Tag: crimes against persons

Author Salman Rushdie has lost sight in one eye and hand is “incapacitated” following August stabbing attack, agent says | CNN

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Author Salman Rushdie has lost his sight in one eye and one of his hands is “incapacitated” following a stabbing attack in August, according to an interview given by his agent to a Spanish newspaper.

Rushdie, 75, underwent emergency surgery after he was stabbed several times before his scheduled lecture at the Chautauqua Institution in New York on August 12.

Staff members and guests then rushed onto the stage and held down the suspect, identified as 24-year-old Hadi Matar, of Fairview, New Jersey, before a state trooper assigned to the event took him into custody, according to New York State Police.

Matar has pleaded not guilty to attempted murder in the second degree, and second-degree assault, over the attack.

Speaking to El País, literary agent Andrew Wylie said, “[His wounds] were profound, but he’s [also] lost the sight of one eye … He had three serious wounds in his neck. One hand is incapacitated because the nerves in his arm were cut. And he has about 15 more wounds in his chest and torso. So, it was a brutal attack.”

Wylie declined to tell the newspaper if Rushdie was still hospitalized and did not specify when he had last been updated on Rushdie’s condition, according to an English language write-up of the interview. He said the most important thing was the writer was going to live.

Wylie also told El País he and Rushdie had talked about the possibility of such an attack in the past. “The principal danger that he faced so many years after the fatwa was imposed is from a random person coming out of nowhere and attacking [him],” he said. “So, you can’t protect against that because it’s totally unexpected and illogical. It was like John Lennon’s murder.”

El Pais said the interview was conducted from a hotel suite Wednesday evening, during the Frankfurt book fair.

CNN has contacted Wylie but did not receive an immediate response.

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October 23, 2022
Start your week smart: China, Hurricane Roslyn, Boris Johnson, Red Bull, Jan. 6 | CNN

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The 2022 midterm elections are now just weeks away, and with control of both chambers of Congress and dozens of governorships, secretaries of state and attorneys general posts on the line, it’s important to know both how and when to vote in your state. To help you plan your vote, CNN has gathered the deadlines for early in-person voting, absentee/mail-in voting and for voter registration in each of the 50 states leading up to Election Day on Tuesday, Nov. 8.

Here’s what else you need to know to Start Your Week Smart.

• Chinese leader Xi Jinping has formally stepped into his norm-breaking third term ruling China with an iron grip on power as he revealed a new leadership team today stacked with loyal allies.

• Hurricane Roslyn slammed into Mexico’s Pacific coast as a major Category 3 storm today, bringing dangerous storm surge and flooding to parts of the country, forecasters said.

• Boris Johnson is trying to win enough support to make what would be a stunning comeback as Britain’s prime minister, as senior Conservative politicians declared their support for former finance minister Rishi Sunak. The two men have become the early favorites to replace Liz Truss, who announced her resignation last week.

• Dietrich Mateschitz, the owner and co-founder of the sports drink company Red Bull, has died, the company announced Saturday. He was 78. As well as turning his energy drink into a market leader, the Austrian billionaire also founded one of the most successful Formula One teams in recent history.

• The House select committee investigating the January 6, 2021, attack on the US Capitol announced on Friday that the panel has officially sent a subpoena to former President Donald Trump as it paints him as the central figure in the multi-step plan to overturn the results of the 2020 presidential election.

Monday

Opening statements are scheduled to begin in the sexual assault trial of disgraced movie producer Harvey Weinstein in Los Angeles. Weinstein, 70, was convicted of first-degree criminal sexual act and third-degree rape charges in New York more than two years ago and sentenced to 23 years in prison. In Los Angeles, Weinstein faces multiple sexual assault charges that he pleaded not guilty to last year.

Diwali, the Hindu celebration known as the “Festival of Lights,” also begins on Monday. New York City Mayor Eric Adams announced last week that Diwali will be a public school holiday starting in 2023.

Tuesday

A Moscow regional court has set October 25 as an appeal date for WNBA star Brittney Griner. Griner was sentenced to nine years of jail time in early August for deliberately smuggling drugs into Russia. She was arrested with less than 1 gram of cannabis oil in her luggage at Moscow’s Sheremetyevo International Airport on February 17.

In what has become one of the most closely watched Senate contests in the country, Pennsylvania Democratic Senate nominee John Fetterman and Republican candidate Mehmet Oz will face each other in a televised debate in Harrisburg, Pennsylvania. Fetterman, who had a near-fatal stroke more than five months ago, has faced a number of questions about transparency surrounding his health and recovery. Fetterman’s primary care physician released a medical report earlier this month stating that the candidate is “recovering well from his stroke” and “has no work restrictions and can work full duty in public office.”

Wednesday

Hillary Clinton – former secretary of state and 2016 Democratic nominee for President – turns 75.

Saturday

October 29 is National Cat Day. “Meh,” said cats …

Hear a story of Iranian resistance

In this week’s One Thing podcast, CNN Chief International Investigative Correspondent Nima Elbagir joins us from Northern Iraq, where some Iranian dissidents have fled a brutal crackdown in response to nationwide protests set off by the death of 22-year-old Mahsa Amini. We explore if these protests will bring lasting change and hear from one Iranian-Kurdish activist who is now taking up arms across the border. Listen here.

British Prime Minister Liz Truss announces her resignation in front of 10 Downing Street in London on Thursday, October 20.” class=”image_gallery-image__dam-img”/>

a drone attack in Kyiv, Ukraine, on Monday, October 17. A wave of drone attacks pummeled the capital city early Monday as commuters headed to work.” class=”image_gallery-image__dam-img”/>

ended a 15-game losing streak against Alabama. They won 52-49 with a last second 40-yard field goal.” class=”image_gallery-image__dam-img”/>

Mississippi to record lows.” class=”image_gallery-image__dam-img”/>

20th Communist Party Congress at the Great Hall of the People in Beijing on Sunday, October 16. Xi is poised to secure a norm-breaking third term in power.” class=”image_gallery-image__dam-img”/>

as it splashes down off the coast of Jacksonville, Florida, on Friday, October 14, with European Space Agency astronaut Samantha Cristoforetti and NASA astronauts Kjell Lindgren, Robert Hines and Jessica Watkins. They are returning after 170 days aboard the International Space Station.” class=”image_gallery-image__dam-img”/>

James Webb Space Telescope. It shows a highly detailed view of the Pillars of Creation, a vista of three looming towers made of interstellar dust and gas that’s speckled with newly formed stars. The area, which lies within the Eagle Nebula about 6,500 light-years from Earth, had previously been captured by the Hubble Telescope in 1995, creating an image deemed “iconic” by space observers.” class=”image_gallery-image__dam-img”/>

found him not liable for battery on allegations he picked up actor Anthony Rapp and briefly laid on top of him in a bed after a party in 1986. Jurors deliberated for about an hour and concluded Rapp did not prove that Spacey “touched a sexual or intimate part” of him.” class=”image_gallery-image__dam-img”/>

warned it could take up to six months for the water to recede in the wake of the country’s “unprecedented” flooding.” class=”image_gallery-image__dam-img”/>

expelled from the United States on Monday, October 17.” class=”image_gallery-image__dam-img”/>

deadly drone attacks.” class=”image_gallery-image__dam-img”/>

See last week in 32 photos.” class=”image_gallery-image__dam-img”/>

Check out more moving, fascinating and thought-provoking images from the week that was, curated by CNN Photos.

TV and streaming

The season finale of “House of the Dragon,” the “Game of Thrones” prequel that takes place almost 200 years before the events of its predecessor, airs tonight at 9 p.m. ET/PT on HBO. (HBO, like CNN, is a unit of Warner Bros. Discovery.)

“Guillermo del Toro’s Cabinet of Curiosities” makes its debut on Netflix Tuesday. The new horror anthology promises “eight tales of terror” curated by the Oscar-winning director of “The Shape of Water.”

“The Good Nurse,” starring Oscar winners Eddie Redmayne and Jessica Chastain, tells the story of an infamous caregiver implicated in the deaths of hundreds of hospital patients. It begins streaming on Netflix Wednesday.

“All Quiet on the Western Front,” based on the classic World War I novel, arrives on Netflix Friday.

Baseball

Four teams remain in the battle to reach the 2022 World Series, which begins on Friday. Later today, the San Diego Padres face the Philadelphia Phillies in Game 5 of the National League Championship Series. On Saturday, the Phillies beat the Padres to take a 3-1 lead in the series. The Houston Astros, meanwhile, play the New York Yankees tonight in Game 4 of the American League Championship Series. Houston leads that series 3-0.

Take CNN’s weekly news quiz to see how much you remember from the week that was! So far, 66% of fellow quiz fans have gotten eight or more questions right. How will you fare?

Christina Aguilera – Beautiful (2022 Version)

‘Beautiful’

A lot has changed about the world in the last 20 years, but Christina Aguilera still thinks you’re beautiful – despite what social media sometimes tells us. Watch the updated version of her “Beautiful” music video released last week that takes aim at the messages often delivered through social media that have negative effects on our body image and mental health. (Click here to view)

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October 23, 2022
As Tree of Life massacre anniversary nears, recent antisemitic rhetoric proves too many Americans learned nothing from attack | CNN

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A version of this story appeared in CNN’s Race Deconstructed newsletter. To get it in your inbox every week, sign up for free here.

The social media outburst this month from the rapper Ye, né Kanye West, may be the example of antisemitism capturing the most attention these days. But we’d be remiss not to locate this instance of anti-Jewish bigotry within a larger social climate.

Mere days after Ye’s rant (and after the comedian Sarah Silverman was rebuked for suggesting that Black Americans haven’t condemned Ye; read on to learn more about the knotty dynamics at play here), former President Donald Trump rehashed dangerous tropes about Jewish people and loyalty.

Pennsylvania Republican gubernatorial candidate Doug Mastriano and former congresswoman Tulsi Gabbard also have raised concerns in recent weeks for embracing language that draws on age-old antisemitic narratives.

This rhetoric arrives just before the four-year anniversary of the Tree of Life synagogue shooting – the deadliest assault on Jewish people in the US – and makes clear the persistence of antisemitism.

“It’s hard for me to say that we, as a country, have learned anything,” Emily Tamkin, a senior editor at The New Statesman, told CNN. “I actually don’t think that the lessons that should’ve been learned from the attack were learned by Americans generally and certainly not by American politicians on the right.”

Tamkin explores some of the fallout from the Tree of Life shooting in her new book, “Bad Jews: A History of American Jewish Politics and Identities,” a combination of historical analysis and memoir. But she doesn’t focus purely on tragedy. Rather, she gives dimension to American Jewish lives at a time when antisemitism is on the rise.

“It’d be impossible to write a book about American Jewish history and not include antisemitism. But this isn’t a book about antisemitism,” she explained. “This is a book about American Jews. American Jewish history is the history of American Jews, not the people who hate us.”

Tamkin and I spoke at greater length about this history and the ways it ought to inform our present day. The following conversation has been lightly edited for length and clarity.

What has the social climate even just over the past several months – Whoopi Goldberg’s claim about the Holocaust in February, Ye’s antisemitic remarks – revealed about the way so many in US society view Jewish people and Jewish experiences?

I grew up in a town without many Jewish people and experienced antisemitism in my day-to-day life. So, it’s not that I’m surprised that antisemitism exists. As an adult, I’ve been a little bit surprised by the extent to which it’s been embraced by some of our politicians.

I think that what Ye said was horrible. Personally, I’m more concerned about the fact that he was on a TV show run by a person who regularly has guests on who espouse antisemitic tropes and stereotypes.

The fact that many people know better than to say “Jews” or “Jewish” doesn’t mean that what they’re saying isn’t antisemitic. The same week Ye tweeted about Jews, we had Tulsi Gabbard say that she was leaving the Democratic Party because it’s run by an “elitist cabal.” And Doug Mastriano, who’s running to be the governor of Pennsylvania, has slammed his Democratic opponent, Josh Shapiro, who’s Jewish, for sending his children to a Jewish day school.

It’s important that we don’t just point to one celebrity and say, “Oh, my goodness, how could he say that?” Instead, we should look at this within the context of the current political moment.

What tension are you seeking to capture with the notion of “bad Jews”?

“Bad Jews” is a term American Jews throw at one another and ourselves. It’s a concept that many of us have deeply internalized, that we’re somehow doing this wrong. It’s a label people try to force others to wear, to claim that they’re somehow less authentic, that they haven’t inherited the tradition correctly. And this book attempts to push back.

Right now in US politics, and specifically American Jewish politics, it sometimes feels like we are just throwing the label of “bad Jew” back and forth at one other. Part of what I wanted to do is put this political moment in context. I started writing this book during the Trump years, when you had a president who said that American Jews who vote for Democrats, which is most American Jews, are disloyal.

I think that when you look at American Jewish history, what you find is that there’s never been consensus on what it means to be a good American Jew, or even just an American Jew. And as much as things are changing today and as much as people might feel like we’re in crisis today and as much as things are polarized and politicized today, what I wanted to do was put the present moment in this larger context.

In one of your chapters, you tell a more complex history of Jewish people’s participation in the civil rights movement. Tell me more about why it’s important to complicate this history.

I’ve joked to some people that another title for the book could’ve been “Stories We Tell Ourselves and Why They’re Incomplete.” The common narrative is that American Jews were very supportive of the civil rights movement. Broadly speaking, this is true – there were many American Jews who supported the civil rights movement. At the same time, there were American Jews who didn’t. There were American Jews who said that rather than fighting for civil rights for Black Americans, we should be focusing on our “own” issues. There’s the broader context that for most of US history, most American Jews have gone through life as White people and been treated as White under the laws of the US.

And it’s important to understand all of this. Just last week, we saw some American Jews invoke the civil rights movement and ask why more Black Americans weren’t speaking out against Ye’s remarks about Jewish people. First of all, to demand that Black Americans answer for one rapper is wrong. But also, this idea that all American Jews showed up during the civil rights movement, it’s just not true. It’s ahistorical. If we’re going to cite our history, we should at least understand that history.

I think that there’s also a tendency, in some quarters of some American Jewish communities, to point to the civil rights movement and as though our work in the US toward building a more just and equitable country is done. For this book, I interviewed Susannah Heschel, a scholar and the daughter of Rabbi Heschel, who famously marched with Martin Luther King Jr. She pointed out two things. She said that many people who said that they were supportive of the movement at the time weren’t supportive in tangible ways – in material ways – and still lived in largely White neighborhoods and perhaps resisted affirmative action. And that was for their own historic reasons, because of how quotas had been used against American Jews. But nevertheless.

And she’s gone on the record many times saying that this isn’t how she wants her father’s memory to be used. It’s not meant as an excuse to check out of calls for justice today or to act as though racism and racial inequality have nothing to do with you.

It’s important that we recognize that there are Jews of color, that there are Black Jews, that the face of American Jewish life, such as it is, is changing, and that when we talk about Black and Jewish relations, we do so in a way that doesn’t erase the existence of Black Jews.

What do you think gets overlooked in our conversations about antisemitism?

One thing that should be noted is that when we talk about antisemitism, people use it in really different ways. They understand it differently.

That said, I think that one important element of understanding antisemitism is that, within the antisemite’s conception, Jews are always foreign. They can never really be a part of the nation. When you look at conspiracy theories wherein Jews are trying to corrupt or corrode the nation – well, why would they do that? It’s because they can never really belong. You see this again and again throughout Jewish history. And part of what’s so upsetting about that to me is that that’s what I hear. You’re telling me that you don’t really think that I’m both American and Jewish.

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October 22, 2022
Jury finds Kevin Spacey not liable for battery | CNN

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In a victory for Kevin Spacey, a New York jury on Thursday afternoon found him not liable for battery on allegations he picked up actor Anthony Rapp and briefly laid on top of him in a bed after a party in 1986.

Jurors deliberated for about an hour, and concluded Rapp did not prove that Spacey “touched a sexual or intimate part” of Rapp.

Judge Lewis Kaplan formally dismissed the case. Attorneys seated on either side of Spacey immediately put their hands on his back when the verdict was read.

“We are very grateful to the jury for seeing through these false allegations,” Jennifer Keller, one of Spacey’s attorneys, said later while leaving court. Spacey did not speak to reporters when he left.

Best known for his role in “Star Trek: Discovery,” Rapp had alleged that in 1986, Spacey, then 26, invited Rapp, then 14, to his Manhattan home where he picked Rapp up, laid him down on his bed, grabbed his buttocks and pressed his groin into Rapp’s body without his consent.

The judge dismissed Rapp’s claim of assault before the trial started and dismissed his claim of intentional infliction of emotional distress after Rapp’s attorneys rested his case, leaving the jury to decide only the battery claim. Under New York law, battery is touching another person, without their consent, in a way that a reasonable person would find offensive.

CNN Legal Analyst Joey Jackson saw Thursday’s verdict as a huge win for Spacey, one that demonstrates a jury can tune out the noise involving a celebrity’s alleged reported misdeeds in the Me Too movement and evaluate a case based on the facts presented in court.

The case was also problematic legally, with two counts tossed by the court – assault and intentional infliction of emotional distress – leaving the jury to consider only the battery claim, Jackson said.

“The jury clearly did not accept factual assertions made by Rapp, thereby not finding him credible,” Jackson added.

But the win was a “Pyrrhic victory” for Spacey given other charges that “hang over him, including criminal charges in the UK,” CNN Legal Analyst Paul Callan said.

“Spacey has now notched two victories in sex abuse charges against him including this case and the one previously dropped in Nantucket,” Callan said. “He, however, faces an uphill battle facing other accusers and more serious criminal charges in UK.”

Spacey was charged with four counts of sexual assault against three men and one count of causing a person to engage in penetrative sexual activity without consent by Britain’s Crown Prosecuting Service in May. Spacey has pleaded not guilty to the charges.

In the Nantucket case, a man alleged Spacey groped him when he was an 18-year-old busboy at a restaurant. Spacey had pleaded not guilty. Prosecutors eventually dropped the criminal case against Spacey after the accuser pleaded the Fifth on the witness stand when being questioned about his missing cellphone and about whether he deleted text messages.

In his closing argument, Rapp’s attorney Richard Steigman suggested Spacey twisted his testimony at trial to suit his defense, pointing to Spacey’s 2017 apology to Rapp when he first came forward.

“Don’t listen to what I said in real time. I’m defending a lawsuit now. Listen to me now. I’ve got it straightened out,” Steigman said, mocking Spacey’s attempt to convince the jury he was coerced by publicists to give the statement he testified he now regrets.

Steigman called Spacey’s testimony rehearsed in comparison to the raw testimony given by his client.

“When you’re rehearsed, and a world class actor and you’re following the script and following the testimony of someone else, you can take that stand and be perfectly polished,” Steigman said. “When you’re merely coming to court coming forward and telling the truth of your experience, especially one like this that’s a little bit complicated.”

Steigman also batted down the defense argument that Rapp wanted to out Spacey as gay.

“The point of the story is not that Kevin Spacey is gay. It’s that he sexually abused him when he was 14. That’s what he’s sharing with people, he’s sharing his experience – nothing more, nothing less. Where’s the proof that he said to any media outlet, you know, Kevin Spacey is gay, you really should run with this?”

Keller, Spacey’s attorney, began her closing argument by addressing the shadow of the Me Too movement on the case, stating that Rapp “hitched his wagon” to the movement when he came forward.

“This isn’t a team sport where you’re either on the Me Too side, or you’re on the other side,” Keller told the jury. “This is a very different place. Our system requires evidence, proof, objective support for accusations provided to an impartial jury. However polarized as society may be today, it really should not have a place here.”

Keller suggested that Rapp cribbed his allegations against Spacey from a nearly identical scene from the Broadway show “Precious Sons,” which Rapp was performing in with Ed Harris in 1986 at the time of the alleged incident.

“We’re here because Mr. Rapp has falsely alleged abuse that never occurred at a party that was never held in a room that did not exist,” she said.

Spacey’s attorney concluded her remarks by asking the jury not to compromise their verdict by finding Spacey liable of battery but only awarding Rapp a single dollar in damages.

“You’re here to be judges of the facts. Did it happen? It didn’t happen. One penny is too much for something that did not happen,” Keller said.

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October 20, 2022
Trump appears for deposition in E. Jean Carroll lawsuit | CNN Politics

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Former President Donald Trump appeared Wednesday for a deposition as part of the defamation lawsuit brought by former magazine columnist E. Jean Carroll.

Last week, a federal judge cleared the way for Trump’s testimony saying the former President had already taken steps to delay the case and he “should not be able to run out the clock.”

“We’re pleased that on behalf of our client, E. Jean Carroll, we were able to take Donald Trump’s deposition today. We are not able to comment further,” said a spokesperson for Kaplan Hecker & Fink, the law firm representing Carroll.

Lawyers for Trump have not responded to a request for comment.

It is not clear what Trump said during the deposition, which was taken at his Mar-a-Lago resort.

Carroll sued Trump in 2019 for defamation after he denied her claim that he raped her in a New York department store in the mid-1990s. She was scheduled to sit for her deposition last Friday.

The legal stakes for Trump were recently raised when Carroll said she intends to sue him next month under a new New York State law that allows victims of sexual assault to sue years after the attack. His testimony in the defamation case could be used in a future lawsuit.

The defamation case has been in legal limbo for over a year.

Trump and the Justice Department argued Trump was a federal employee and his statements denying Carroll’s allegations were made in response to reporters’ questions while he was at the White House. They argued the Justice Department should be substituted as the defendant, which, because the government cannot be sued for defamation, would end the lawsuit.

Judge Lewis Kaplan ruled against Trump and DOJ. They appealed. Last month a federal appeals court in New York ruled that Trump was a federal employee when he denied Carroll’s claim of rape and sexual assault.

However, the federal appeals court asked the Washington, DC, appeals court to determine if Trump was acting within the scope of his employment when he made the allegedly defamatory statements. If the DC court finds in favor of Trump, then the Justice Department would likely be substituted as a defendant and the case dismissed. The DC appeals court has not yet taken up the matter and it is unclear if or when they will.

This year Trump was ordered by a New York State judge to sit for a deposition with the New York attorney general’s office. Trump refused to answer questions, citing his Fifth Amendment right against self-incrimination.

Last month the New York attorney general’s office filed a $250 million lawsuit against Trump, his eldest children and the Trump Organization for allegedly defrauding lenders and insurers through false financial statements. Trump has denied any wrongdoing and said the lawsuit was politically motivated.

In civil cases if someone declines to answer questions the jury is allowed to apply an adverse inference against the person when deciding their potential liability.

Last year Trump sat for a deposition for a civil lawsuit brought by protestors who claimed they were injured outside of Trump Tower during his first presidential campaign. He is also expected to testify in another civil lawsuit relating to a marketing campaign by the end of the month.

This story has been updated with additional details.

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October 20, 2022
Missouri residents say police dismissed reports of missing Black women, but a month later a woman says she was kidnapped and believes there were other victims | CNN

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Weeks after residents of a Kansas City, Missouri neighborhood said they complained to police that Black women were missing, authorities are facing community backlash after a Black woman says a White man held her captive.

A 22-year-old woman, identified by police in court in a probable cause form as T.J., escaped on Oct. 7 from the Excelsior Springs, Missouri, home of Timothy Marrion Haslett, Jr. – a man whom she accuses of kidnapping and raping her after he “picked her up” in Kansas City in early September.

Excelsior Springs is part of the Kansas City metropolitan area.

“It was readily apparent that she had been held against her will for a significant period of time,” Lt. Ryan Dowdy of the Excelsior Springs police told reporters outside Haslett’s home. He said investigators are still processing evidence taken from Haslett’s home and that the investigation is ongoing.

According to the probable cause form, T.J. said she escaped from a room in the man’s basement. Haslett’s neighbors told KMBC and KCTV that TJ went to multiple homes to seek help while Haslett took his child to school. T.J. also said there were other women, but police have found no evidence of others so far.

The woman’s escape comes weeks after community leaders said they told authorities that they believed a potential predator was targeting Black women in the Kansas City area. Authorities from the Kansas City Police Department initially called the reports of a serial killer targeting Black women “completely unfounded,” according to a statement published by the Kansas City Star newspaper.

T.J. was wearing latex lingerie, a metal collar with a padlock, and had duct tape around her neck when she escaped, according to the probable cause form.

Lisa Johnson, a neighbor of Haslett whom T.J. encountered during her escape, told KMBC that T.J. feared Haslett would kill them if she called the police. Johnson told affiliate KCTV she called police after TJ ran to another home for help. Ciara Tharp told CNN affiliate KCTV that her grandmother let T.J. in when she came to her house for help.

Tharpe says once her grandmother let T.J. inside, she said that Haslett had kidnapped her and killed her friends, according to KCTV. The probable cause form identifies the woman who contacted police as Lisa Cashatt. Cadaver dogs were seen searching Haslett’s backyard, KMBC reports, but investigators have yet to find other missing people in the man’s home.

“We have no further victims that we are aware of at this specific moment in time,” Dowdy told CNN affiliate KCTV. “She made mention of other victims, but there’s no signs of them at this time that we have found.”

Haslett was arrested on Oct. 7 and was charged with first-degree rape, first-degree kidnapping and second-degree assault. He’s being held on a $500,000 bond. His bail reduction hearing was originally scheduled for Tuesday but has been postponed to Nov. 8 per his attorney’s request. Haslett’s public defender told CNN they have no comment.

“We know certain things because we have charged an individual in this horrific crime but by no means do I know all the details,” Robert Sanders, Clay County, Missouri, Prosecuting Attorney told to CNN affiliate KMBC. “We need more information.”

The Kansas City Police Department said that “in September we were made aware of a social media post claiming there had been four black women murdered in Kansas City and three black women missing from 85th Street/Prospect Avenue. To date, we have had no reports of missing black females from that area.”

“In order to begin a missing persons investigation, someone would need to file a report with our department identifying the missing party,” said the Excelsior Springs Police Department in a statement to CNN.

The department said it has activated the Clay County Investigative Squad Task Force, which includes members from other local law enforcement organizations, for its ongoing criminal investigation.

But residents and missing persons advocates say T.J.’s account of what happened to her, and Haslett’s arrest, underscore the indifference by some in law enforcement when it comes to reports of missing Black people.

Bishop Tony Caldwell was among the community leaders who first raised concerns about missing Black women in the Kansas City area. Caldwell has been serving the community for years and said that T.J.’s case is part of a much larger problem of Black people being abducted and written off by law enforcement.

“If that young lady would not have escaped, we wouldn’t be talking today,” Caldwell told CNN. He said that when family and friends come forward and tell authorities that their loved ones are missing, they’re often written off as ‘runaways’ and not taken seriously.

It is unclear whether T.J. was ever reported missing.

In response to the community members’ criticism, the Excelsior Springs Police Department also said, “We have checked with law enforcement agencies in the Kansas City metropolitan area and there are no current missing persons reports that correspond with the evidence examined so far in this investigation.”

Caldwell told CNN that on Monday night, Kansas City area community leaders met for five hours with residents to discuss their anger about the case and what they perceive as law enforcement’s indifference and the vulnerability of Black women and girls. He told CNN that about 50 people attended the meeting.

He said community leaders don’t want to be perceived as attacking the police. But more important to them than avoiding that perception is knowing that their concerns are taken seriously by law enforcement.

“We need cooperation [from law enforcement] to get people home. We can argue over terminology all day long, but we gotta get people home safe.”

Caldwell said he and other community leaders’ concerns were dismissed by authorities when they initially alleged that young women were being abducted from Prospect Avenue, an area of Kansas City notorious for sex workers. Caldwell said that most of the women working in that area are Black.

“They don’t talk to the police department because the police never believe them, or they believe that the police aren’t gonna do anything about it,” Caldwell told CNN, adding that police never go to Prospect Avenue to investigate missing person reports but instead frequently visit the area to make arrests for prostitution.

While TJ said she was kidnapped by Haslett near Prospect Avenue, CNN has not been able to ascertain if she was a sex worker.

CNN reached out to the Kansas City Police Department for comment on the community leaders’ concerns.

Caldwell says it’s time authorities take reports of missing women seriously, even if the person reporting it has limited information about them.

“People use street names all the time, and just because you don’t have 99% of the information about a person doesn’t mean that they’re still not worthy of being looked for,” Caldwell said.

Derrica Wilson, co-founder and CEO of the Black and Missing Foundation, Inc., agreed with the sentiment that law enforcement isn’t taking these cases as seriously as they should.

“Quite frankly, there’s no sense of urgency in finding them, because there’s the perception that they ran away. So, whatever happens to him or her, they brought it on themselves,” Wilson told CNN.

“And when it’s adults, law enforcement likes to associate their disappearance with some sort of criminal activity, and it really desensitizes and dehumanizes the fact that these are mothers, fathers, sisters, brothers, sons, and daughters. They are valuable members of our community, and they deserve the same resources in finding them.”

Despite only making up 13% of the United States population, Black people comprise 34% of missing person cases in 2021, according to the FBI’s National Crime Information Center.

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October 18, 2022
Charges filed against suspect in series of killings in Stockton | CNN

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Authorities in California on Saturday arrested a man in connection with a series of killings that claimed the lives of six people.

The suspect, Wesley Brownlee, 43, was being followed by a police surveillance team who determined around 2 a.m. on Saturday he was “out hunting” and “on a mission to kill,” Stockton Police Chief Stanley McFadden said in a news conference.

“His patterns were consistent with some of the patterns that we have seen,” McFadden said. “(He was) around parks, around dark places, stopping, looking around, moving again. And at that point, we thought, for the safety of the public, it was best to take this person in.”

Wesley Brownlee, 43, was taken into custody by police in Stockton, California.

Brownlee was wearing dark clothing, had a mask around his neck, and had a firearm when he was taken into custody, the police chief said.

“We are sure we stopped another killing,” the police chief said.

The suspect has a criminal history, McFadden said, but added he was unsure of the extent of what history or with which agencies.

The police chief did not share a motive in the killings.

Stockton police previously said they believe five homicides in the city between July 8 and Sept. 27 were related. All five victims were alone and were shot either in the evening or early morning hours, authorities have said. Four of the victims were Hispanic men ranging from 21 to 54 years old and the fifth was a 35-year-old White man.

And two predawn shootings from 2021 were also tied to the string of attacks, police said earlier this month: a fatal April 10, 2021, shooting of a 40-year-old Hispanic man in Oakland and an April 16, 2021, shooting in Stockton of a 46-year-old Black woman who survived.

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October 18, 2022
Kevin Spacey finishes testifying in civil sexual misconduct trial | CNN

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CNN
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After about five hours on the witness stand, Kevin Spacey finished testifying in his defense in a sexual misconduct trial, stemming from allegations made by actor Anthony Rapp.

Rapp, best known for his role in “Star Trek: Discovery,” claims that in 1986, Spacey, then 26, invited Rapp, then 14, to his Manhattan home where he picked Rapp up, laid him down on his bed, grabbed his buttocks and pressed his groin into Rapp’s body without his consent.

He is suing Spacey for battery.

Spacey grew emotional multiple times during his testimony, including when he discussed a statement he put out shortly after Rapp went public with his allegations in 2017 to BuzzFeed.

Spacey has said in his testimony that his publicity team at the time advised him that he’d be labeled a victim blamer if he pushed back.

“I was being encouraged to apologize and I’ve learned a lesson which is never apologize for something you didn’t do,” Spacey testified on Monday. “I regret my entire statement.”

On Tuesday, Spacey added: “It was beyond horrifying that I was being accused of doing something that in my heart I knew I had not done.”

Rapp’s attorney Richard Steigman pushed Spacey to take accountability for the statement despite whatever advice he may have taken from his team.

“The buck stops with you, right, sir?” he asked.

“It does in the end,” Spacey said.

The next witness called by Spacey’s attorneys will be Alexander Bardey, a psychiatrist.

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October 18, 2022
Hong Kong protester allegedly beaten at Chinese consulate in UK | CNN

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Hong Kong
CNN
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Police in Manchester have launched an investigation after a Hong Kong pro-democracy protester was allegedly beaten on the grounds of the Chinese consulate in the English city.

A pro-democracy group called Hong Kong Indigenous Defence Force had staged a protest outside the consulate in the northern city on Sunday, in opposition to the Chinese Communist Party Congress happening the same day in Beijing.

Video of the incident shared widely on social media shows a confrontation breaking out on the sidewalk outside the consulate, with loud shouts heard as people rush towards the gated entrance. The video then appears to show one Hong Kong protester being dragged through the gate into the consulate grounds and beaten by a group of men.

The video appears to show local police entering the grounds of the consulate to break up the violence.

Hong Kong Indigenous Defence Force alleges that Chinese consular staff were involved in the alleged beating, and that the protester was taken to hospital in stable condition.

Greater Manchester Police said Monday they were investigating the incident, in which a man “suffered several physical injuries.”

“We understand the shock and concern that this incident will have caused not just locally, but for those much further afield who may have connections with our communities here in Greater Manchester,” assistant chief constable Rob Potts said in a statement.

“Shortly before 4 p.m. a small group of men came out of the building and a man was dragged into the Consulate grounds and assaulted. Due to our fears for the safety of the man, officers intervened and removed the victim from the Consulate grounds.”

“The man – aged in his 30s – suffered several physical injuries and remained in hospital overnight for treatment. He is continuing to receive our support for his welfare.”

The statemented added that currently “no arrests have been made” and that the investigation was ongoing.

A spokesperson for British Prime Minister Liz Truss described the incident as “deeply concerning.”

On Monday, Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesperson Wang Wenbin said he was “not aware of the situation.”

“Chinese Embassy and consulates in the UK have always abided by the laws of the countries where they are stationed,” he said in a regular news briefing. “We also hope that the British side, in accordance with the provisions of the Vienna Convention on Diplomatic Relations, will facilitate the normal performance of the duties of the Chinese Embassy and consulates in the UK.”

CNN approached the Chinese Embassy in London for comment but did not receive an immediate response.

Video of the scuffle has been shared online by multiple UK lawmakers, who have called for an investigation into the alleged involvement of Chinese consular staff.

“The UK Government must demand a full apology from the Chinese Ambassador to the UK and demand those responsible are sent home to China,” ruling Conservative Party lawmaker Iain Duncan Smith wrote on Twitter.

Conservative Party member of Parliament Alicia Kearns also tweeted on Sunday that authorities “need to urgently investigate,” and that the Chinese Ambassador should be summoned. “If any official has beaten protesters, they must be expelled or prosecuted,” she wrote.

Both lawmakers have previously been vocal critics of the Chinese Communist Party.

Prominent Hong Kong activists have also spoken out. Nathan Law, a former lawmaker and pro-democracy figure who fled to the UK in 2020, tweeted: “If the consulate staff responsible are not held accountable, Hong Kongers would live in fear of being kidnapped and persecuted.” He urged the British government to “investigate and protect our community and people in the UK.”

Britain is home to large numbers of Hong Kong citizens, many of whom left the territory following the introduction of a sweeping national security law in 2020 that critics say stripped the former British colony of its autonomy and precious civil freedoms, while cementing Beijing’s authoritarian rule.

According to an online statement by organizers of Sunday’s protest, around 60 demonstrators had gathered outside the Manchester consulate to protest “the re-election of Xi Jinping.”

The Chinese Communist Party Congress, a twice-a-decade leadership reshuffle and meeting of the party’s top officials, kicked off on Sunday. Chinese leader Xi, who came to power in 2012, is widely expected to break with convention and take on a third term, paving the way for lifelong rule.

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October 18, 2022
Gunmen kill 12 people in Mexico bar | CNN

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CNN
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Mexican authorities are searching for gunmen who killed at least 12 people and injured three more after opening fire in a bar in central Mexico on Saturday evening.

Gunshots were reported at the bar in the city of Irapuato in the central state of Guanajuato at close to 8 p.m. local time Saturday, the city’s Secretary of Citizen Safety said in a statement.

Paramedics confirmed the deaths of six men and six women after arriving on scene, according to the statement. It is unclear who the victims are and how many gunmen were involved in the shooting.

A search operation for the attackers is underway with support from Guanajuato’s Secretary for Public Safety as well as the state’s prosecutor general’s office, the Secretary of National Defense, and the National Guard.

This is the second mass shooting in less than a month in the state of Guanajuato, which has been convulsed in recent years by brutal turf wars between rival drug gangs, according to Reuters.

The state is a major manufacturing hub and production site for many of the world’s top carmakers.

It is attractive to drug cartels for the same reason it is to auto manufacturers: road and rail networks that lead straight to the US border.

President Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador has struggled to deal with gang violence since taking office in late 2018, according to Reuters.

Although the number of homicides has fallen slightly this year, Lopez Obrador’s term is set to be the bloodiest in recent history.

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October 16, 2022
Gunmen kill 11, wound 15 in attack on Russian military recruits | CNN

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CNN
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Two gunmen opened fire on Russian military recruits at a training ground in Russia’s Belgorod region, killing at least 11 people and wounding another 15, Russia’s state news agency TASS reports.

The attack took place Saturday during a training session at the Western Military District, according to TASS, which cited the Russian Defense Ministry. The gunmen were said to be from former Soviet states. Russian officials have branded the attack an act of terrorism.

“As a result of a terrorist attack at a military training ground in the Belgorod region, 11 people were killed, 15 were injured and are receiving medical assistance,” TASS reported.

“The incident occurred during a shooting training session with volunteers preparing for a special operation. The terrorists attacked the personnel of the unit with small-arms fire.”

According to TASS, two individuals who committed the “terrorist act” were killed in retaliatory fire at the training ground.

The Russian Investigative Committee has launched a criminal investigation into the incident, according to a statement published on Sunday.

“The Main Military Investigation Department of the Investigative Committee of Russia initiated a criminal case on the fact of criminal acts in the Belgorod region,” the statement said.

The Belgorod region is in western Russia on the border with Ukraine.

The Governor of Belgorod city said later that no civilians had been killed in the attack.

“Yesterday, something terrible occurred on our territory, on the grounds of a military unit. A terrorist act was committed. Many servicemen were killed and wounded,” Governor Vyacheslav Gladkov said on his Telegram channel.

“There are no residents of Belgorod region among the wounded and dead,” the governor added.

Gladkov also offered his condolences to the families of the victims, adding that all of those wounded are “being administered care.”

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October 16, 2022
The fatal shooting of a 15-year-old by police in Mississippi is under state investigation, officials say | CNN

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CNN
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The Mississippi Bureau of Investigations has launched a probe regarding a police officer shooting and killing a teenager earlier this month in the city of Gulfport, police said, as attorneys for the teen’s family call for video footage of the incident to be released.

Law enforcement officers responded to a 911 call on October 6 of multiple people in a vehicle brandishing firearms, Gulfport Police Chief Adam Cooper said at a news briefing this week. When police arrived and made contact with the vehicle, members of the group left the vehicle and attempted to flee, he said.

An officer then fired at an armed suspect – identified by police as Jaheim McMillan – who pointed a weapon in their direction, Cooper said.

McMillan, 15, was struck in the head and later died after being taken off life support, according to a news release from civil rights attorney Ben Crump, who is retained by McMillan’s family.

The officer who fired and struck McMillan has been placed on non-enforcement duties, Gulfport Police spokesperson Sgt. Jason DuCré told CNN on Friday.

The Mississippi Bureau of Investigations “is currently assessing this critical incident and gathering evidence. Upon completing their investigation, agents will share their findings with the local Attorney General’s Office,” the state bureau said. State Attorney General Lynn Fitch’s office declined to comment, citing the active investigation.

Police have not publicly released any footage of the shooting. Crump called on officials to release all video “so that we can see with our own eyes what transpired on that tragic night,” he said.

“This child had his whole life ahead of him, but bullets from those officers took all possibility of that away in an instant,” Crump said. “While much remains unknown about this case, we fully intend to put pressure on officials in Mississippi until this family gets the answers they need and deserve.”

Police say McMillan did not comply with the officer’s verbal commands to stop running and drop his weapon. Instead, police alleged, McMillan turned his body and weapon toward the officer, prompting the officer to fire at McMillan.

After being shot, McMillan was taken to a hospital before being airlifted to another medical center, police said.

Gulfport police have turned over all evidence to the state bureau and are cooperating fully with the investigation, Cooper said. The police department is also conducting its own internal investigation to determine whether policies were violated.

CNN has reached out to the Harrison County Coroner’s office for further information.

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October 15, 2022
Juvenile suspect in Raleigh mass shooting will face charges as an adult, prosecutor says | CNN

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Raleigh, North Carolina
CNN
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A 15-year-old will be charged as an adult for allegedly carrying out a mass shooting that left five people dead Thursday in Raleigh, North Carolina, prosecutors said, as calls to curb gun violence are renewed once again in the US.

The suspect, identified by police as a White male juvenile, was taken into custody by law enforcement after an hours-long manhunt Thursday.

The sprawling crime scene of more than two miles across the Raleigh neighborhood of Hedingham also left two people wounded in the attack, officials said. One of the five victims killed was off-duty police officer Gabriel Torres, 29, who shot while on his way to work.

“My heart is heavy, because we don’t have answers as to why this tragedy occurred,” Raleigh Police Chief Estella D. Patterson said during a news briefing Friday.

Wake County District Attorney Lorrin Freeman told CNN on Friday her office intends on charging the suspect as an adult.

He is hospitalized in critical condition following his apprehension Thursday night after a standoff with police, officials said. Freeman said her office is monitoring the suspect’s condition.

As authorities investigate, few details have been provided related to how exactly the shooting unfolded.

In one of four 911 calls obtained by CNN, a caller told a dispatcher that the shooter was wearing camouflage and looked like he was 16. The caller said the gunman “walked by and shot” a police officer “for no reason.” Another caller reported that two neighbors had been shot. A third caller reported that a “kid running around here with a shotgun” shot a person and “ran back into the woods.”

The suspect donned camouflage clothing and carried a camouflage backpack, a source with knowledge of the investigation told CNN. After the shooting, a handgun and long gun were recovered, according to the source.

The other deceased victims identified by police are Nicole Conners, 52; Sue Karnatz, 49; Mary Marshall, 35; and James Roger Thompson, 16.

The two victims who were wounded include a responding police officer, who was later released from care.

Marcille Lynn Gardner, 59, remains in critical condition, Patterson said.

The mass shooting prompted a response from President Joe Biden, who lamented the harrowing loss of Americans to gun violence yet again and reiterated his call for an assault weapon ban.

“Enough,” Biden said. “We’ve grieved and prayed with too many families who have had to bear the terrible burden of these mass shootings.

“Too many families have had spouses, parents, and children taken from them forever,” the President added.

Biden’s remarks come as the Raleigh community grieves the sudden loss of loved ones and neighbors.

Karnatz, one of the victims killed, was described by her husband, Tom, as a loving wife and mother to three boys, whose ages are 10, 13 and 14.

“We had plans together for growing old. Always together. Now those plans are laid to waste,” he wrote Friday on social media.

Christine Hines, who is Karnatz’ neighbor, said she feels as if her heart had been pierced by the loss. The pair had seen each other the day of the shooting while walking their dogs.

Marshall, another victim who was killed, was also walking her dog when she heard gunshots ring out, her sister Meaghan McCrickard told CNN.

After hearing the shots, Marshall called her fiancé to tell him about the firing and said she was heading back to the house, McCrickard said.

“She was my hero despite being my younger sister,” McCrickard added. The sisters were three years apart.

Marshall, a culinary arts alumnus of Wake Technical Community College, was described by faculty and classmates as “a hard worker with a good attitude and a determination to succeed,” the school said in a statement.

Thompson was a junior at Knightdale High School when he was fatally shot Thursday, principal Keith Richardson said in a statement.

“It is an unexpected loss and we are saddened by it,” said Richardson, noting that counseling and crisis services are available for students and staff.

Those who witnessed some of the violence unfold also described their anguish over what their neighbors endured.

A resident, who asked not to be identified, stood beside her 15-year-old daughter as she recounted that police cars, ambulances and fire trucks were descending when a neighbor approached.

“She had seen a ghost,” the resident said. “She comes towards us, and I’m, like, what happened, and she said, ‘I just witnessed my neighbor being shot in the driveway.’ She was completely in shock.”

The resident and her daughter locked themselves in a bedroom after an officer in an unmarked car told them there was an active shooter.

“I started crying,” her daughter recalled. And on Friday morning, she cried again.

“Imagining what people are going through,” she said. “And the fact that it was so close to us. It could have been us.”

McCrickard, Marshall’s sister, expressed frustration that gun violence has not been restrained further.

“We want to take this unimaginable opportunity to beg our local, national, and country leaders to finally step up and do something about gun control,” McCrickard said. “Being a leader is about leading and making decisions that benefit, support and keep our country safe. How many times do we have to hear our leaders say, ‘We’re sorry’ and ‘Something must be done?’ We demand action.”

North Carolina Gov. Roy Cooper echoed Biden’s sentiments following the shooting, saying the Raleigh community’s pain is unimaginable.

“We’re sad. We’re angry and we want to know the answers to all the questions,” the governor said. “Those questions will be answered. Some today and more over time. But I think we all know the core truth: No neighborhood, no parent, no child, no grandparent, no one should feel this fear in their communities.”

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October 15, 2022
A juvenile suspect is in custody after a shooting leaves 5 dead, at least 2 wounded in Raleigh, North Carolina, police say | CNN

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A 15-year-old suspect is in custody after five people were killed and at least two others wounded in a mass shooting Thursday in Raleigh that North Carolina’s governor called a “moment of unspeakable agony.”

A handgun and long gun were recovered after the shooting, during which the suspect wore camouflage and carried a camouflage backpack, according to a source with knowledge of the investigation.

One of the victims killed was an off-duty Raleigh police officer, Gabriel Torres, 29, who was on his way to work, authorities said.

The mass shooting came one day after two police officers were killed and another seriously wounded while responding to a call of a domestic disturbance in Bristol, Connecticut.

“Enough,” President Joe Biden said in a statement Friday. “We’ve grieved and prayed with too many families who have had to bear the terrible burden of these mass shootings.”

The President added, “We must pass an assault weapons ban. The American people support this commonsense action to get weapons of war off our streets.”

Officials offered few details about what happened in the quiet, middle-class Raleigh neighborhood but said the crime scene extended over two miles on streets and a popular greenway. It ended after a long standoff during which the shooter was critically wounded.

The other fatalities were identified as Nicole Conners, 52; Sue Karnatz, 49; Mary Marshal 35; and James Roger Thompson, 16.

A police officer who was injured has been released from a hospital and another victim, Marcille Lynn Gardner, 59, is in critical condition, according to Raleigh Police Chief Estella D. Patterson.

“My heart is heavy, because we don’t have answers as to why this tragedy occurred,” Patterson said.

Karnatz’s husband, Tom, called her a loving wife and mother to three sons – ages 10, 13 and 14.

“We will miss her greatly,” he said in a statement to CNN.

In a Facebook tribute, he wrote Friday: “We had plans together for growing old. Always together. Now those plans are laid to waste.”

Christine Hines said she was having yard work done at her home Thursday afternoon when the gunfire erupted. Sirens blared. An officer yelled at her to get back in the house when she went to close the patio door, she said.

“I want to leave the area and then I have to consider that there’s really no perfect place,” Hines said. “And this is as close as I have seen, but I’m not sure if I want to stay.”

Hines recalled seeing Sue Karnatz earlier Thursday. They walked their dogs about the same time each day on opposite sides of the street because the pets don’t get along. Knowing her neighbor is gone, Hines said, feels like her heart had been pierced.

Of the teen suspect, Hines lamented: “Life hasn’t even begun for him.”

Another resident, who stood with her 15-year-old daughter and asked not to be identified, said police cars, ambulances and fire trucks were descending when a neighbor approached.

“She had seen a ghost,” the resident said. “She comes towards us, and I’m, like, what happened, and she said, ‘I just witnessed my neighbor being shot in the driveway.’ She was completely in shock.”

An officer in an unmarked car told them there was an active shooter. They locked themselves in a bedroom, the resident said.

“I started crying,” her daughter recalled.

On Friday morning, the teen was crying again.

“Imagining what people are going through,” she said. “And the fact that it was so close to us. It could have been us.”

Knightdale High School principal Keith Richardson said in a statement that Thompson was a junior at the school. “It is an unexpected loss and we are saddened by it,” said Richardson, adding that counseling and crisis services were available for students and staff.

Gov. Roy Cooper, a Democrat, who joined police and city officials at a news conference Friday, called the rampage an “infuriating and tragic act of gun violence.”

“It was a complex mission, in a short amount of time, to stop the shooter,” said Cooper, praising the police response.

“We’re sad. We’re angry and we want to know the answers to all the questions,” Cooper added. “Those questions will be answered. Some today and more over time. But I think we all know the core truth: No neighborhood, no parent, no child, no grandparent, no one should feel this fear in their communities.”

Raleigh police spokesperson Lt. Jason Borneo identified the suspected shooter as a White juvenile male, and police have not released any other details about him.

The suspect was moved to a hospital after being taken into custody, CNN affiliate WRAL-TV reported. Officials did not say the extent of the suspect’s injuries. CNN has reached out to the hospital for further information.

The shooting began just after 5 p.m. in the neighborhood of Hedingham near the Neuse River Greenway, officials said. A manhunt ensued as authorities worked to apprehend the suspect.

Police “contained” the suspect around 8 p.m. inside a residence in the area, Raleigh Mayor Mary-Ann Baldwin told reporters Thursday.

Helicopter footage from WRAL-TV showed more than a dozen emergency vehicles lined up on a road through a wooded area.

A woman who was at the Hedingham Golf Club driving range said an “unending stream of police” drove by the area.

“A golf pro came out to tell us to shelter inside or leave ASAP,” she told CNN. “They were very calm, but I could tell something was wrong, so we left right away.”

The suspect was taken into custody before 9:40 p.m. Thursday, police said.

Baldwin, joined at the news conference Thursday by other officials including Cooper, expressed her frustration at the heart-wrenching gun violence that infiltrated her city.

“Today has been a very difficult day in our city. We pray that something like this will never happen here. It did,” Baldwin said.

The mayor emphasized the widespread of gun violence must be stopped. “We have work to do, but there are too many victims,” she said.

“We have to wake up. I don’t want other mayors standing here at the podium, with their hearts breaking because people in their community died today, needlessly and tragically.”

There have been at least 531 mass shootings – including Thursday’s in Raleigh – in the US so far this year, according to the Gun Violence Archive. The organization, like CNN, defines a mass shooting as one in which at least four people are shot, excluding the shooter.

Cooper echoed the mayor’s sentiments and called for prayers for the victims and the community.

“Tonight, terror has reached our doorstep. The nightmare of every community has come to Raleigh,” Cooper said. “This is a senseless, horrific and infuriating act of violence that has been committed.”

Both Cooper and Baldwin praised the multi-agency response to the shooting, with Cooper saying law enforcement officers ran to “an active shooter who was ready to kill people.”

Law enforcement is anguished by the killings, including that of a fellow officer, Borneo said.

“For the Raleigh Police Department, every officer is a brother or sister, so when we lose one of our own, it is a tragic, heartbreaking day for all of us,” Borneo said.

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October 14, 2022
5 dead in Raleigh, North Carolina, shooting, mayor says | CNN

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CNN
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Five people – including an off-duty police officer – are dead after a shooting Thursday in eastern Raleigh, North Carolina, according to Mayor Mary-Ann Baldwin.

Two people were taken to the hospital, one of whom was a Raleigh K9 officer with non-life threatening injuries and was later released, authorities said. The other victim is in critical condition, Raleigh police spokesperson Lt. Jason Borneo said during a news conference Thursday night.

“Tonight, terror has reached our doorstep. The nightmare of every community has come to Raleigh,” Gov. Roy Cooper said at the news conference.

The suspect was taken into custody shortly after 9:30 p.m, Borneo said. The suspect is a White male juvenile, police said, and have not identified him further.

“This is a sad and tragic day for the city of Raleigh,” Baldwin said. “All of us in Raleigh right now need to come together. We need to support those in our community who have suffered a terrible loss. A loss of a loved one. We need to support the family of the police officer who was killed and also the police officer who was shot.”

The hours-long ordeal and subsequent search for the suspect began shortly after 5 p.m. when multiple people were shot in the Hedingham neighborhood. Earlier helicopter footage from CNN affiliate WRAL-TV showed more than a dozen emergency vehicles lined up on a road through a wooded area.

A woman who was at the Hedingham Golf Club driving range said an “unending stream of police” drove by the area. “A golf pro came out to tell us to shelter inside or leave ASAP,” she told CNN. “They were very calm, but I could tell something was wrong, so we left right away.”

Police tweeted shortly before 6 p.m. that officers were “on the scene of an active shooting in the area of the Neuse River Greenway near Osprey Cove Drive and Bay Harbor Drive.”

At around 8:30 p.m., police advised residents to remain in their homes “until further notice.”

Numerous local and state law enforcement agencies are assisting Raleigh police, including the Charlotte Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms and Explosives (ATF).

Gov. Cooper tweeted he spoke with the mayor and “instructed state law enforcement to provide assistance responding to the active shooter in East Raleigh.”

“State and local officers are on the ground and working to stop the shooter and keep people safe,” the governor said.

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October 13, 2022
Jury recommends life without parole for Nikolas Cruz | CNN

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The parents of Alyssa Alhadeff speak at a press conference on Thursday, October 13.
(CNN)

The parents of 14-year-old Alyssa Alhadeff, who was among the 17 people killed in the Parkland massacre, said they were “disgusted” with the jury’s decision to recommend life in prison over the death penalty for the gunman.

Lori and Ilan Alhadeff spoke to reporters shortly after the recommendation was read in court.

Ilan said his family was “beyond disappointed with the outcome,” adding it “should have been the death penalty — 100%.”

“I’m disgusted with our legal system,” the visibly angry father said outside court. “I’m disgusted with those jurors.”

Both parents questioned the purpose of the death penalty in Florida’s legal system if not for the case of a mass school shooter.

“What is the death penalty for?” Lori asked.

She also called on law enforcement to do more to prevent school shootings, and to act more aggressively to stop them.

“Law enforcement needs to do their job,” the mother said. “Your job as a police officer is to go in, engage and take down the threat. And if you can’t do that, don’t do the job.”

The Alhadeffs said they will continue to work through their nonprofit, Make Schools Safe, to advocate for tougher school safety policies.

Ilan thanked the state for its prosecution of the Parkland gunman, while condemning the trial’s outcome.

“The system continues to fail us,” he said.

About Alyssa Alhadeff: Alyssa, 14, was a student at Stoneman Douglas and a soccer player for Parkland Travel Soccer.

“Alyssa Alhadeff was a loved and well respected member of our club and community,” Parkland Travel Soccer said on Facebook. “Alyssa will be greatly missed.”

Lori told HLN she dropped her daughter off at school the day of the shooting and said, “I love you.” When the mother heard about the attack, she hustled to school, but was too late.

“I knew at that point she was gone. I felt it in my heart,” she said.

You can read about all of the victims here.

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October 13, 2022
Binance-linked blockchain hit by $570 million crypto theft | CNN Business

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New York
CNN Business
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Binance, which describes itself as the largest crypto exchange by trading volume, is the latest company to be impacted by a major theft this year.

A Binance-linked blockchain was involved in a $570 million hack late Thursday, a company spokesperson confirmed to CNN Business on Friday.

Binance temporarily suspended its blockchain network, BNB Smart Chain, “due to irregular activity,” the company tweeted Thursday. The company said Friday that hackers had stolen two million BNB cryptocurrency tokens – which are issued by Binance – worth about $570 million at the time.

Binance CEO Changpeng Zhao initially tweeted that an estimated $100 million worth of crypto had been stolen.

“Your funds are safe,” Zhao tweeted on Thursday night. “We apologize for the inconvenience.”

The company said $100 million worth of tokens remain “unrecovered” and moved off chain by the hacker. The remaining funds have been frozen on the BNB Chain.

In order to carry out the theft, the hackers targeted what’s called a cross-chain bridge. Bridges, increasingly the targets of hackers in recent months, are the infrastructure that allow users to exchange crypto assets between different blockchains.

Bridge services typically hold large reserves of various coins. These coin reserves are attracting the attention of hackers and turning blockchain bridges into prime targets for heists, according to blockchain analysis firm Elliptic.

Some $1.83 billion has been stolen from bridges as of August, with the majority of that ($1.21 billion) taking place just this year, according to Elliptic. Some of the largest thefts this year include $190 million stolen from cryptocurrency bridge provider Nomad in August, California-based firm Harmony’s $100 million loss in late June, and Axie Infinity’s Ronin bridge $625 million hack in March.

This latest attack put the BNB blockchain offline for about nine hours. In order “to stop the incident from spreading,” the chain ecosystem contacted each of the chain’s validators, who verify transactions on the blockchain as legitimate, BNB wrote in a company post.

The chain was back up and running around 2:30 a.m. ET. according to a company tweet.

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October 12, 2022
LA City Councilmember Nury Martinez resigns from office, two days after stepping down from leadership post | CNN

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CNN
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[Breaking news update, published at 5:50 p.m. ET]

Los Angeles City Council member Nury Martinez resigned from her seat on Council District 6, two days after stepping down from her post as president for making racist remarks.

“It is with a broken heart that I resign my seat for Council District 6, the community I grew up in and my home,” she said in a news release.

[Original story, published at 4:32 p.m. ET]

A day after Los Angeles City Council’s president resigned from her post for making racist remarks, the new acting president proposed several changes to help move the city forward.

During a loud and contentious council meeting Tuesday – the first meeting since the scandal broke – Acting President Mitch O’Farrell proposed “major reform of the city charter, city council and how we approach redistricting, representation – the topics at the center of this crisis.”

He called for expanding the council and an independent redistricting commission to map out representation of the “diverse metropolis.”

It was the first council meeting since audio posted online revealed then-President Nury Martinez made racist comments about another council member’s family and said that colleague’s son “needs a beatdown.”

The remarks were part of leaked audio that was posted anonymously on Reddit and obtained by the Los Angeles Times.

Martinez publicly apologized for her comments Monday and resigned from her post as council president. On Tuesday, she also took a leave of absence from the council.

O’Farrell presented a motion for a ballot measure that could be posed to voters to decide if the council should grow.

The number of members – 15 – has not changed since 1925, when Los Angeles had less than 1 million residents, O’Farrell said.

The city’s population has since quadrupled, according to US Census data.

“This council should reflect and represent the residents we serve,” O’Farrell said. “A ballot measure that increases the number of council seats to help us meet that goal and involve Angelenos in the process, as will an immediate redistricting process, should the people decide they want an expanded city council.”

When the council reconvenes Wednesday, members will discuss another ballot measure that calls for an independent redistricting commission that would determine the boundaries set every 10 years.

According to The Los Angeles Times. the leaked audio captured conversation from October 2021 involving Martinez; her fellow councilmembers Gil Cedillo and Kevin de León; and Los Angeles County Federation of Labor President Ron Herrera.

Much of the conversation focused on maps proposed by the city’s redistricting commission and the councilmembers’ frustration with them, as well as the need to “ensure that heavily Latino districts did not lose economic assets” in the once-in-a-decade process, according to the Times.

The councilmembers then discussed Councilmember Mike Bonin, a White man. In clips of the leaked audio posted by the Times, Martinez is heard recounting a conversation and says “Bonin thinks he’s f**king Black.”

According to the Times, Martinez says Bonin appeared with his son on a float in a Martin Luther King Jr. Day parade and he “handled his young Black son as though he were an accessory.” The boy is 8 years old, according to a Facebook post by his father.

The Times reported that Martinez also said of Bonin’s child, “Parece changuito,” or “He’s like a monkey.”

In the leaked audio, Martinez can be heard talking about Bonin’s son allegedly misbehaving while at the parade by hanging from a railing of their float, saying “this kid is going to tip us over.”

“They’re raising him like a little White kid,” Martinez said in the audio released by The Times. “I was like, this kid needs a beatdown. Let me take him around the corner and then I’ll bring him back.”

CNN has not been able to verify the audio recording. But the fallout has been swift.

On Monday, Herrera resigned as president of Los Angeles County Federation of Labor.

Councilmember Cedillo issued a public statement saying he should have stepped in during the conversation.

“I want to start by apologizing. While I did not engage in the conversation in question, I was present at times during this meeting last year,” Cedillo said Sunday. “It is my instinct to hold others accountable when they use derogatory or racially divisive language. Clearly, I should have intervened.”

Councilmember de León also said he should have acted differently.

“On that day, I fell short of the expectations we set for our leaders – and I will hold myself to a higher standard,” he said in a written statement Sunday.

“There were comments made in the context of this meeting that are wholly inappropriate; and I regret appearing to condone and even contribute to certain insensitive comments made about a colleague and his family in private. I’ve reached out to that colleague personally.”

Officials near and far – including Sen. Dianne Feinstein and President Joe Biden – believe the councilmembers who took part in the recorded conversation should resign.

“At a time when our country has seen a steep rise in racially motivated hate crimes, it’s critical that elected officials set a positive example on behalf of everyone they represent,” said Feinstein, the senior US senator from California.

The city council’s new acting president also called for the full resignation of the three colleagues.

“I do not believe we can have the healing that is necessary or govern as we need to while council members Martinez, de Leon, and Cedillo remain as members of this council,” O’Farrell said Tuesday.

A motion to elect a new council president will be heard next Tuesday.

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October 12, 2022
Trump can’t get out of deposition in E. Jean Carroll defamation lawsuit, judge rules | CNN Politics

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A federal judge rejected former President Donald Trump’s attempt to pause his deposition in a defamation lawsuit scheduled for later this month saying Trump’s efforts to delay the case are “inexcusable.”

Trump is scheduled to be deposed on October 19 in the defamation lawsuit brought by E. Jean Carroll, a former magazine columnist who accused Trump of raping her in a department store in the mid 1990s. Trump has denied the allegations.

Judge Lewis Kaplan said the lawsuit wasn’t over yet and as they wait for a federal appeals court to rule on a key element of the case, “completing those depositions – which have already been delayed for years – would impose no undue burden on Mr. Trump, let alone any irreparable injury.”

“The defendant should not be permitted to run the clock out on plaintiff’s attempt to gain a remedy for what allegedly was a serious wrong,” Kaplan wrote.

The judge said that Carroll would face “substantial injury” from further delay, citing the lengthy appeal process, which has already taken 20 months and is still not over, and the ages of Carroll and Trump, who are both in their 70s. Carroll’s deposition is scheduled for this Friday.

Kaplan noted Trump’s efforts to delay the lawsuit and said his production of “virtually” no documents was “inexcusable.”

An attorney for Trump could not immediately be reached.

“We are pleased that Judge Kaplan agreed with our position onto to stay discovery in this case. We look forward to filing our case under the Adult Survivors Act and moving forward to trial with all dispatch,” said Roberta Kaplan, Carroll’s attorney.

Carroll’s attorney had suggested that Trump wanted to stop his deposition after learning that she intends to sue him in November under a new New York state law that allows victims of sexual assault to sue years after the encounter.

The judge said the question of whether Trump raped Carroll is “paramount” to the current case and the future lawsuit and stopping the deposition now because it could be used in the future “would make no sense.”

Carroll sued Trump for defamation in 2019 after he denied raping her in the mid-1990s and said that she wasn’t his type and accused her of fabricating the claim to boost sales of her book.

Trump and the Justice Department argued Trump was a federal employee and his statements denying Carroll’s allegations were made in response to reporters’ questions while he was at the White House. They argued the Justice Department should be substituted as the defendant, which, because the government cannot be sued for defamation, would end the lawsuit. Judge Kaplan ruled against Trump and the DOJ. They appealed.

Last month a federal appeals court ruled that Trump was a federal employee when he denied Carroll’s claim of rape and sexual assault. However, the federal appeals court in New York asked the DC appeals court to determine if Trump was acting in the scope of that employment when he made the allegedly defamatory statements. If the DC court finds that Trump was acting within his role, then the Justice Department would likely be substituted as a defendant.

The DC appeals court has not yet taken up the matter.

This story has been updated with additional details.

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October 12, 2022
Angela Lansbury, beloved star of ‘Murder, She Wrote,’ dead at 96 | CNN

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Angela Lansbury, who enjoyed an eclectic, award-winning movie and stage career in addition to becoming America’s favorite TV sleuth in “Murder, She Wrote,” has died, according to a statement from her family provided to NBC, whose parent company produced the long-running series. She was 96.

“The children of Dame Angela Lansbury are sad to announce that their mother died peacefully in her sleep at home in Los Angeles at 1:30 AM today, Tuesday, October 11, 2022, just five days shy of her 97th birthday,” her family said in a statement.

CNN has contacted representatives of Lansbury for comment.

Not yet 20 years old, Lansbury garnered her first Oscar nomination for her movie debut, “Gaslight,” in 1944. Her second came the next year for “The Portrait of Dorian Gray,” and again in 1962 as the mother who betrays her son and her country in “The Manchurian Candidate.” (She received Golden Globes for the latter two films.)

The actress accepted an honorary Oscar in 2013, to go with the five Tony Awards she collected over a 40-plus-year span – beginning with “Mame” in 1966, and finally for a revival of the Noel Coward play “Blithe Spirit” in 2009. Lansbury also amassed 11 Emmy nominations for her role as Jessica Fletcher in “Murder, She Wrote,” but never won.

Lansbury went from ingenue to playing more middle-aged roles practically overnight. She was just 37, for example, when she portrayed Laurence Harvey’s conniving mother in “Manchurian Candidate,” even though her co-star was just two years younger than her.

Born in London, her mother, Moyna MacGill, was an actress, and father Edward Lansbury a politician. He died when she was just nine years old, and not long after the onset of World War II the family moved to the US in 1940, settling in New York.

Lansbury studied drama before moving at her mother’s urging to Los Angeles, where she briefly worked in a department store until landing her breakthrough role as the young maid in “Gaslight,” starring Ingrid Bergman and Charles Boyer.

Other films included “National Velvet” (playing Elizabeth Taylor’s sister), “The Harvey Girls,” “The Three Musketeers,” the Danny Kaye comedy “The Court Jester” and the Elvis Presley vehicle “Blue Hawaii.”

Lansbury made her Broadway debut in 1957, later starring in iconic Tony-winning roles in “Mame,” “Gypsy” and “Sweeney Todd.” 

Generations of children revered Lansbury for her Disney roles, first in the 1971 movie musical “Bedknobs and Broomsticks,” and later as the voice of Mrs. Potts in the 1991 Oscar-nominated animated film “Beauty and the Beast.” She also played a small role in the 2018 sequel “Mary Poppins Returns.”

“Oddly enough, children recognize my voice,” she told The Huffington Post in 2012. “They’ll hear me and say, ‘Mom, that’s Mrs. Potts!’”

After a short-lived marriage to actor Richard Cromwell, Lansbury wed British actor Peter Shaw in 1949. They stayed together until his death in 2003 and had two children, Anthony – who directed many episodes of “Murder, She Wrote” – and Deirdre. Shaw eventually became her manager, and was instrumental in the deal that made them the producers of the series which premiered in 1984.

Lansbury achieved her greatest fame in her 60s for her starring role in “Murder, She Wrote” as a crime-solving mystery writer. Of all her roles, Lansbury said Jessica Fletcher was most like her. 

 ”I had a lot of say in it, and I didn’t want the character to be quirky,” she told The New York Times in 2009.  ”I wanted her to be real. I didn’t want to have to put on any kind of veneer for 24 hours a day, which is what a television schedule sometimes feels like.”

Despite “Murder, She Wrote’s” success, the audience skewed older, and CBS irritated Lansbury by moving the series to Thursday night opposite NBC’s “Friends” in 1995, in what turned out to be the mystery’s final season.

“I’m shattered,” Lansbury told the Los Angeles Times, adding, “I really feel angry for all the people who watched us” on Sunday, where the show had consistently delivered big ratings following “60 Minutes.”

After the series ended, Lansbury starred in several “Murder, She Wrote” TV movies. She continued to work into her 80s and 90s, including a 2017 miniseries version of “Little Women” and starring in a 2015 Great Performances production of “Driving Miss Daisy,” opposite James Earl Jones.

 “I love this industry and I love being in it,” Lansbury said in a 1998 interview with the Archives of American Television, adding in regard to the “Murder” audience, “They loved it, and they were loyal.”

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October 11, 2022