a hotel walk-in freezer the day after she went to a party in a hotel room with friends
• In one Facebook Live video from that night Jenkins can be seen listening to loud music inside a hotel room with a group of friends
• Her mother has given an interview lashing out at police officers and hotel staff
• She says if both parties took her more seriously and acted faster they may have found her daughter before she died
• Rosemont police have not said how she died or if foul play is suspected
• Her mother Tereasa Martin said her daughter would have had difficulty opening the freezer door alone if she was drunk
• She also said she has not yet been allowed to see her daughter's body
The mother of the 19-year-old girl found dead in a hotel freezer early Sunday morning insists foul play was involved and that authorities did not act fast enough to save her child.
Kenneka Jenkins' remains were found inside an industrial walk-in freezer at the Crowne Plaza Hotel in Rosemont, a suburb of Chicago, around midnight on Sunday and more than 24 hours after she left home Friday night.
She left her house to head to a party with friends at around 11.30pm on Friday and was officially reported missing at 1.16pm Saturday.
Rosemont police say hotel staff discovered Jenkins inside the walk-in freezer by hotel staff, which was running and cold but not being used to store food.
'To me, I feel like they helped kill my child: the police department and this hotel,' Jenkins' mother Teresa Martin told CBS Chicago.
Martin explained that she believes neither the hotel's staff nor police officers took her pleas for help seriously when she realized her daughter had gone missing.
Jenkins was last seen at a party at the hotel early Saturday and she was reported missing later that afternoon. A text message was sent from her phone at 1.30am Saturday.
Her friends called her family at 4.30am when they could not find her.
Martin said she went to the police to attempt to file a police report, but that she was discouraged from doing so and instead told to wait it out.
Martin explained that she believes neither the hotel's staff nor police officers took her pleas for help seriously when she realized her daughter had gone missing.
Jenkins was last seen at a party at the hotel early Saturday and she was reported missing later that afternoon.
A text message was sent from her phone at 1.30am Saturday.
Her friends called her family at 4.30am when they could not find her.
Martin said she went to the police to attempt to file a police report, but that she was discouraged from doing so and instead told to wait it out.
Welcome to the BLACK POLITICAL BUZZ Blog. (Established 2008)
My name is Laurel. (Author & Publisher)
I Blog with a focus on POLITICS, Business, and occasionally Entertainment.
FACTS ABOUT LAUREL:
Wife,
Mother of a U.S. Soldier,
Sister,
Woman of GOD,
Loyal Friend,
Creative,
Blood-related to a nationally known Charlotte Politician.
Black Female, Intelligent,
Married,
Love to Travel,
Credentialed by the RNC and DNC.
Political Blogger/ Commentator
Grassroots Activist,
PROFESSIONAL STATUS:
Credential Political Blogger/ Commentator,
Registered Independent Voter
Original Native of BROOKLYN, NY
Currently reside in CHARLOTTE, NC
I’m Nice but don’t get it twisted because my Mind is Sharp!
Since You’ve Chosen to Visit and Read the Contents of this Blog by Personal Choice, and of Your Own Free Will,
Please don’t ask me to Compensate you for Expressing individual commentary/ Posted Articles, which are protected by the First Amendment, citing Freedom of Speech & Freedom of Expression.
No Intentionally Malicious Slander, Libel or Defamation of Character content will be published and I will always Credit all Sources.
NOTE TO ALL ELECTED OFFICIALS, APPOINTED OFFICIALS & PUBLIC FIGURES:
Per the Landmark U.S. Supreme Court Case: 1964 case of New York Times v. Sullivan………
The Public has a Right to Criticize the People who Govern them, so the least Protection from Defamation is given to Public Officials. When officials are accused of something that involves their behavior in office, they have to prove all of the above elements of defamation and they must also prove that the defendant acted with “actual malice.” (For a definition of actual malice, see the “History of Defamation and the First Amendment, below.”)
People who aren’t Elected but who are Still Public Figures because they are influential or famous — like Actors, Actresses, Movie Stars, Singers & Entertainers, Journalists, TV Hosts, Bloggers, etc., — also have to Prove that Defamatory statements were made with Actual Malice, in most cases.
To the Associated Press and other Media Organizations:
When I use your Content Links., I’m also citing the Fair Use Doctrine (Title 17 U.S.C. Section 107) for further Copyright permission.
Posts and Links published on Black Political Buzz are not endorsed by Black Political Buzz Blog Author Laurel’s Employer, nor the Employers of other Black Political Buzz employees.
This includes Links, Posts and Comments posted on Black Political Buzz’s Facebook and Twitter account pages.
Comments, Links and Opinions of site visitors are Independently-Owned and not endorsed by Black Political Buzz employees, Blog Author Laurel or Laurel’s Employer.)
(No Personal Offense intended) Please know that Black Political Buzz is not responsible for nor do I endorse Requests for Donations from Third Parties on this Blog.
I will Only Endorse Requests for Donations made on behalf of BLACK POLITICAL BUZZ Blog for Business Purposes & Operating Expenses.
I will also Only Endorse Requests for Donations on behalf of Legitimate Politicians and Legitimate Political Candidates. PERIOD!!
If anyone else or another Organization wishes to post a link to Request Donations, I am NOT endorsing ANY of those Requests!
Unless I receive a personal Request to do so and I have Professionally Confirmed that the Third Party Organization or Charity is indeed a Legitimate Entity.
NOTE: Anyone who chooses to give to any Third Party Organization NOT Endorsed by BLACK POLITICAL BUZZ is doing so at his or her own risk.
BLACK POLITICAL BUZZ does NOT Discriminate against Politicians, Political Candidates, Organizations or Charities based on Race, Color, Nationality, Ethnicity, Gender, Sexual Orientation, Religion, Faith, Disability, Political Affiliation, Creed, Education, Social Status, Age.
This disclaimer applies to ANY and All requests for Donations on this Blog. Thanks for understanding. Again No Personal Offense intended.
For Story Tips….Corrections…….. or Requests for Endorsements:
Please contact me via e-mail: blackpoliticalbuzz@gmail.com
or via my Facebook page: facebook.com/blackpoliticalbuzz
Thanks for stopping by
God Bless
Laurel @BLACK POLITICAL BUZZ
LINKS: POLITICAL PERSPECTIVE & INFORMATIONAL SITES
.jpg)
