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Tag: Massacres

  • A Massacre in Mashhad

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    Some protesters, like M., have broken through the digital shutdown using Starlink, Elon Musk’s satellite-internet service, which is banned in Iran. Security agents have been going door to door, raiding homes to confiscate satellite dishes and arresting anyone who is using the service. Authorities have warned that citizens caught using Starlink could be sent to prison for up to two years. Iran’s attorney general has said that all “rioters” will be considered “enemies of God,” a charge that could lead to their execution. “Let them find me,” M. told me. “I could have been killed a hundred times during these past few days. There are too many dead. The world should know what has happened here.”

    Several months ago, M. was sitting in a prison cell while security forces searched his home after the government alleged that he was a foreign spy. It was days after Israel started attacking Iran, in June, and the Iranian authorities had ordered a manhunt for suspected infiltrators. At least twenty-one thousand were arrested, including M., who believes he was targeted for publishing anti-government posts on social media. He was released, but the experience hardened his rage for the regime. “They only know how to govern with fear,” he said.

    His resentment carried him into the streets of Mashhad to join the protests, which reached a fever pitch, days later, after Reza Pahlavi, the U.S.-based son of the former Shah, posted a video that urged Iranians to join anti-government demonstrations in cities across the country on Thursday and Friday. They were emboldened further by President Donald Trump, who wrote on Truth Social that the United States would come to their “rescue” if protesters were killed. “People lost their fear,” M. told me. “They all left their homes to fight for a new future—and they were slaughtered for it.”

    M. and his friends provided me with videos, which have been verified and support key parts of the narrative put forward by witnesses. The clips have been altered to protect the identities of those depicted. The interview with M. has been edited for length and clarity.

    Part 1

    I will try my best to tell you what happened. My wife is scared every hour at night. She goes and checks the windows to make sure no one is there. She doesn’t want me to talk to you, but they have killed so many people, and I need to do this.

    It all started because of crazy inflation. The craziest inflation in our life. First we saw online that people in the biggest bazaar in Tehran had started protesting. I saw Trump talking about Iran, and he said that if the government shoots the protesters the U.S. is going to shoot back. We believed him. Trump is a man of his word. Also, online, everyone was sharing a video post from Reza Pahlavi, the son of the last Shah of Iran, encouraging us to protest.

    Suddenly, everyone lost their fear. Before that day, no one had the courage to post Instagram Stories about the protests, because they knew that they would go to jail. But, this time, it was like everyone was supporting Pahlavi. They reposted his video, putting him in their stories. There was this feeling: “We’re gonna make it this time.” That was how we felt that day. Everyone was writing on social media—“just get to a street. Walking is not a crime.” Then many other people across the country started filling the streets in every big city.

    Part 2

    I couldn’t believe what I saw on Thursday. It started as a normal day. The government shut down the internet at 7 P.M., one hour before the Thursday protests began. I decided to go out, but I didn’t bring my phone, because the government can follow people.

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    Cora Engelbrecht

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  • Mass. marijuana shops pay towns hefty fees. Why that might change. – Medical Marijuana Program Connection

    Mass. marijuana shops pay towns hefty fees. Why that might change. – Medical Marijuana Program Connection

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    … Monday. 
    Under current state law, marijuana establishments must pay a community … the costs imposed by the marijuana establishment.  
    “Reasonably related” means there … offset the operation of a marijuana establishment. Those costs could include …

    Original Author Link click here to read complete story..

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    MMP News Author

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  • Latest search for Tulsa Race Massacre victims comes to end

    Latest search for Tulsa Race Massacre victims comes to end

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    The latest search for remains of victims of the 1921 Tulsa Race Massacre has ended with 32 additional caskets discovered and eight sets of remains exhumed, according to the city.

    The excavation and exhumations at Tulsa’s Oaklawn Cemetery that began Oct. 26 ended Friday and the remains were sent to a nearby lab for analysis and DNA collection.

    Searchers sought unmarked graves of people who were probably male, in plain caskets with signs of gunshot trauma — criteria for further investigation that were based on newspaper reports at the time, said forensic anthropologist Phoebe Stubblefield.

    Two sets of the 66 remains found in the past two years have been confirmed to have gunshot wounds, according to Stubblefield, though none have been identified or confirmed to be victims of the massacre.

    DNA taken from 14 sets of the nearly three dozen remains found last year were sent to Intermountain Forensics in Salt Lake City for further study. DNA from teeth and thigh bones, known as femurs, will be extracted from the eight recently exhumed remains and also sent to Intermountain Forensics, Stubblefield said.

    State archaeologist Kary Stackelbeck said 62 of the 66 burials found thus far were in unmarked graves.

    Investigators are looking for a possible mass grave of victims of the 1921 massacre at the hands of a white mob that descended on the Black section of Tulsa — Greenwood. More than 1,000 homes were burned, hundreds more were looted and destroyed and a thriving business district known as Black Wall Street was destroyed.

    Most historians who have studied the event estimate the death toll to be between 75 and 300. Historians say many of the victims were buried in unmarked graves, their locations never recorded and rumors have persisted for decades of mass graves in the area.

    Stackelbeck said the remains meeting the criteria for possible massacre victims and exhumed thus far are not in a mass grave, but instead interspersed in the search area.

    Tulsa Mayor G.T. Bynum said he considers the entire cemetery to be a mass grave.

    “Is there a mass grave where there are people lined up in a row like we thought might be? That is not the case,” Bynum said. “Is Oaklawn Cemetery still a mass grave? Yes.”

    Investigators have recommended additional scanning of a nearby park and adjacent homeless camp, where oral histories have indicated massacre victims were buried.

    Bynum said the city will decide the next step after reviewing the next report from researchers that is expected sometime next year.

    All the exhumed remains will be reburied, at least temporarily, at Oaklawn, where the previous reburial was closed to the public, drawing protests from about two dozen people who said they are descendants of massacre victims and should have been allowed to attend.

    The massacre wiped out generational wealth, and victims were never compensated, but a pending lawsuit seeks reparations for the three remaining known survivors. They are each now more than 100 years old.

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  • Body with gunshot found in search for Tulsa massacre victims

    Body with gunshot found in search for Tulsa massacre victims

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    A second body of a possible victim of the 1921 Tulsa Race Massacre has been found to have a gunshot wound, according to the city.

    “Forensic anthropologist Dr. Phoebe Stubblefield discovered that one of the three sets of remains exhumed last week contained one victim with a gunshot wound,” according to a statement late Friday from city spokesperson Carson Colvin.

    In an effort to eventually confirm the remains are those of massacre victims, investigators are seeking signs of trauma, such as gunshot wounds, based on accounts at the time.

    A portion of the bullet was removed the the head of the remains, according to the statement. The person’s race and whether the remains are those of a massacre victim are not yet known.

    Stubblefield did not immediately return a phone call to The Associated Press on Saturday.

    The remains were in a plain casket and are believed to be that of an adult male, matching information in reports from 1921, and were in the area in Oaklawn Cemetery where 18 massacre victims were reportedly buried.

    The first remains with gunshot wounds were found in June 2021 and are now with Salt Lake City-based Intermountain Forensics where DNA analysis is ongoing.

    The current excavation of the cemetery in the search for victims of the 1921 Race Massacre began Oct. 26 and has uncovered 26 unmarked graves. The work is expected to continue through Nov. 18.

    Four sets of the newly found remains have been exhumed and taken to an on-site lab for analysis.

    A search for the graves of massacre victims began in 2020 and resumed last year with nearly three dozen coffins recovered.

    Fourteen sets of the previously recovered remains were sent to Intermountain Forensics for testing, and two of those have been found to have enough DNA to begin sequencing and start developing a genealogy profile.

    None of the remains have been identified or confirmed as victims of the massacre, one of the worst known examples of white mob violence against Black Americans in U.S. history.

    More than 1,000 homes were burned, hundreds more were looted, and a thriving business district known as Black Wall Street was destroyed in the racist violence.

    Historians have estimated the death toll at between 75 and 300, with generational wealth being wiped out.

    ———

    Read more coverage of the Tulsa Race Massacre: https://apnews.com/hub/tulsa-race-massacre

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  • 21 new graves found in search for Tulsa Massacre victims

    21 new graves found in search for Tulsa Massacre victims

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    The search for remains of victims of the 1921 Tulsa Race Massacre has turned up 21 additional graves in the city’s Oaklawn Cemetery, officials said.

    Seventeen adult-size graves were located Friday and Saturday, Oklahoma State Archaeologist Kary Stackelbeck said Monday. Additionally, the city announced Tuesday that four graves, two adult-size and two child-size, had been found.

    The coffins, then the remains, will be examined to see if they match reports from 1921 that the victims were males buried in plain caskets.

    “This is going to part of our process of discriminating which ones we’re going to proceed with in terms of exhuming those individuals and which ones we’re actually going to leave in place,” Stackelbeck said in a video statement.

    The work, by hand, was still underway, and the types of coffins and gender of the victims have not been determined, according to the city’s statement.

    The remains will be reburied, at least temporarily, at Oaklawn, where a previous reburial was closed to the public, drawing protests from about two dozen people who said they are descendants of massacre victims and should have been allowed to attend.

    A violent white mob targeted Black people during the massacre, in which more than 1,000 homes were burned, hundreds were looted, and a thriving business district known as Black Wall Street was destroyed. Historians have estimated the death toll at 75 to 300.

    A search for the graves of massacre victims began in 2020 and resumed last year with nearly three dozen coffins recovered.

    Fourteen sets of remains were sent for testing, and two had enough DNA to begin sequencing and start developing a genealogy profile.

    The current search includes reexhuming the other 12 remains in an effort to collect more usable DNA in an effort to eventually identify them.

    The massacre wiped out generational wealth, and victims were never compensated, but a pending lawsuit seeks reparations for the three remaining known survivors. They are now more than 100 years old.

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  • Exhumations to resume; Bid to ID Tulsa Race Massacre victims

    Exhumations to resume; Bid to ID Tulsa Race Massacre victims

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    Some of the 19 bodies taken from a Tulsa cemetery and later reburied that could include remains of victims of the 1921 Tulsa Race Massacre will be exhumed again starting Wednesday, part of a bid to gather more DNA for possible identification.

    The latest exhumation of bodies, some of which were taken last year from Oaklawn Cemetery in the northeastern Oklahoma city will be followed by another excavation for additional remains.

    “There were 14 of the 19 (bodies) that fit the criteria for further DNA analysis,” according to city spokesperson Michelle Brooks. “These are the ones that will be re-exhumed.”

    The 14 sets of remains were sent to Intermountain Forensics in Salt Lake City, Utah, in an attempt to identify them. Brooks said two sets have enough DNA recovered to begin sequencing.

    It wasn’t immediately clear how many of the 14 will be exhumed a second time, Brooks said.

    The remains will be reburied at Oaklawn, where the previous reburial drew protests from about two dozen people who said they are descendants of massacre victims and should have been allowed to attend the ceremony, which was closed to the public.

    Intermountain Forensics is seeking people who believe they are descendants of massacre victims to provide genetic material to help scientists when they begin trying to identify remains of possible victims.

    The exhumations will be followed by another search for bodies in an area south and west of the areas previously excavated in 2020 and 2021.

    None of the remains recovered thus far are confirmed as victims of the massacre in which more than 1,000 homes were burned, hundreds were looted and a thriving business district known as Black Wall Street was destroyed.

    Historians who have studied the event estimate the death toll to be between 75 and 300.

    Victims were never compensated, however a pending lawsuit seeks reparations for the three remaining known survivors of the violence.

    The latest search is expected to end by Nov. 18.

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  • Ohio shooter of 5 family members claims he ‘had no choice’

    Ohio shooter of 5 family members claims he ‘had no choice’

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    WAVERLY, Ohio — An Ohio man convicted of shooting five of eight family members killed in a 2016 massacre testified Monday he had no choice but to kill the mother of his child.

    Jake Wagner pleaded guilty last year to shooting the five victims, an attack that investigators said resulted from a custody dispute between two families.

    As part of his plea deal, Jake Wagner had agreed to testify against his older brother, George Wagner IV, in exchange for being spared the death penalty.

    George Wagner IV, whose trial has entered its eighth week in Pike County court, faces the death penalty if he’s convicted in the slayings of the Rhoden family near Piketon. George Wagner is the first person to go on trial for the killings.

    Jake and George’s mother, Angela Wagner, also has pleaded guilty to helping plan the slayings, and is expected to testify. Jake and George’s father, George “Billy” Wagner III, has pleaded not guilty. He likely won’t go on trial until next year. The four members of the Wagner family were not arrested until more than two years after the slayings.

    Special prosecutor Angela Canepa has not accused George Wagner, 31, of shooting anyone in April 2016, but she said he took part in planning, carrying out and covering up “one of the most heinous crimes in Ohio history.”

    The two families had been close for years, but Canepa described the Wagners as being obsessed with gaining control over the child that Jake Wagner had with Hanna Rhoden.

    The Wagner family had pressured Hanna Rhoden to sign away custody of the 3-year-old girl, but Hanna vowed in a Facebook message sent four months before the massacre that “they will have to kill me first,” Canepa has said.

    Jake Wagner, who said he feared his daughter might suffer abuse, testified Monday that Hanna Rhoden’s comment was his “tipping point” when he decided Hanna, 19, had to die.

    George Wagner was with his brother and his father when they drove to three separate locations where all eight victims were killed, went inside with the pair and helped his brother move two of the bodies, Canepa said previously.

    Jake Wagner testified Monday that that was the tipping point that led him to conclude he had to kill Hanna, who was 19 at the time of her death. He said the other intended victims were Hanna’s brothers Frankie and Chris Rhoden and their father, Chris Rhoden Sr. The other four victims were killed because they could have been witnesses, Jake Wagner testified.

    Jake Wagner also testified that George Wagner was supposed to kill Chris Rhoden Sr. but didn’t fire, so Jake Wagner shot Rhoden himself.

    Defense attorney Richard Nash has said George Wagner is not like the rest of his family and had nothing to do with the killings.

    The Wagners spent three months planning the massacre, buying masks, ammunition and a device to jam phone signals, Canepa said. The two brothers even dyed their hair in the week leading up to the killings, she said.

    Several discoveries, Canepa said, led investigators to the Wagners including a shell casing found outside the Wagner’s home that matched one from a gun that killed five of the victims.

    Those killed were 40-year-old Christopher Rhoden Sr.; his ex-wife, 37-year-old Dana Rhoden; their three children, 20-year-old Clarence “Frankie” Rhoden, 16-year-old Christopher Jr., and Hanna; Clarence Rhoden’s fiancee, 20-year-old Hannah Gilley; Christopher Rhoden Sr.’s brother, 44-year-old Kenneth Rhoden; and a cousin, 38-year-old Gary Rhoden.

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  • Families bid farewell as Thai massacre victims are cremated

    Families bid farewell as Thai massacre victims are cremated

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    UTHAI SAWAN, Thailand — Hundreds of mourners and victims’ families gathered Tuesday evening to watch flames burn from rows of makeshift pyres at cremation ceremonies for the young children and others who died in last week’s mass killings at a day care center in Thailand’s rural northeast.

    Families bid their final goodbyes at a Buddhist temple a short distance from the Young Children’s Development Center in the town of Uthai Sawan, where a former policeman, who was fired from his job earlier this year for using drugs, barged in last Thursday and shot and stabbed children and their caregivers.

    The police sergeant, Panya Kamrap, ended up killing 36 people, 24 of them children, in the small farming community before taking his own life. It was the biggest mass killing by an individual in Thailand’s history.

    Joint ceremonies for most of the victims were held at three temples to spare families from having to wait long hours for successive cremations to be completed, said Phra Kru Adisal Kijjanuwat, the abbot of the Rat Samakee temple.

    A ceremony for 19 of the dead, 18 of them children, was held at his temple. With a large crowd watching, monks slowly walked out of the temple hall, followed by grieving relatives. Each family was led by one monk, with police bearing the coffin behind them.

    After the coffins were placed in each of the small, brick-enclosed funeral pyres, the victims’ relatives came forward in the darkening skies to put portraits of their loved ones on top. Some family members also placed children’s toys alongside.

    A large mesh barrier was set up, separating onlookers from the relatives, monks and royal palace officials tasked with lighting the fires, who began putting paper flowers along the sides of the pyres and dousing them with gasoline. The officials then ushered the family members to take the portraits and toys away, and move several meters (yards) from the coffins where they knelt on mats.

    Buddhist chants played from a speaker system set up behind the relatives, as the officials and monks began lighting the pyres one by one. The coffins were soon engulfed by flames, at times stoked by the officials adding more gasoline. The victims’ relatives sat silently by, hands clasped in prayer.

    “Each one of them watched the cremation with their minds in a state of conscious awareness,” said the abbot. “The support they received from people all around has blessed them, lessened the sorrow they have.”

    On Tuesday morning, many of the young victims’ bodies had been outfitted as doctors, soldiers or astronauts — what they wanted to be when they grew up — before their evening cremation.

    “The more we talked (to the families), we realized that these children also had dreams of becoming doctors, soldiers, astronauts, or police officers,” said volunteer rescue worker Attarith Muangmangkang, whose organization arranged for the costumes.

    Petchrung Sriphirom, 73, was one of many local residents who traveled to the temple to offer condolences to the families and make a small donation to help with funeral costs, which is a common Thai custom.

    “I just want to help our friends and share our thoughts with them,” said Petchrung. “We are not talking about money or anything but rather sharing our thoughts and feelings as a fellow human being,”

    The perpetrator’s body was cremated Saturday in a neighboring province after temples in Uthai Sawan refused to host his funeral, Thai media reported.

    Mass shootings are rare but not unheard of in Thailand, which has one of the highest civilian gun ownership rates in Asia, with 15.1 weapons per 100 people compared to only 0.3 in Singapore and 0.25 in Japan. That’s still far lower than the U.S. rate of 120.5 per 100 people, according to a 2017 survey by Australia’s GunPolicy.org nonprofit organization.

    Thailand’s previous worst mass killing involved a disgruntled soldier who opened fire in and around a mall in the northeastern city of Nakhon Ratchasima in 2020, killing 29 people and holding off security forces for some 16 hours before eventually being killed by them.

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