ULSTER COUNTY, N.Y. (NEWS10) — The Ulster County Sheriff’s Office announced the arrest of a New Windsor man in connection to a domestic violence investigation. Stephen Thompson, 34, is facing numerous charges.
In March of 2023, police received a report of a previously occurring domestic abuse incident in Ulster County. According to the UCSO, Thompson allegedly physically abused a woman he was in a relationship with, destroyed her property, and held her against her will for an extended period of time.
Thompson was indicted by an Ulster County Grand Jury in November of 2023. Following his indictment, the UCSO learned that Thompson had reportedly fled New York.
During the ensuing investigation, officers discovered that Thompson returned to the state on April 25. He was taken into custody in Newburgh and now faces the following charges:
Charges
Second-degree kidnapping
Second-degree robbery
Two counts of second-degree strangulation
Second-degree assault
Second-degree criminal contempt
Third-degree stalking
Five counts of third-degree assault
Two counts of second-degree unlawful imprisonment
Two counts of fourth-degree criminal mischief
Second-degree aggravated harassment
The UCSO was assisted with the investigation by the United States Marshals Service NY/NJ Regional Fugitive Task Force, the Ulster County District Attorney’s Office and the Ulster County Family Crimes and Advocacy Center.
The scheme had a lot of moving parts, but was surprisingly simple.
The Inland Empire Automobile Insurance Task Force, which has been investigating the plot for nearly two years, said it unfolded like this: Andre Angelo Reyes, 36, allegedly purchased traffic collision reports that contained personal information of drivers involved in crashes across Southern California from Rosa Isela Santistevan, a 55-year-old California Highway Patrol employee.
Investigators say Reyes would give the documents to a third individual, Esmeralda Parga, 26, who would call the drivers and pretend to be from their insurance company. She would allegedly coordinate for their damaged cars to be taken to a specific repair center, CA Collision, whose owner, Anthony Gomez, 35, was also in on the scheme, authorities said.
Then the repair shop would contact the insurance companies and demand cash to have the cars released, authorities said.
Investigators allege the scheme resulted in 19 fraudulent claims resulting in a loss of more than $353,000 to insurance companies. This month, a total of 15 people involved in the scheme, including Reyes, of Corona; Santistevan, of Irvine; Parga, of Pomona; and Gomez, of Jurupa Valley, were charged with insurance fraud, grand theft by trick and false impersonation, state investigators wrote in a press release. The others were:
Ezequiel Baltazar Orozco, 30, of Los Angeles
Antonio Terrazas Perez Jr., 19, of Los Angeles
Erika Garcia, 31, of Los Angeles
Israel Avila Sandoval, 45, of Pomona
Luis Alberto Ramirez Jr., 32, of San Bernardino
Robert Arzac, 49, of West Covina
Antonio Ramirez Perez, 44, of Los Angeles
Brian Anthony Lopez, 25, of Anaheim
Emily Marie Boatman, 26, of Ontario
Ricardo Parga Jr., 23, of Pomona
Steven Anthony Alfaro, 38, of Buena Park
The Inland Empire Automobile Insurance Task Force, which includes representatives from the California Department of Insurance, the California Highway Patrol, the San Bernardino County district attorney’s office and the Riverside County district attorney’s office, launched its investigation in November 2022 after it was discovered that a CHP employee was apparently selling traffic collision reports.
Investigators say the scheme began after Reyes donated to several CHP events and parties and befriended Santistevan and other CHP employees.
While executing search warrants on various properties during the investigation, authorities said they found evidence, including a video, of another type of insurance fraud called “collusive collisions,” in which participants intentionally crash cars to collect insurance payments.
The video showed someone driving a Polaris Slingshot through a darkened road at night, blasting hip-hop music. The video cuts to someone doing donuts in the vehicle while another person films it. The next scene shows a BMW slamming into the front of the Slingshot. The man filming the crash says, “Oops.”
Authorities said the individuals involved in the scam claimed the damage resulted from two separate crashes that occurred on a freeway.
“And that’s just how we do it,” the unidentified man says in the video as the two cars are being loaded onto a tow truck. “Two birds killed in one shot.”
WHITEHALL, N.Y. (NEWS10) — Friends, family and the community gathered in front of the Whitehall Elementary School at the circle, tonight, for a special vigil to honor fourth grader, Airyonna Jabot.
Attendees held balloons and blowing bubbles for little Airyonna, the 10-year-old girl who tragically lost her life in a house fire back on the May 7.
Her family says she will be remembered for her lover spirit, and as the little girl who stuck up for those being picked on or bullied at school.
When it came to food, she was all about spaghetti and meatballs, tacos and chicken tenders from Sunoco.
Aryionna loved drawing and had an affection for Squishmallows and silly snapchat filters. Her family said she was excited about the new kittens her cat just had. They also said she is quite the little shopper as she favored the shopping app, TEMU.
Calling hours for family and friends are tomorrow from 4 pm to 6 pm at Carleton Funeral home in Hudson Falls with funeral services on Thursday followed by and afternoon graveside service.
According to the American Red Cross, the fire at 5 Maple Avenue displaced a total of 10 people. Officials tell NEWS10 there are no new updates, and the fire remains under investigation.
A 19-year-old was shot and killed by a motorcyclist early Saturday morning on the eastbound 10 Freeway in Covina.
The rider of a black Harley Davidson-style motorcycle fired multiple shots into the passenger side of a white Chevrolet Camaro, striking the car and killing the 19-year-old driver, according to a news release from the California Highway Patrol.
The driver was from Bloomington in San Bernardino County, the release said. He was identified by the medical examiner’s office as Alexander Espino.
Police responded to the attack at 2:16 a.m. A male passenger in the Camaro, who was unharmed, helped steer the car to the Via Verde Street offramp of the freeway and called 911, police said.
Espino was pronounced dead at the scene by the Los Angeles County Fire Department.
The CHP closed the freeway for the investigation into Espino’s death, reopening the route about 8 a.m. Saturday.
CHP investigators are determining what led to the shooting and searching for the suspect. Any witnesses or anyone with further information are encouraged to contact CHP investigator M. Prado at (626) 338-1164, the release said.
HARLINGEN, Texas (ValleyCentral) — Rio Grande Valley Sector Border Patrol Chief Gloria Chavez and another Border Patrol official are under investigation following an attempt to collaborate with a Mexican tequila maker, NBC News reported.
The two leaders were seen partying in Jalisco, Mexico with distiller Francisco Javier González of the Tequila Casa de los González, his family’s distillery complex, an NBC report stated. Photos of the trio began to circulate on social media in February.
According to NBC, a relationship between distiller González, Chavez and Border Patrol Chief Jason Owens began when Border Patrol discussed making a Border Patrol-branded tequila for its 100th anniversary. The Border Patrol’s centennial celebration will take place later this month in El Paso, Texas, without the anticipated tequila.
From Left: Jason Owens and Gloria Chavez (Photos from AP News)
The collaboration never came to fruition due to questions raised about whether the officials involved divulged their contact with a foreign national — “a requirement for those who receive top security clearances, and whether they accepted anything that could be a violation of ethical rules,” NBC stated in its report.
An internal investigation of the Border Patrol’s part in this tequila visit is being conducted by the Customs and Border Protection Office of Professional Responsibility.
ValleyCentral reached out to CBP for comment and received the following statement from a CBP spokesperson:
“CBP has confidence in our senior leaders and holds them to the highest standards of integrity and professionalism. Consistent with our commitment to accountability, we thoroughly investigate all allegations and take appropriate action to address any issues identified throughout the course of investigations. CBP will continue to reinforce our commitment to the agency’s standards at all levels.”
According to an NBC report, the relationship between the three dates back to July 2023 when González hosted a party for CBP leaders in Laredo. It was there that the idea for a Border Patrol-branded tequila was allegedly born.
“González is the grandson of the founder of Don Julio tequila, a major international brand, and his family remains prominent in the industry,” the report stated.
NBC News reported that a spokesperson for CBP did not say whether Owens and Chavez disclosed their contact with González, or how they paid for their travel to Mexico.
In a statement, a spokesperson for CBP stated, “The Border Patrol Centennial week poses unique ethical considerations, as a number of entities including non-profit organizations, private corporations, elected officials, and others are observing the occasion at a variety of public and private events scheduled over the centennial week. CBP leadership, including the Office of Chief Counsel, is working closely with event organizers within the agency to ensure all official planned events meet the highest ethical standards. This has included providing ethics advice as well as proactive briefings to senior CBP personnel who may be invited to other privately run Centennial related events.”
The centennial event is still a go for May 25, according to the USBP website. The Border Patrol-branded tequila will not be on the menu.
Ippei Mizuhara, the former interpreter for Dodgers superstar Shohei Ohtani, has agreed to plead guilty in federal court to stealing millions of dollars from Ohtani to cover gambling debts, according to the U.S. Department of Justice.
The 39-year-old Japanese-language interpreter has reached a plea deal for one count each of bank fraud and subscribing to a federal tax return, the Justice Department said. Mizuhara faces up to 33 years in federal prison for the two crimes, which authorities allege he committed as part of a scheme to surreptitiously steal more than $17 million from Ohtani to pay off an Orange County bookmaker.
The blockbuster March revelation that the Dodgers had fired Mizuhara amid an investigation into claims he had stolen Ohtani’s money and gambled on sports shocked the baseball world. Last month, federal authorities cleared Ohtani of wrongdoing in connection with the scheme, quieting widespread speculation about the potential fallout of the scandal for his baseball career and potential criminal charges.
Mizuhara has not yet formally entered a plea, according to Ciaran McEvoy, a spokesman for the DOJ. McEvoy said Wednesday he expects Mizuhara to “plead guilty in the coming weeks.”
“The extent of this defendant’s deception and theft is massive,” U.S. Atty. Martin Estrada said in a news release. “He took advantage of his position of trust to take advantage of Mr. Ohtani and fuel a dangerous gambling habit. My office is committed to vindicating victims throughout our community and ensuring that wrongdoers face justice.”
At first this might seem like a man sharing the worst news he could have gotten with his community. But every new detail makes this story so much sketchier…
John-Paul Miller is a pastor at the Solid Rock Church in Myrtle Beach, South Carolina. He shocked his flock last Sunday, April 28 by announcing the death of his estranged second wife, Mica Miller. He said, apparently pretty matter-of-factly:
“I got a call late last night, my wife has passed away. It was self-induced and it was up in North Carolina.”
He then gave everyone details about her memorial service and told them not to talk about the announcement anymore within the church. Weird. Also weird? He was exceptionally quick to label his ex’s shockingly sudden death a suicide. He even added that “she wasn’t well mentally”:
“Y’all pray for me and my kids and everybody. You all knew she wasn’t well mentally and she needed medicine that was hard to get to her. I’m sure there will be more details to come, but keep her family in your prayers.”
Unlike all his other sermons, this one isn’t available to watch on the Solid Rock YouTube page anymore — but it’s the internet, and someone got a copy anyway. See for yourself (below):
He also spoke to local outlet WPDE, telling them the same — just really talking surprisingly candidly about her suicide, and her past struggles with it:
“She had struggled with suicide before. Each time we would help her through it and take her to the doctor, and we got through it and everything was fine. She even gave a few testimonies here at church that we have on video. She battled suicide but God took care of her and got her through it.”
He also told the outlet:
“She was probably the greatest wife anyone could ask for. She was incredibly affirming. We spent every night together for hours just talking and talking and talking.”
Awful news… except… Right now the public only has his word this was a suicide. Robeson County Sheriff’s Office Major Damien McLean would only tell the local ABC affiliate that there was an investigation into the death of the 30-year-old, saying:
“Officers are in the process of gathering information from people in South and North Carolina as part of their investigation into how Miller died.”
Local NC outlet The Robesonian was the first to report any actual details of Mica’s April 27 death, saying she was found with a gunshot wound to the head at Lumber River State Park in Lumberton (about an hour and a half north of Myrtle Beach). But they’ve since taken down their article! Everyone else was citing them for those deets. Why did they take that down? Did the cops tell them it’s too soon?
Meanwhile here you have this Pastor just telling anyone who will listen how his wife definitely died by suicide. If police weren’t sure yet, wouldn’t you think a spouse would want to wait and be 100% sure, too?? Why would a husband be so forthcoming about such a personal matter anyway? Seems a little odd, right?
Odder still? In all his talk about spending every night together talking with Mica, he didn’t mention she’d filed for divorce from him just weeks earlier. Yeah. Clearly their marriage was not as lovey-dovey as he makes out. And she has zero photos of him left on her Facebook, apparently having deleted everything before March. And yet he was the one who wrote her obituary. An obituary with lines about what a good wife she was to him:
“She truly served Jesus and her husband with all of her heart. She would praise her husband after every church service telling him he was the best preacher in the world (even if it wasn’t true). She also told him he was the funniest preacher in the world (even though that wasn’t true either).”
Man, this guy really made her obit all about himself. Ugh. This all just seems so sus to us! No wonder her loved ones are asking for a full investigation! Her friend Kenn Young told WPDE:
“This has to be at least looked into deeply. There’s got to be some accountability here.”
He made a point of saying “it’s not just as simple as mental health issues.” So what the heck is he talking about??
Well, Mica herself started referring to “abuse” in posts made shortly before her death. In fact, there are ONLY posts from shortly before her death. As mentioned, she seems to have wiped everything before mid-March! But around that time she posted a video in which she talks about “going through abuse and hurt.” She also talks about “leaving a dangerous situation”:
See that hashtag? #AbuseAwareness? Something was going on! She also posted just three weeks before her death:
“When terrible terrible TERRIBLE things happen to you… (yall know what I’m talking about 😉 RPF: resting peace face #stillblessed #Godisgood”
She wrote that she was “still blessed”? And at peace? Hmm.
(c) Mica Miller/Facebook
And in her own post announcing Mica’s death, her sister made sure to mention she “did not deserve the abuse she endured.” Whoa.
That leads us to what we’ve seen on social media that we can’t verify. We’ve seen several women claiming to be former members of the Solid Rock church and friends of Mica personally who are accusing her ex — the pastor — of grooming, of stalking, of physical and mental abuse. We can’t verify any of it, obviously, but it’s shocking stuff. And if we were the cops investigating the case, we definitely would be reaching out to talk to these people. Read for yourself HERE and HERE and HERE if you want to dig deeper. But remember to keep a healthy sense of skepticism as these allegations have not been vetted.
We just hope the truth is found — and Mica gets all the justice she deserves.
If you or someone you know is contemplating suicide, help is available. Consider contacting the 988 Suicide & Crisis Lifeline at 988, by calling, texting, or chatting, or go to 988lifeline.org.
If you or someone you know is experiencing domestic violence, help is available. Consider calling the National Domestic Violence Hotline at 800-799-7233, or text START to 88788, or go to https://www.thehotline.org/.
Kern County Supervisor Zack Scrivner is being investigated for allegedly sexually assaulting one of his four children, according to the Kern County Sheriff’s Office.
Sheriff Donny Youngblood said in a news conference Thursday that he received a call from Dist. Atty. Cynthia Zimmer — Scrivner’s aunt — Tuesday night, saying that Scrivner was armed and appeared to be having “some type of psychotic episode” at his home in Tehachapi. Zimmer then called Youngblood back to notify him that Scrivner was no longer armed.
“We were responding to what we believed at the time was a suicidal person having a psychotic episode, not any crime,” Youngblood said.
When deputies arrived on the scene, they secured the firearm. They found that Scrivner had a physical altercation with his children and was stabbed twice in the upper torso over allegations that he had sexually assaulted one of his children, Youngblood said. His injuries were non-life-threatening, he added.
Scrivner’s four children, who are minors, and his parents were at the house at the time of the incident, Youngblood said. His wife, Christina, who filed for divorce in March, was not present.
“Child was protecting other child from what he believed occurred,” Youngblood said in describing the incident.
Detectives obtained a search warrant and seized 30 firearms, psychedelic mushrooms, electronic devices and possible evidence of sexual assault in the house, he said.
Scrivner’s attorney, H.A. Sala of Bakersfield, told the TV news station KGET 17 that the allegations of sexual assault are not true and that Scrivner was going through a mental health crisis, distraught over his divorce. He said the altercation ensued after his child attempted to disarm him.
“We have a reasonable basis to believe and conclude that that allegation is absolutely not reliable,” Sala said. “It’s not true. It did not occur.”
Youngblood said an emergency protective order is barring Scrivner from any contact with his children. He declined to disclose their ages and whether the victim was one of Scrivner’s daughters or sons.
Youngblood said the investigation will be a “lengthy process.”
“It should be noted that this investigation is ongoing and not near completed,” he said. “We still have interviews to conduct, forensic evaluations to make.”
Scrivner was elected to the Board of Supervisors in 2010, serving as chairman in 2012, 2017 and 2022. Before serving on the board, he spent six years on the Bakersfield City Council.
Former Edgewater police officer McKinzie Rees hopes to serve and protect again, but first she must get her name removed from a so-called “bad cops list” maintained by the Colorado Attorney General’s Office. It landed there, she said, as retaliation after she reported sexual assaults by a supervising sergeant.
That sergeant went on to work for another police department until this year, when he pleaded guilty to unlawful sexual contact and misconduct and was sentenced, more than four years after the assaults and retaliation against Rees.
She testified to the state’s House Judiciary Committee this week that, even after her attacker was exposed, her complaint about still being listed as a problem police officer “is falling on deaf ears every time.”
Rees’ testimony, echoed by other frontline police officers from Colorado Springs and Denver about retaliation they faced after reporting misconduct, is driving state lawmakers’ latest effort at police oversight. Fresh legislation would require investigations of all alleged misconduct and increase protection for whistleblowers.
But the bill, titled “Law Enforcement Misconduct,” faces resistance from police chiefs, sheriffs, district attorneys and the Fraternal Order of Police who contend it would complicate police work and lead to unnecessary prosecutions.
While state leaders “are committed to addressing police misconduct,” the requirement that all allegations must be investigated could create “a caustic culture” within police agencies, said Colorado Department of Public Safety executive director Stan Hilkey in testimony to lawmakers during a hearing Tuesday.
“This bill is harmful to the mission of public safety,” Hilkey said, raising concerns it would lead to police “watching each other … instead of going out and responding to and preventing crime.”
The legislation, House Bill 1460, won approval on a 6-5 vote in the House Judiciary Committee. It would require investigations of all alleged misconduct by police, correctional officers and others who enforce the law in Colorado. Officers who report misconduct would gain the ability to file lawsuits if complaints aren’t investigated or they face retaliation.
Key elements under discussion include a provision bolstering the attorney general’s power to add and remove names from the Police Officer Standards and Training database, which bars future employment, and to compel police agencies to provide information for managing that list.
Other provisions would require longer retention of police records and prohibit government agencies from charging fees for making unedited police body-worn camera videos available for public scrutiny.
Investigating all alleged misconduct is projected to cost millions of dollars as state agencies face increased workloads, requiring more employees in some agencies, and increased litigation and liability expenses.
Lawmakers sponsoring the bill have agreed to remove a provision that would have established a new misdemeanor crime for officers who fail to report misconduct by their peers.
But the increased protection for whistleblowers is essential, said Rep. Leslie Herod, a Denver Democrat, in an interview.
“People need those protections now. This would ensure good officers can be good officers and bad officers who cover up for bad officers no longer can be on the force,” said Herod, who introduced the legislation on April 17.
Most police officers “do great work,” sponsor says
The bill would build on police accountability laws passed following the 2020 Minneapolis police murder of George Floyd, which sparked street protests, Herod said.
“We still have more work to do. There’s no one-shot bill that will fix police accountability in the state,” she said.
“The majority of police officers in Colorado do great work. We need to make sure we have protections in place when that doesn’t happen. This is just as important as any other issue we are debating in Colorado.”
The late-in-the-session legislation would affect the 246 police agencies and 12,000 sworn officers around Colorado. It began when Rees and other police whistleblowers who had faced retaliation approached lawmakers.
For Rees, 30, who now supports herself by pet-sitting, the feeling of still being punished — and prevented from continuing a career she worked toward since childhood — “is horrible,” said in an interview.
“There should always be checks and balances,” she said. “It is exhausting trying to figure this out. You just get this runaround. There’s no way out.”
Rees told lawmakers that she reported two sexual assaults in 2019 by the sergeant to colleagues, seeking protection under internal agency protocols and as a whistleblower under existing state laws.
“Instead, I got served the ultimate sentence of no protection,” she said.
This year, after his dismissal from the Black Hawk Police Department, former Edgewater police Sgt. Nathan Geerdes, who was indicted by a grand jury in 2022 on four counts of unlawful sexual contact and one count of witness retaliation, pleaded guilty to unlawful sexual contact, first-degree official misconduct and forgery as part of a plea deal. He was sentenced in Jefferson County District Court to four years of probation.
Edgewater police officer Ed McCallin also testified, describing the retaliation he faced after he became aware “that a senior officer had sexually assaulted a junior officer” — referring to Rees — and then “weaponized” the state’s database against her.
“I was asked to cover that up by my police chief,” he said. “I was threatened with internal investigations twice” and “had to meet with a city council member to save my job for doing the right thing.”
When he went to the Fraternal Order of Police for guidance in the case, McCallin said, a contract attorney advised him “to look the other way.”
“We just need more time,” sheriff says
Colorado law enforcement group leaders and police advocates said their main concern was that they weren’t consulted by sponsors of this legislation.
“We just need more time to dive into this,” Arapahoe County Sheriff Tyler Brown, representing the County Sheriffs of Colorado, told lawmakers.
Herod acknowledged “miscalculation” in not consulting with law enforcement brass in advance.
She and co-sponsor Rep. Jennifer Bacon, a Denver Democrat serving as vice chair of the House Judiciary Committee, said they lined up meetings this week to hash out language and amendments before the bill advances.
Rep. Mike Weissman, who chairs the committee, agreed that support from law enforcement leaders would be crucial but added that he understood the “guardedness” of the bill sponsors, “given how these issues can go in this building.”
District attorneys from Jefferson and El Paso counties objected to the proposed requirement that every misconduct claim must be investigated, saying it would create conflicts in carrying out their professional duties.
Several lawmakers raised concerns about language in the bill, such as “unlawful behavior.” Rep. Matt Soper, a Delta Republican, said a police officer who was sexually assaulted and chose not to report the crime “could become caught up in the system” for failing to report misconduct. Or police who might have to make an illegal U-turn while chasing a suspect, hypothetically, would have to be investigated, he said.
But the lawmakers broadly supported the efforts aimed at making sure the Attorney General’s Office manages the database of police transgressors properly.
The committee’s bill supporters said the compelling testimony from the Edgewater officers and other whistleblowers persuaded them that there’s an undeniable problem to address.
Former Colorado Springs police officer John McFarland told of a case in which a fellow officer took shortcuts in DUI investigations and falsely reported “hundreds” of roadside sobriety tests that never happened. When McFarland learned of that misconduct and reported it, he said, “I was sat in the corner and surrounded by the department’s command staff. I was threatened with charges and dismissal if I did not drop the matter.”
Former Denver police officer Holland Wiston, who was a victim of sexual assault, told lawmakers she faced ridicule within the police department and later was relegated to desk duties.
Others who testified included the sister of a man who was killed at a Tesla electric vehicle charging station last year in Edgewater. Crystal Fresquez said family members had concerns about police “inconsistencies” as they tried to find out how Adam Fresquez died, discovering eventually from a coroner’s report that the death involved the use of mace and two gunshots in his back. Jeremy Alan Smith was arrested in the incident.
When she heard what happened to Rees, Fresquez testified, she saw a need to support the legislation as a member of the public who could be affected by misconduct.
“How can we trust a police department that fails to hold its own officers accountable?” she said.
Michael Porter Jr. said he received individual texts from Nuggets teammates checking on him after a difficult week in his personal life. His brother Coban, 22, was sentenced to six years in prison Friday for killing a woman in a drunk driving crash last year. And his brother Jontay, 24, was banned for life from the NBA earlier in the week after being investigated in a sports betting scandal.
“Each one of them texted me separately and just told me they’ve got my back. If I need anything, they’ve got me,” Porter said Saturday night after a 114-103 Game 1 win at Ball Arena. “Yeah, a lot of people were reaching out. Friends, family. So to have these guys understand why I missed practice yesterday and just have my back has been big for me.”
Porter’s absence from practice Friday was because he appeared in court that morning for Coban’s sentencing hearing. MPJ addressed the family of the victim, Kathy Limon Rothman, in the courtroom, saying, “I understand your family’s pain and hurt.”
In his return to basketball Saturday, he registered 19 points and eight rebounds against the Lakers.
“We’re human, so we carry our emotions and the things that go on off the court onto the court,” Porter said. “But I’m mentally tough. I’ve been through a lot through my whole career, so it was just another one of those things that I had to try to play through.”
Jontay Porter was on a two-way deal with the Raptors’ organization when he allegedly shared information about his health with an individual he knew to be a sports bettor March 20. After another sports bettor subsequently placed an $80,000 parlay bet that Porter would underperform in Toronto’s game that night, Porter played only three minutes, claiming he felt ill. A league investigation also found Porter placed bets on NBA games, including one wager on the Raptors to lose a game.
When the investigation first came to light, Michael Porter Jr. said he doubted that his brother would jeopardize his career by gambling on games.
“Definitely tried to compartmentalize,” Michael Porter Jr. said Saturday. “Some bad and sad stuff happened to a couple of my brothers. But I’ve got 15, 16 more brothers in here. So I knew I had to be there for them. And come in here and do my job and try to prepare to do it at a high level.”
(FOX40.COM) — One man was killed and another was injured during a shooting in Turlock, according to the Turlock Police Department.
At around 6:58 p.m. on Tuesday, Turlock PD responded to a homicide in the 700 block of Wayside Drive. As of 10:07 p.m., the area between Wayside Drive, Kenwood, and N. Olive Avenue is blocked off for an investigation. Police advised the public to avoid the area.
Additional information will be provided as it becomes available.
He was convicted not only of sex trafficking but also of racketeering — charges that specify a person’s “enterprise” was used to carry out criminal conduct.
Sean “Diddy” Combs now faces a similar federal investigation, though the accusations against him are significantly different and it remains unclear whether they will result in criminal charges.
Authorities have said little about the probe. But law enforcement sources have confirmed to The Times that Combs is under investigation for sex-trafficking tied at least in part to civil lawsuits filed by several women who have accused him of misconduct.
Combs has denied any wrongdoing, and his attorneys have slammed the investigation as unwarranted.
After federal agents searched the artist’s homes in Florida and Los Angeles several weeks ago, his attorney decried a “premature rush to judgment of Mr. Combs” and said the investigation “is nothing more than a witch hunt based on meritless accusations made in civil lawsuits.”
Still, previous high-profile sex-trafficking cases could offer a window into how the feds typically build a case and can provide clues into what officials would need to bring charges.
“The playbook for these types of cases is R. Kelly, Jeffrey Epstein, Larry Ray and NXIVM’s founder Keith Raniere,” said Elizabeth Geddes, who delivered a six-hour closing argument in Kelly’s conviction.
Since then, three other women have sued Combs, accusing him of rape, sex trafficking, assault and other abuses. One of the allegations involved a minor. A male producer also has sued him over unwanted sexual contact.
Geddes, who is not involved in the Combs case, said she believes Ventura might have been the trigger for the federal investigation.
She said the docuseries about Kelly spurred the Eastern District of New York to act — and that type of high-level investigation often requires an outside catalyst. In Kelly’s case, he had been acquitted in 2008 and as a result, many of his accusers lost confidence in law enforcement. But the documentary re-engaged authorities.
“Nothing puts pressure on law enforcement like a front-page story on the major newspaper in the city,” Geddes said.
Combs’ investigation, led by Homeland Security, is several months old, according to sources, and many connected to the case — including accusers and alleged witnesses — have already been interviewed.
Geddes said Homeland Security Investigations also worked the Kelly case, and its agents tend to have years of experience working with sex-trafficking victims.
She said sex trafficking requires either “force, fraud or coercion to cause a person to engage in a commercial sex act” or the trafficking of minors under 18.
“There is no statute of limitations,” Geddes said, and the key law enacted in the 2000s applies to acts from 2001 forward.
Geddes said that in addition to the sex charges against Kelly, she and her colleagues secured a racketeering indictment against the singer. The charge has famously been applied to mob bosses like John Gotti and James “Whitey” Bulger.
In racketeering cases, Geddes said, the “enterprise” carries out illegal conduct and prosecutors seek to show a broader pattern of conduct that stretches over years and involves many participants. A racketeering case also allows multiple victims’ narratives in one trial.
A law enforcement agent carries a bag of evidence as federal agents stand at the entrance to a property belonging to Sean “Diddy” Combs in Miami on March 25.
(Rebecca Blackwell / Associated Press)
But it is unclear what evidence the feds have against Combs and whether there is enough to bring charges.
Few details are available, other than sources saying investigators left his two homes with electronics, data devices and other records.
Legal experts have told The Times that evidence in sex-trafficking cases must be extensive as such charges can be hard to prove.
“Sex trafficking for adults usually involves some sort of coercion or other restraints,” L.A. defense attorney Dmitry Gorin said. Prosecutors would need to show you “encouraged somebody to engage in sexual activity for money or some other inducement.”
Aaron Dyer, one of Combs’ lawyers, stressed in a statement released after the raids that “there has been no finding of criminal or civil liability with any of these allegations.”
The mother of Combs’ son Justin Dior Combs also slammed the investigation and the raids.
“The overzealous and overtly militarized force used against my sons Justin and Christian is deplorable,” designer Misa Hylton said after releasing video showing federal agents dressed in military gear pointing a gun at Combs’ sons. “If these were the sons of a non-Black celebrity, they would not have been handled with the same aggression. The attempt to humiliate and terrorize these innocent young Black men is despicable!”
Federal sex-trafficking and sexual assault laws also allow prosecutors to present evidence that shows a modus operandi.
“In the R. Kelly trial, several women testified about what Kelly did to them as part of a pattern of behavior. It is very much the same thing people saw in Harvey Weinstein’s prosecution,” Geddes said.
If prosecutors do file charges against Combs, they also could allege the use of forced labor under threat, Geddes said. Ventura, Combs’ former girlfriend, alleged she was forced into sex acts with other men and suffered physical harm for complaining. If true, this could be considered forced labor, Geddes said.
Kelly was convicted of eight counts of the Mann Act, which was passed in 1910 and sought to criminalize what’s now known as human trafficking. The law initially banned transporting a woman or girl across state lines “for the purpose of prostitution or debauchery, or for any other immoral purpose.”
The Mann Act now covers transportation across state lines “with [the] intent that such individual engages in prostitution, or in any sexual activity for which any person can be charged with a criminal offense.”
In the allegations against Combs, one woman said she was brought from Detroit as a 17-year-old to Combs’ studios so he could rape her along with his cohorts, Geddes said.
Before the highly publicized searches of Combs’ properties were executed, Geddes said, prosecutors and HSI agents had to “have made some headway into the investigations.”
“What we can say at this stage is there was enough probable cause to convince a magistrate to issue a search warrant,” she said. “Before getting such a warrant, agents have typically interviewed multiple witnesses.”
Geddes said those types of searches typically seek corroboration of evidence because high-profile individuals tend to work with others to commit such crimes. In Kelly’s case, Geddes said, his storage facility proved to be a goldmine. He kept message slips, handwritten notations and emails to pick up women and girls. And there were “videos, lots of videos,” she said.
“We had so much evidence presented in Kelly, it was hard to fit it all into the closing,” Geddes said. “He used his money and public persona to hide his crimes in plain sight,” she told jurors at the time.
A San Francisco man suspected of vandalizing a Nob Hill mosque was arrested Wednesday evening while visiting the scene of his alleged crime for the second time in as many days.
San Francisco resident Robert Gray, 35, was booked on one felony count of vandalism with damage of more than $400 and a misdemeanor violation of civil rights by damaging another property. He currently sits in a county jail.
Neither Gray nor a representative were reached for comment.
San Francisco Police officers responded to a call from congregants of Masjid al-Tawheed mosque around 7:55 p.m. on Wednesday. Mosque-goers told police that Gray was the man who had vandalized their sanctuary on April 4, having recognized him for security footage.
Arriving officers detained Gray after they concluded he matched the description of the suspect wanted in the attack.
“Through the course of their investigation, officers developed probable cause [for] arrest,” Police spokesperson Paulina Henderson said in a statement.
Henderson said the investigation was still active and police were looking for more information.
Surveillance video obtained by the San Francisco Standard shows a man with a skateboard smashing multiple mosque windows on April 4.
The man returned to the mosque, according to the Standard, on Tuesday and Wednesday. During the latter incident, mosque congregants confronted Gray and distracted him long enough to call police, who arrived in time to arrest him.
“Community members were living in fear for the last two weeks,” said Yemeni American Aseel Fara, 24, a Masjid al-Tawheed mosque member and a San Francisco Immigrant Rights Commissioner.
Fara said the incident shocked many community members who emigrated to San Francisco because of its pluralistic society.
He said he received a call from another Bay Area mosque that suffered similar vandalism incident wanting to review surveillance footage to see if Gray was involved.
“You don’t expect this here,” he said. “This has been very divisive and hopefully we can begin to heal thanks to this arrest.”
The news of Gray’s arrest was celebrated by the Council on American-Islamic Relations Bay Area chapter.
“We are relieved that an arrest has been made in these distressing incidents,” CAIR Bay Area Executive Director Zahra Billoo said in a statement. “It’s important for our community to see tangible actions being taken to protect our places of worship, where everyone has the right to feel safe and secure.”
Billoo said that the number of complaints of Islamophobia made nationwide is at a 30-year high.
There were 8,061 reports received by CAIR last year. The organization said nearly half of those complaints took place in the last three months since the Oct. 7 Hamas’ assault on Israel that sparked a war, resulting in the killing of 30,000-plus Palestinians by Israeli forces. That number of Islamophobic complaints represents a 56% increase in incidents from 2022 to 2023, according to the organization.
“This arrest sends a clear message that hate-driven behaviors will not be overlooked and serves as a reminder of the ongoing challenges we face in combating Islamophobia,” Billoo said.
Four people are in custody and multiple firearms have been recovered after a shooting in West Philadelphia Wednesday afternoon, two sources with knowledge of the incident told CNN.Multiple people were reported injured, a law enforcement official told CNN. Reports of a shooting prompted a massive police response into the area near the Clara Muhammad Square around 2 p.m., the official said.Police believe two groups exchanged gunfire on the street.At least one officer fired shots at a gunman, the official said.Video below: Woman describes hearing Philadelphia shootingTwo victims were rushed by police to Penn Presbyterian Medical Center with gunshot wounds, and one of them is considered a possible suspect, the official added.The hospital reported to police that three other gunshot victims showed up there, according to the official.A woman who says she was attending a nearby event for Eid al-Fitr, an Islamic religious celebration marking the end of the holy month of Ramadan, said she was enjoying time with her family when she heard shots. Everyone around her began running, screaming, and getting on the ground and as she ran, she frantically searched for her son, then her mom, brothers, and grandmother.“We were just running and running and one of my family members got shot in the stomach,” Najah Bey told CNN affiliate WPVI, later sharing it was her cousin who was wounded.She said “hundreds” of people had been attending the event.“We don’t know who was shooting, where the shots came from, but people started shooting and everyone just started running. You have babies, elderly people, everybody was just there to enjoy themselves, and now we end up at the emergency room.”“You can’t even have a celebration without having to worry about somebody getting shot,” Bey added.The Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives responded to the shooting reports and is on the scene, a spokesperson said.
Four people are in custody and multiple firearms have been recovered after a shooting in West Philadelphia Wednesday afternoon, two sources with knowledge of the incident told CNN.
Multiple people were reported injured, a law enforcement official told CNN.
Dozens of police officers responded to the shooting in the city’s Parkside section around 2 p.m. The shooting happened in an area where residents were celebrating Eid al-Fitr, the end of the holy month of Ramadan.
Police believe two groups exchanged gunfire on the street.
At least one officer fired shots at a gunman, the official said.
Video below: Woman describes hearing Philadelphia shooting
Two victims were rushed by police to Penn Presbyterian Medical Center with gunshot wounds, and one of them is considered a possible suspect, the official added.
The hospital reported to police that three other gunshot victims showed up there, according to the official.
The Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives responded to the shooting reports and is on the scene, a spokesperson said.
More than three years after the California Department of Justice launched a civil rights investigation into the troubled Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Department, the case is finally headed toward a sprawling settlement agreement expected to touch on issues including jail conditions, deputy gangs and staffing, according to sources familiar with the matter and emails viewed by The Times.
The investigative findings — which remain secret — span over 100 pages and sources say they include controversial recommendations for deputies to curtail making traffic stops, stop enforcing some drug laws and complete hundreds more hours of training.
Initially launched in January 2021 under Xavier Becerra, California’s attorney general at the time, the probe came amid a string of controversial shootings, costly lawsuits, repeated allegations of deputy misconduct and then-Sheriff Alex Villanueva’s resistance to oversight.
Though a new administration is in place, many of the same problems remain – some of which the state detailed when presenting the findings of its investigation to department officials and other stakeholders in a recent meeting, according to four sources who asked to remain anonymous because they were not authorized to speak on the record.
Already, the findings and recommendations have sparked pushback, some from oversight officials who raised concerns about the lack of transparency and some from union leaders who questioned the practicality of the state’s nearly 400 recommendations.
“Preventing deputies from conducting traffic stops and enforcing drug laws might seem like a good idea to those living in gated communities or with armed protective details,” Richard Pippin, president of the Assn. of Los Angeles Deputy Sheriffs, wrote in a recent message to union members. “But ALADS knows our community partners in the contract cities and elsewhere will be shocked by some of these proposals that are best described as elitist and unrealistic.”
The Sheriff’s Department said this week it was “not at liberty” to discuss the matter, while Atty. Gen. Rob Bonta’s office did not respond to The Times’ request for comment. Lawyers for Los Angeles County said only that they’d been in communication with the state and “hoped to avoid litigation.”
The Sheriff’s Department is already subject to five more narrowly targeted settlement agreements overseen by federal courts. One centers on racial profiling and policing practices in the Antelope Valley, while the other four relate to the conditions and treatment of inmates in the county jails. The oldest of those cases dates back to the 1970s, but it remains open because the department has never fully complied with the settlement terms.
Given the scope of the state’s latest investigation, a new settlement agreement could be far broader than those already in place. And given the sheer size of the Sheriff’s Department — the largest in the country, with a $4-billion budget — it could be one of the most expansive that the California Department of Justice has ever entered.
Word of the state’s voluminous findings began making the rounds last week, after Sheriff Robert Luna sent a lengthy email to deputies offering a vague update on the status of the case.
“As some of you may know, three years ago in January 2021, the California Department of Justice (CAL-DOJ) began a civil rights investigation into the Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Department to determine whether the LASD has engaged in a pattern or practice of unconstitutional policing,” the email began, according to a copy reviewed by The Times.
“We have been communicating with the CAL-DOJ officials and look forward to addressing the issues of concern and coming into compliance,” the sheriff continued. “We expect further communication with CAL-DOJ in the weeks and months ahead regarding proposed corrective actions.”
The email did not offer a clear timeline for the next steps, but Luna wrote that the department, county lawyers and “other key stakeholders” would need to evaluate the findings and recommendations, which he said would touch on more than a dozen areas, including use of force, arrests, deputy gangs, internal investigations, discipline, oversight, community engagement, training, staffing and conditions in the jails.
A state civil rights probe was already underway when Sheriff Robert Luna took office in 2022.
(Damian Dovarganes / Associated Press)
Any agreement reached between CAL-DOJ and the Sheriff’s Department will help make sure the department complies with state laws and standards and could improve trust from the community, he said.
“As we work towards finalizing the specifics, we will keep you informed of any developments or changes as we work through this together,” Luna wrote. “Community trust is at the core of our work in public safety and with this agreement we will improve our systems and Department to better serve the citizens of Los Angeles County.”
California law allows the attorney general to investigate law enforcement agencies suspected of engaging in a “pattern or practice” of violating state or federal law. Unlike with criminal investigations that focus on specific incidents, a pattern or practice investigation looks more broadly at whether a law enforcement agency routinely violates people’s constitutional rights.
When he first announced the Los Angeles County investigation in late January 2021, Becerra raised concerns about the lack of comprehensive oversight of the department as well as allegations of retaliation, excessive force and other misconduct.
“There are serious concerns and reports that accountability and adherence to legitimate policing practices have lapsed at the Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Department,” he said in a statement at the time. “We are undertaking this investigation to determine if LASD has violated the law or the rights of the people of Los Angeles County.”
At the time, Becerra did not specify a focus for the investigation, saying that his office was “not placing a particular scope and time or place, or person” in the crosshairs.
Though Becerra initially said a thorough report on the investigation’s findings would be made public, it is not clear whether his successor still plans to do that. One county source familiar with the matter said it was likely the detailed findings would remain secret, though a signed settlement agreement would eventually become public.
The original announcement of the investigation three years ago came after a series of high-profile shootings by deputies that triggered widespread protests and demands from community organizers and lawmakers for independent investigations. Those calls were amplified after the June 2020 killing of 18-year-old Andres Guardado, who was shot five times in the back by a deputy assigned to the Compton station.
Last year — a few months before both that deputy and his partner were sentenced to federal prison for an unrelated incident — The Times obtained a leaked email showing that the California Department of Justice had taken up the Guardado case. It’s not clear if that became part of the civil rights probe or if it is being handled separately, though the California Constitution grants the office the power to review cases where the “law is not being adequately enforced” by a local or county agency.
When Becerra opened the broader civil rights probe in 2021, local activists and oversight officials heralded the move. Melina Abdullah, co-founder of Black Lives Matter-Los Angeles, called it “a step forward in the names of people like Dijon Kizzee and Andres Guardado and so many others” killed by L.A. deputies, adding that she hoped it would uncover corruption in the department and bring an end to deputy gangs.
Robert Bonner, a former federal judge who now serves on the watchdog Civilian Oversight Commission, said at the time that he hoped the investigation would focus on deputy cliques and would eventually lead to a consent decree requiring their elimination.
Though Villanueva didn’t learn of the probe until it was announced publicly, he said in 2021 that he welcomed the attorney general’s investigation and promised to cooperate.
“Our department may finally have an impartial, objective assessment of our operations, and recommendations on any areas we can improve our service to the community,” he said. “We are eager to get this process started, in the interest of transparency and accountability.”
This week in an email to The Times, Villanueva — whom voters replaced two years ago with the current sheriff — took a dimmer view of the state’s investigation.
“The entire premise of their investigation was political retaliation by the Board of Supervisors and their political appointees,” he wrote, accusing supervisors of lobbying the attorney general to open the case. “With federal consent decrees covering most of LASD operations already, there is little room for state intervention,” he added.
Union officials also worried about the burden of adding new requirements from another sprawling settlement.
“The report clearly indicates that every deputy would be required to complete hundreds of hours of training to satisfy even the baseline requirements,” Pippin wrote in his message to union members. “The report also challenges the direct authority of the sworn chain of command and moves much of the power and decision-making authority to offices or groups with zero operational experience,” he continued, saying the state’s recommendations would “create confusion in the chain of command.”
Meanwhile some oversight officials worried about the apparent lack of outside input.
“I just hope the attorney general and the county officials will take input from the community before reaching a final settlement,” said Sean Kennedy, who chairs the Civilian Oversight Commission. “No real solution can be forged without hearing from the people most affected by decades of unconstitutional policing.”
At the outset, it was expected that the inquiry would involve interviews with local officials, members of oversight panels and community groups — though it’s not clear who has been interviewed or what the investigation ultimately entailed. Kennedy said the oversight commission has not been included in “any of the settlement meetings to date.”
A similar investigation of the Kern County Sheriff’s Office that started in 2016 led to a settlement agreement four years later, when the agency agreed to implement a laundry list of reforms that included a ban on the use of chokeholds, a new procedure for reporting deputy shootings to the public and stricter rules governing deputy searches.
Nearly a decade earlier a two-year probe overseen by then-Atty. Gen. Jerry Brown found that Maywood, a small city in southeastern Los Angeles County, was patrolled by “rogue cops” who arrested people without probable cause and routinely used excessive force.
The Maywood Police Department reached an agreement with the state that required the city to raise its hiring standards, publish annual audits of the department’s operations, and equip officers with audio recorders and their cruisers with video cameras, among other reforms. A year after entering the agreement, Maywood disbanded its police force and instead contracted with the L.A. County Sheriff’s Department.
The Los Angeles County medical examiner has ruled a 16-year-old girl’s death from blunt force head trauma an accident, raising questions from her family about how thorough and conclusive officials have been with the case.
The girl’s mother has pointed to video from a shocking school fight that showed her daughter, Shaylee Mejia, hitting her head during the melee just days before she died. Her mother, Maria Juarez, blames the high school for failing to protect her daughter, and doesn’t understand how the medical examiner could rule the death an accident.
The determination of the manner and cause of the girl’s death is just one of thousands made by experts each year in Los Angeles County — most of which go without much notice, while others, such as the case of Shaylee, have raised questions about the process.
Juarez told Univision this week that the determination, made last weekend, has left her outraged and disappointed.
“I don’t know why they would call it an accident,” said Luis Carrillo, a civil rights attorney representing Juarez. He said he requested information about how officials came to such a conclusion, but no further details have been shared. He didn’t know if the medical examiner’s investigation included reviewing the cell phone video from the fight.
The deputy medical examiner “should see those videos before she absolutely determines it was an accident,” Carrillo said.
The Times has requested the final autopsy report, but it hasn’t yet been completed. Odey Upko, the chief medical examiner in Los Angeles County, declined to comment on the case pending that final report.
Carrillo and Juarez are now considering obtaining an independent autopsy, Carrillo said.
While finding the manner of death an accident doesn’t automatically close a case, a spokesperson for the Los Angeles Police Department said Friday that the probe into Shaylee’s death has been completed, citing the accidental death determination. He did not cite any further evidence and referred further questions to the medical examiner’s office.
An LAPD spokesperson had previously said Shaylee had fallen before her death, but few other details were provided.
Carrillo said he is still looking into the case with plans to eventually file a lawsuit.
The Times spoke with forensic pathologist experts about what an accidental death ruling means, how such a decision is made and if that determination could eventually change.
What is a ‘manner of death’?
The manner of death is one of the two major determinations made following an autopsy, along with the cause of death.
“The manner of death is about the circumstances,” Upko said. This is a determination for how an injury or disease led to someone’s death.
There are five possible conclusions for the manner of death:
Natural: when a medical issue causes a death, such as a disease, heart attack or pneumonia.
Suicide: when someone takes their own life in an intentional act of self-harm.
Homicide: when the death is the result of another individual, such as from a shooting, stabbing or fight.
Accident: when a death is caused by something unnatural but was also unintentional. This can be a car crash, an overdose or a deadly fall.
Undetermined: if an investigator cannot find enough evidence to substantiate a determination, this will be the finding. This is rarely used by medical examiners, experts said.
This determination is made after the body is examined in an autopsy and an additional investigation is done, said Iain M. McIntyre, a forensic toxicologist consultant who previously worked for almost 20 years at the San Diego County Medical Examiner’s office.
“Often times the manner of death is not obvious even after the autopsy,” McIntyre said.
How is that different from cause of death?
“The cause of death is most often the medical reason why the person died, …or what actually is responsible for the death,” McIntyre said. This is usually quite clear from the autopsy, he said, unlike the manner of death, which often takes more time.
“The manner of death can take a while if the circumstance is not very clear,” Upko said.
While there are only five options for the manner of death, there are many options for the cause of death — often with multiple reasons contributing to a death.
How do forensic pathologists make such a decision?
“Once you determine the cause of death, that’s the first step, then manner of death is the second step,” Ukpo said.
McIntyre said the medical examiner will consider everything available.
“Hospital records, police reports, reports from their own investigators, toxicology, histology reports,” McIntyre said, “and obviously autopsy findings.”
Medical examiners do their own independent investigation to determine the manner of death, but Upko said investigators can also consider police reports or other investigative information.
“Ideally, what we’re supposed to do is independently investigate and look at the body on our own,” Upko said. But, he said “we can gather information from [a law enforcement] investigation as well.”
Cases in which an injury led to a death can make determining the manner of death challenging, the experts said, especially when trying to distinguish between an accident or a homicide.
“You can’t make a determination just from the physical injury,” McIntyre said.
McIntyre and Upko both said a manner-of-death determination can change if new information later becomes available.
Upko said videos can also be relevant to such an investigation, but he called that very rare. He declined to say whether investigators reviewed video in Shaylee’s probe.
How is that determination used?
Both experts said it’s important to understand that the manner of death is a medical determination, not a legal one. So law enforcement and prosecutors can use the medical examiner’s findings in their cases, but that doesn’t determine what happens in the criminal justice system.
“The legal system works differently,” McIntyre said. For example, the manner of death could be ruled a homicide, but it may not be a crime — such as in cases of self defense.
There are also ways an accidental death could result in someone being held criminally responsible or liable in civil court, such as an overdose death in which officials prosecute the drug dealer.
Denver police are investigating after a man was shot and killed in the city’s East Colfax neighborhood Wednesday night.
Denver officers were on the scene of the shooting — near the intersection of East Colfax Avenue and Spruce Street — at 8:21 p.m. Wednesday, according to a statement from the city’s police department.
Paramedics transported one person — only identified as an adult male by police — to a local hospital, where he later died from his injuries, according to a 9 p.m. update. The Denver Office of the Medical Examiner will release the victim’s identity and official cause of death at a later time.
The investigation is ongoing and no arrests have been made, according to police.
Anyone with information about the shooting is asked to contact Metro Denver Crime Stoppers at 720-913-7867.
Wayne County deputies responded to calls about a shooting on Brookside Way in Pikeville.
PIKEVILLE, N.C. (WTVD) — Wayne County officials are investigating after a person barricaded themselves inside a home Saturday afternoon.
According to officials, Wayne County deputies responded to calls about a shooting on Brookside Way near Willowbrook Drive. When deputies arrived they found located one unresponsive victim outside of a home. Deputies said a neighbor was administering CPR to the victim until emergency officials arrived.
The person was taken to the hospital in unknown condition.
Officials said the Sheriff’s Office SWAT team searched the home where the incident happened and found no other victims or suspects. Deputies then identified the suspect and found him in a field behind the home.
He was taken into custody, and taken in for questioning, officials said.
TROY, N.Y. (NEWS10) — The Troy Police Department has reported that they are conducting an ongoing gun and narcotic investigation with other law enforcement partners, including the DEA and the FBI. This investigation led to a police presence in the area of Eighth Street and Hutton Street on Tuesday.
Detectives report that they were observing a vehicle occupied by two suspects involved in the investigation in the area of Eighth Street when both suspects fled on foot. One suspect was apprehended but the other has not been located.
The police department says there was evidence recovered from the scene that will be processed as a part of the investigation. They also report that the escaped suspect appears to pose no danger to the public.
Troy PD explains that charges are pending for both suspects as detectives continue their investigation. Police ask anyone who has information regarding Tuesday’s incident or any ongoing investigation to contact them at (518) 270-4421.
Stick with NEWS10 as more information becomes available.
The man and woman were killed Saturday night at the former DoubleTree hotel, 4040 N. Quebec St., which the city has leased since November for use as a transitional housing shelter for up to 300 people. Police have not said how the couple were killed.
“The case is still under investigation. No arrests have been made. Anyone with information is asked to call Crime Stoppers (720-913-7867),” Denver Police officials said in an emailed response. Police announced the killing at 9:30 a.m. Sunday on X.
Denver officials did not respond to queries about the safety at city shelters.
The former hotel is located in Denver’s Central Park neighborhood. It is owned by Rocky Mountain Communities, a nonprofit that provides apartments around the state for low-income residents.
