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Tag: AURORA

  • Families Of People Killed In 2018 Texas School Shooting Settle Suit With Ammo Dealer

    Families Of People Killed In 2018 Texas School Shooting Settle Suit With Ammo Dealer

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    HOUSTON (AP) — The families of those killed and injured in a 2018 Texas high school shooting have settled a lawsuit they had filed against a Tennessee-based online retailer accused of illegally selling ammunition to the student who authorities say fatally shot 10 people on campus.

    Retailer Lucky Gunner was accused of failing to verify Dimitrios Pagourtzis’ age when he bought more than 100 rounds of ammunition on two occasions before the May 2018 shooting at Santa Fe High School, located about 35 miles (56.33 kilometers) southeast of Houston.

    Pagourtzis was a 17-year-old student at the time of the shooting. Federal law prohibits minors from purchasing handgun ammunition, and bars licensed gun companies from selling to minors handgun or shotgun ammunition .

    Under the lawsuit’s settlement, which was announced on Thursday, Lucky Gunner agreed to maintain an age verification system for customers buying ammunition, said Alla Lefkowitz, with Everytown Law, the litigation arm of the gun control advocacy group Everytown for Gun Safety. Other details of the lawsuit’s settlement are still confidential.

    “I would hope (the settlement) encourages (gun) companies to take notice and to want to institute these safer business practices themselves. I can’t imagine anyone wants to sell ammunition to children,” Lefkowitz said in an interview Friday.

    Her organization represented the family of Sabika Aziz Sheikh, a 17-year-old Pakistani exchange student who was killed in the shooting.

    “Nothing will ever bring Sabika back,” Farah Naz, Sabika’s mother, said in a statement. “But we hope that this agreement sends a message to other sellers of dangerous products: it’s your responsibility to prevent your products from ending up in the wrong hands.”

    Lucky Gunner faced a similar lawsuit after the 2012 Aurora movie theater shooting in Colorado in which 12 people were killed. But a federal judge dismissed that lawsuit in 2015.

    Clint McGuire, an attorney representing several other families of those who were killed or injured in the Santa Fe High School shooting, said his clients are asking Texas lawmakers to pass a law requiring proof of age for every ammunition sale in the state.

    “Texas has a law requiring proof of age for anyone under 30 to purchase tobacco products … There is no good reason why there should not be a similar law for ammunition sales,” McGuire said.

    Lucky Gunner and its owners argued they were immune from litigation under the federal Protection of Lawful Commerce in Arms Act — which prohibits firearms and ammunition manufacturers, and dealers, from being held liable when their products are used in crimes. The online ammunition company had sought to have the lawsuit dismissed but lower courts — and ultimately the Texas Supreme Court — rejected its efforts.

    Lucky Gunner and its attorneys pushed back on the idea the lawsuit’s settlement will result in any changes to its business practices and that all it has agreed to do is to continue using its existing system. The company said it introduced its current age verification system in 2019.

    “We didn’t agree to do anything we weren’t already doing. We’ll continue investing in a world class experience for American gun owners. We want ammo sales to be secure, convenient, and cost-effective for every law-abiding American,” Jake Felde, Lucky Gunner’s chief executive officer, said in a statement.

    The owner of Lucky Gunner is Jordan Mollenhour, whose appointment to the Tennessee State Board of Education was confirmed last year. Some Tennessee Democratic lawmakers had raised doubts about how his resume qualified him for an education role and had concerns over the lawsuit.

    Pagourtzis, now 22, has been ruled incompetent to stand trial and has been receiving mental health treatment at a state hospital since early December 2019. Earlier this month, a judge ordered that he be held at the hospital for up to another year. He has been charged with capital murder.

    Follow Juan A. Lozano on Twitter at https://twitter.com/juanlozano70.

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  • Aurora police rescue boy who fell through ice in retention pond, woman who went in after him

    Aurora police rescue boy who fell through ice in retention pond, woman who went in after him

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    AURORA, Ill. (CBS) — Police officers do and see a lot on patrol – but the efforts of some Aurora officers are leading many to call them true heroes this Thanksgiving Day.

    As CBS 2’s Jermont Terry reported, the officers jumped into chilly waters the day before Thanksgiving to save a 9-year-old boy who had run out to get his football and ended up falling through the ice.

    Around 4:30 p.m. Wednesday, a 911 call sent officers to the Fox Pointe apartment complex in Aurora. The call was for a person drowning – a 9-year-old boy who had fallen into the water and couldn’t get out.

    Officer Andrew Soderlund answered the call.

    “We’re driving there,” Soderlund said. “You’re kind of playing that scenario through your head = what exactly are we going to see when you we there?”

    Officer Soderlund and his partner jumped out and headed right to the pond – where the 9-year-old boy had fallen into the icy water.

    Onlookers directed the officers in the boy’s direction. The child had fallen in trying to get his football – yet when the boy went on the frozen pond, the ice cracked.

    By the time officers arrived, a woman who tried saving the boy was also stuck.

    “They were pretty far out there – and obviously, they weren’t making any way of getting closer to the shore,” Soderlund said.

    Officer Soderlund ran back to his squad to grab a rescue kit.

    “I know I’m not an Olympic swimmer, so I knew that hey, I’m not going to be able to swim with the two other people in the water,” he said.

    Soderlund pulled out the rope and tied a knot around his waist – then jumped in.

    “That adrenaline dump that goes on in situation like that – I don’t remember the cold at all,” he said.

    Yet the water was dangerously cold – and Soderlund quickly learned it was deep too.

    “I originally started walking out, I was like, ‘Wow, this isn’t bad – I can stand up,’ and then it just dropped,” he said. “It felt like it was no bottom.”

    When Officer Soderlund got out to the retention pond, the first thing he did was take off his bulletproof vest – because it would have weighed him down to the point where he could not have gotten to the woman and kid.

    “I wanted to be as light as possible,” Soderlund said.

    TWO OFFICERS INJURED RESCUING A DROWNING CHILD

    Just before 4:30p.m. on Wednesday, Aurora’s 911 Telecommunications Center received reports of a 9-year-old drowning. Aurora Police officers and Aurora Firefighters were dispatched to the scene. When officers arrived, they found a 9-year-old boy who had fallen through ice and an adult woman who had gone in to attempt to save the child.

    Officers were able to determine the 9-year-old had entered a frozen section of a retention pond in attempt to retrieve their football. When the 9-year-old entered the frozen section of the retention pond, he fell through the ice into the cold water. Multiple officers deployed water rescue kits while two officers swam to save the drowning child and the adult female who were in the water. In a combined effort, officers were able to safely return to land with the child and the woman.

    The child sustained minor injuries and was transported to an area hospital by the Aurora Fire Department. Two Aurora officers who swam to rescue the child sustained minor injuries and were transported to an area hospital by the Aurora Fire Department. The female adult was treated on scene and was not transported. Everybody was released from the hospital in stable condition.

    Posted by Aurora Illinois Police Department on Thursday, November 24, 2022

    The mission was a success. Facebook video released by Aurora police showed officers in the water, and throwing out ropes on the shoreline, to rescue the boy and the woman.

    But once everyone was out of the water, a chill hit Soderlund.

    “One of my partners actually, he helped me unbutton my shirt because my fingers weren’t working,” Soderlund said.

    The two officers who had been in the water, the woman, and the 9-year-old all went to the hospital to get checked out. Everyone was safe Thanksgiving night.

    “I thought my son was not going to be here to see Thanksgiving,” the boy’s mother said in the Facebook video posted by police Thursday. “Somebody was out there to call 911.”

    She thanked everyone who stepped in to call 911, and everyone who helped rescue the youngster.

    But Soderlund said, “I don’t consider myself necessarily a hero.”

    On Thursday, officers brought the boy a new football to play with on Thanksgiving.

    Jermont Terry


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    Jermont Terry joined the CBS 2 team in October 2019. He’s born and raised on Chicago’s South Side. He’s happy to return home to report on his community after 18 years of uncovering stories across the country.

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  • Colorado police arrest suspect in shooting of 12-year-old

    Colorado police arrest suspect in shooting of 12-year-old

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    Police in Aurora, Colorado, say they have arrested a suspect as part of their investigation into a Friday shooting that left a 12-year-old boy dead and a 14-year-old boy wounded

    AURORA, Colo. — Police in Colorado said Saturday that they have arrested an 18-year-old suspect as part of their investigation into a Friday shooting that left a 12-year-old boy dead and a 14-year-old boy wounded. The suspect has been charged with first-degree murder and attempted first-degree murder, officials said.

    The two victims, who were related, were shot while walking down the street in Aurora on Friday just before 3 p.m., KCNC-TV CBS Colorado reported, citing police. They were both transported to a hospital, where the 12-year-old was pronounced dead shortly after. The 14-year-old remains hospitalized with serious injuries, according to police.

    Police said that “initial details obtained by responding officers” led them to believe that the suspect fired at the victims from a car. Officials said they have located the vehicle.

    “Aurora Police Officers were able to quickly identify and detain a person of interest, who is known to the victims,” APD said in a news release.

    Officers are not actively searching for additional suspects at this time, according to KCNC-TV CBS Colorado. The news outlet reports that the motive for the shooting is not yet known.

    At the scene of the shooting on Friday night, APD’s Matt Longshore told reporters, “This is a very tragic situation.”

    “A young boy has lost his life, another is hospitalized, that’s why we’re asking the community about this incident,” KCNC-TV CBS Colorado reported Longshore as saying. “Youth violence continues to be an issue metro-wide.”

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  • NASA captured an image of a “giant space pumpkin.” Here’s the science behind the “smiling” sun.

    NASA captured an image of a “giant space pumpkin.” Here’s the science behind the “smiling” sun.

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    This year’s Halloween spirit was out of this world. Ahead of the costume and candy-filled celebration, NASA’s Solar Dynamics Observatory captured an image of the sun “smiling” – an image that acclaimed cosmologist compared to a “giant space pumpkin.” 

    The image, which shows a glowing sun with two black holes on top of another crescent-shaped “smile,” was captured on October 26. 

    “Seen in ultraviolet light, these dark patches on the Sun are known as coronal holes and are regions where fast solar wind gushes out into space,” NASA tweeted. 

    The adorable image of the sun was certainly a treat, but it came with tricks as well. The coronal hole trio prompted a minor geomagnetic storm watch on Saturday, with NOAA’s Space Weather Prediction Center warning that the holes were anticipated to “enhance and disturb the solar wind environment and lead to unsettled conditions.” 

    Coronal holes, according to NASA, are areas of the sun that appear dark because they are cooler and less dense than the surrounding regions and have open magnetic fields. These characteristics allow “streams of relatively fast solar wind” to escape more easily. The holes can develop at any time and location on the sun and the winds can cause geomagnetic storms, ranked on a scale from G1 (minor) to G5 (extreme), which have the power to disrupt power and other systems on Earth while also impacting spacecraft operations.

    Even minor storms can cause “weak power grid fluctuations,” according to the center, and impact satellite operations and migratory animals. These storms also cause the northern lights to become more visible further south. 

    In the most extreme storm, some grid systems can experience “complete collapse” and an aurora can be seen as far south as Florida and southern Texas. 

    The “unsettled conditions” were expected to extend through Wednesday, the center said last week. As of Monday, however, no geomagnetic storms or “significant transient or recurrent solar wind features” are expected. On Sunday, the center said there have been “no geomagnetic storms” in the past week. 

    The sun put on a similar Halloween-esque face in 2014, when NASA captured images of the sun looking like an eerie jack-o-lantern. The somewhat spine-tingling glow that was seen coming out of the sun were caused by areas that were emitting more light and energy, NASA said at the time. 

    halloweensun20142k.jpg
    This image shows the sun shining like a jack-o-lantern. Image taken on Oct. 8, 2014.

    NASA/SDO


    Li Cohen


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    Li Cohen is a social media producer and trending reporter for CBS News, focusing on social justice issues.

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  • 4 people killed in shooting at home near Denver

    4 people killed in shooting at home near Denver

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    AURORA, Colo. — Authorities are searching for a suspect in an overnight shooting that left four people dead at a home in suburban Denver.

    Dan Oates, Aurora’s interim police chief, said three men and one woman were killed in the attack just after 2 a.m. Sunday. Two “very young” children and a woman who is the suspect’s domestic partner were unharmed.

    A restraining order had been issued earlier in the week barring the suspect, 21-year-old Joseph Mario Castorena, from coming to the home or contacting his domestic partner, who lived there. Police searched Castorena’s home a few blocks away from the site of the slayings but did not find him.

    “He’s certainly considered armed, and he’s obviously dangerous,” Oates said.

    “This was an accumulation of events here that led to this,” Oates said.

    Police used drones to search for Castorena at sunrise and were looking for him in the immediate neighborhood Sunday.

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