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Tag: Texas
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Uvalde student pleads for help in newly released 911 call
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Uvalde student pleads for help in newly released 911 call – CBS News
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Uvalde student pleads for help in 911 call during school shooting
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Frantic students, teachers and witnesses at Robb Elementary School in Uvalde, Texas, described the horror as it happened in 911 calls that were obtained by the Texas Tribune and ProPublica, and released with the permission of the families involved. Nineteen students and two teachers were killed in the May 24 shooting.
“He’s inside the school shooting at the kids,” a caller told a 911 dispatcher at 11:33 a.m.
Three minutes later, Monica Martinez, a teacher who was hiding in a closet, told a dispatcher, “there’s somebody banging at my school.”
After the gunman fired off dozens of rounds, and more than one hour after the massacre started, more desperate calls were made from inside the school, including one from 10-year-old Khloie Torres, who begged for help from officers standing on the other side of the wall. Torres survived the attack.
“Can you tell the police to come to my room?” Torres said.
“I already told them to go to the room,” a dispatcher said. “We’re trying to get someone to you.”
Even with hundreds of officers from nearly two dozen agencies on scene, the lack of coordinated communication was clear. A dispatcher incorrectly stated that Pete Arredondo, the Uvalde school district police chief at the time of the shooting, was in the room with the shooter.
“Just be advised 401 is in the room with the shooter,” the dispatcher said, using Arredondo’s call sign. “401 is in the room with the shooter.”
Last week, Texas Department of Public Safety Director Steven McCraw defended his agency’s response to the massacre.
“I can tell you this right now — DPS as an institution right now, did not fail the community, plain and simple,” he said at a public safety commission hearing in Austin.
Javier Cazares, the father of Jackie Cazares, who was killed in the massacre, still wants justice.
“Should he (Steven McCraw) resign? Yes,” Cazares said. “But I believe we should finish this investigation. You know he can’t get off that easy.”
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Kansas ex-undersheriff not guilty in fatal beanbag shooting
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KANSAS CITY, Kan. — A former Kansas undersheriff was acquitted Wednesday in the death of an unarmed man he shot with a defective beanbag round five years ago.
Virgil Brewer was charged with involuntary manslaughter after he shot Steven Myers using his personal shotgun on the evening of Oct. 6, 2017, in Sun City, a rural area about 300 miles (555 kilometers) from Kansas City, Kansas.
A Wyandotte County jury deliberated for four hours after a weeklong trial before returning the not-guilty verdict.
It was unclear if Brewer, who has been on unpaid leave from the Barber County Sheriff’s department since his 2018 arrest, would return to his former role.
Brewer and two other officers responded to a call about an armed man on a street after an altercation at a Sun City bar. Myers, who was drunk and had been told to leave the bar, was gone by the time officers arrived. They found him in a shed at a Sun City home. He came out of the shed and Brewer shot him at close range with a beanbag, which split open and emptied pellets into his chest, causing fatal injuries.
Medical Examiner Timothy Gorrill ruled Myers’ death a homicide.
During closing arguments Wednesday, assistant attorney general Melissa Johnson said the trial came down to whether Brewer acted recklessly when he shot Myers even though he had no training with beanbag ammunition and had been warned to test it before using it.
She said Brewer showed “willful ignorance” by not undergoing training, leading him to shoot a round too close toward the wrong part of the body and with no idea of the damage it would cause.
“(Brewer) argues that he was not trained so he’s not responsible for what happened,” Johnson said. “That’s not a reasonable argument for anyone to make.”
Defense attorney David Harger countered that prosecutors didn’t meet their burden to prove beyond a reasonable doubt that Brewer’s actions were reckless when he made a split-second decision in a tense and evolving confrontation.
An expert testified at trial that the beanbag round was defective and should never have been sold or distributed, Harger said.
“(Myers’ death) was not from a defective decision,” Harger said. “It resulted from a defective round of ammunition.”
Harger said Brewer was carrying his own weapon because the department couldn’t afford to fully arm all its officers.
Harger said Myers left the shed and walked toward the officers, angrily swearing at them, and made a threatening gesture. Johnson said video from another deputy’s body camera showed Myers was not moving toward the officers and that he complied with their demands before the fatal shot.
Brewer told the Kansas Bureau of Investigation in an interview that Myers was not armed when they confronted him and other officers testified they did not see a weapon. Brewer did not testify at trial.
According to the probable cause affidavit, Brewer told the KBI that he feared for his life and those of his fellow officers when Myers approached them. He also said he did not expect the beanbag round to penetrate Myers’ chest.
Brewer had previously worked as a deputy in Texas. Travis Martin, the deputy at the Freestone County Sheriff’s Office in Texas who gave Brewer the ammunition, testified that he told Brewer to test the ammunition before using it. But the first time Brewer tried it was when he shot Myers, Johnson said.
Proper training would have taught Brewer that rectangular-shaped beanbags can penetrate their targets and that their use has been discontinued for years, according to Bureau Agent Brian Carroll in an affidavit in support of the criminal charge against Brewer. The rounds used today are rounded, balloon-shaped bean bags.
Harger noted that Kansas does not require law enforcement to train to use beanbag ammunition and that training was not economically feasible at the small sheriff’s department.
A civil lawsuit brought by Myers’ family against Brewer and then-Barber County Sheriff Lonnie Small was settled in 2020 after county officials agreed to pay $3.5 million.
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Rapper Takeoff died from gunshot wounds to head and torso, autopsy finds
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An autopsy has determined that rapper Takeoff died from gunshot wounds to the head and torso following a shooting early Tuesday morning outside a private party at a downtown Houston bowling alley, authorities said Wednesday.
The announcement — following an autopsy by the Harris County Institute of Forensic Sciences — comes as police are still seeking the public’s help in tracking down the person or persons responsible for the rapper’s death.
Takeoff’s primary cause of death was listed as “penetrating gunshot wounds of head and torso into arm,” and his manner of death was called homicide.
Takeoff, whose off-stage name was Kirsnick Khari Ball, formed one-third of the Grammy Award-nominated rap trio Migos with uncle Quavo and cousin Offset from suburban Atlanta.
The 28-year-old rapper was killed around 2:30 a.m. Tuesday when gunfire erupted outside of 810 Billiards & Bowling following a private party.
Investigators are looking to speak with the 40 people who attended the party and fled after the gunfire, Houston Police Chief Troy Finner said in a news briefing Tuesday.
At least two people discharged firearms, according to Finner. Two others were hit by gunfire but had non-life-threatening wounds and went to hospitals in private vehicles, he said.
Finner said Takeoff was “well respected,” and there was “no reason to believe he was involved in anything criminal at the time.”
Migos’ record label, Quality Control, mourned Takeoff’s death in a statement posted on Instagram. The statement said senseless violence “has taken another life from this world and we are devastated.”
The bowling alley is in a three-story Houston retail complex with high-end restaurants and a House of Blues, and is near a Four Seasons hotel.
Fans had created a memorial with roses, candles and a teddy bear on the first floor of the retail complex.
Takeoff’s killing came as Houston was in the spotlight, with the Astros baseball team mounting the most-viewed World Series run since 2019. Also, crime has emerged as a major political issue in this year’s midterm elections.
In Houston, the mayor and police chief acknowledged such concerns while noting some violent crime rates are down from last year. Finner said he wants to meet with other hip-hop artists to talk about violence, although he did not say Takeoff’s killing had anything to do with his work in music.
Migos first broke through with the massive hit “Versace” in 2013. They had four Top 10 hits on the Billboard Hot 100, though Takeoff was not on their multi-week No. 1 hit “Bad and Boujee,” featuring Lil Uzi Vert. They put out a trilogy of albums called “Culture,” “Culture II” and “Culture III,” with the first two hitting No. 1 on the Billboard 200 album chart.
Offset, who is married to Cardi B, released a solo album in 2019, while Takeoff and Quavo released the joint album “Only Built for Infinity Links” last month.
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Houston police still searching for suspects in killing of Migos rapper Takeoff:
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Police said they have few leads in the fatal shooting of rapper Takeoff outside a private party at a downtown Houston bowling alley.
Takeoff, whose off-stage name was Kirsnick Khari Ball, formed one-third of the Grammy Award-nominated trio Migos with uncle Quavo and cousin Offset from suburban Atlanta. The 28-year-old rapper was killed early Tuesday when gunfire erupted and also wounded another man and a woman, according to police Chief Troy Finner.
Photo by Jordan Strauss/Invision/AP File
Most of the 40 people who attended the party at 810 Billiards & Bowling fled when the gunshots rang out, Finner said. That left police asking people to come forward and give statements and videos to investigators on what they saw and heard, even if anonymously, Mayor Sylvester Turner said.
At least two people discharged firearms, according to Finner. The two others who were struck by gunfire had non-life-threatening wounds and went to hospitals in private vehicles, he said.
“Let me just ask … that anyone who has information on the shooter or shooters to provide that information to HPD and let us solve this situation,” Turner said at a news conference Tuesday. “Let us bring justice to this family.”
Finner said Takeoff was “well respected,” and there was “no reason to believe he was involved in anything criminal at the time.”
Migos’ record label, Quality Control, mourned Takeoff’s death in a statement posted on Instragram.
“Senseless violence and a stray bullet has taken another life from this world and we are devastated,” the statement said, though police have said nothing about the gunshot being a stray. “Please respect his family and friends as we all continue to process this monumental loss.”
The bowling alley is in a three-story Houston retail complex with high-end restaurants and a House of Blues, and is near a Four Seasons hotel. Takeoff was pronounced dead at the scene of the 2:30 a.m. shooting. An Associated Press reporter observed a body loaded into a medical examiner’s van around 10 a.m., more than seven hours after the shooting.
Security guards in the area heard the shooting but did not see who did it, a police spokesperson said. A spokesperson for 810 Billiards & Bowling said the shooting took place after the alley closed and said the business is cooperating with investigators.
Several fans gathered across the street from the bowling alley. Isaiah Lopez, 24, said he rushed from his home in the Houston suburb of Humble after hearing Takeoff had been killed.
“He was one of our favorites, mine and my brother’s. It’s all we would listen to,” Lopez said as he carried a dozen roses he hoped to place near the site of the shooting. “As soon as my brother called me and said, ‘Takeoff is gone,’ I had to come over here and pay my respects.”
Thomas Moreno, 30, lives about five minutes from the bowling alley. He said he met Takeoff at an event at a Houston bar and restaurant in June and called him “a real nice guy.”
“I feel it’s just another good person gone too soon,” Moreno said. “This happens every day, but it hurts even more when it’s somebody so talented and so young.”
Photo by Rich Fury/Getty Images for Global Citizen
By late Tuesday afternoon, fans had created a memorial with roses, candles and a teddy bear on the first floor of the retail complex. Yellow crime scene tape still blocked off stairs leading to 810 Billiards & Bowling.
Takeoff’s killing came as Houston was in a spotlight, with the Astros baseball team mounting the most-viewed World Series run since 2019.
Also, crime has emerged as a major political issue in this year’s midterm elections, with many Republicans running on law-and-order platforms while Democrats try to balance public safety with calls for criminal-justice reform.
Homicides nationwide jumped almost 30% in 2020 during the COVID-19 pandemic. Violent crime seemed to level off somewhat in 2021 but did not drop to pre-pandemic levels, according to the latest FBI crime data, though record-keeping changes meant that report did not include some of the nation’s largest police departments.
In Houston, the mayor and police chief acknowledged such concerns while noting that some violent crime rates are down from last year. Finner said he wants to meet with other hip-hop artists to talk about violence, although he didn’t say Takeoff’s killing had anything to do with is work in music.
“We all need to stand together and make sure nobody tears down that industry,” Finner said.
Migos first broke through with the massive hit “Versace” in 2013. They had four Top 10 hits on the Billboard Hot 100, though Takeoff was not on their multi-week No. 1 hit “Bad and Boujee,” featuring Lil Uzi Vert. They put out a trilogy of albums called “Culture,” “Culture II” and “Culture III,” with the first two hitting No. 1 on the Billboard 200 album chart. They also earned an ASCAP Vanguard Award in 2018 for their streaming success with multiplatinum songs like “Motorsport (featuring Cardi B and Nicki Minaj),” “Stir Fry,” and “Walk It Talk It.”
The trio also played a fictional version of themselves on an episode of the hit TV show “Atlanta,” but the group was not currently together.
Offset, who is married to Cardi B, released a solo album in 2019, while Takeoff and Quavo released the joint album “Only Built for Infinity Links” last month. Quavo posted links Monday on his Instagram to his and Takeoff’s Halloween-themed music video, “Messy,” along with a video of him and his friends driving around Houston.
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Houston police seek witnesses to rapper Takeoff’s killing
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HOUSTON — Police said they have few leads in the fatal shooting of rapper Takeoff outside a private party at a downtown Houston bowling alley.
Takeoff, whose off-stage name was Kirsnick Khari Ball, formed one-third of the Grammy Award-nominated trio Migos with uncle Quavo and cousin Offset from suburban Atlanta. The 28-year-old rapper was killed early Tuesday when gunfire erupted and also wounded another man and a woman, according to police Chief Troy Finner.
Most of the 40 people who attended the party at 810 Billiards & Bowling fled when the gunshots rang out, Finner said. That left police asking people to come forward and give statements and videos to investigators on what they saw and heard, even if anonymously, Mayor Sylvester Turner said.
At least two people discharged firearms, according to Finner. The two others who were struck by gunfire had non-life-threatening wounds and went to hospitals in private vehicles, he said.
“Let me just ask … that anyone who has information on the shooter or shooters to provide that information to HPD and let us solve this situation,” Turner said at a news conference Tuesday. “Let us bring justice to this family.”
Finner said Takeoff was “well respected,” and there was “no reason to believe he was involved in anything criminal at the time.”
Migos’ record label, Quality Control, mourned Takeoff’s death in a statement posted on Instragram.
“Senseless violence and a stray bullet has taken another life from this world and we are devastated,” the statement said, though police have said nothing about the gunshot being a stray. “Please respect his family and friends as we all continue to process this monumental loss.”
The bowling alley is in a three-story Houston retail complex with high-end restaurants and a House of Blues and is near a Four Seasons hotel. Takeoff was pronounced dead at the scene of the 2:30 a.m. shooting. An Associated Press reporter observed a body loaded into a medical examiner’s van around 10 a.m., more than seven hours after the shooting.
Security guards in the area heard the shooting but did not see who did it, a police spokesperson said. A spokesperson for 810 Billiards & Bowling said the shooting took place after the alley closed and said the business is cooperating with investigators.
Several fans gathered across the street from the bowling alley. Isaiah Lopez, 24, said he rushed from his home in the Houston suburb of Humble after hearing Takeoff had been killed.
“He was one of our favorites, mine and my brother’s. It’s all we would listen to,” Lopez said as he carried a dozen roses he hoped to place near the site of the shooting. “As soon as my brother called me and said, ‘Takeoff is gone,’ I had to come over here and pay my respects.”
Thomas Moreno, 30, lives about five minutes from the bowling alley. He said he met Takeoff at an event at a Houston bar and restaurant in June and called him “a real nice guy.”
“I feel it’s just another good person gone too soon,” Moreno said. “This happens every day, but it hurts even more when it’s somebody so talented and so young.”
By late Tuesday afternoon, fans had created a memorial with roses, candles and a teddy bear on the first floor of the retail complex. Yellow crime scene tape still blocked off stairs leading to 810 Billiards & Bowling.
Takeoff’s killing came as Houston was in a spotlight, with the Astros baseball team mounting the most-viewed World Series run since 2019.
Also, crime has emerged as a major political issue in this year’s midterm elections, with many Republicans running on law-and-order platforms while Democrats try to balance public safety with calls for criminal-justice reform.
Homicides nationwide jumped almost 30% in 2020 during the COVID-19 pandemic. Violent crime seemed to level off somewhat in 2021 but did not drop to pre-pandemic levels, according to the latest FBI crime data, though record-keeping changes meant that report did not include some of the nation’s largest police departments.
In Houston, the mayor and police chief acknowledged such concerns while noting that some violent crime rates are down from last year. Finner said he wants to meet with other hip-hop artists to talk about violence, although he didn’t say Takeoff’s killing had anything to do with is work in music.
“We all need to stand together and make sure nobody tears down that industry,” Finner said.
Migos first broke through with the massive hit “Versace” in 2013. They had four Top 10 hits on the Billboard Hot 100, though Takeoff was not on their multi-week No. 1 hit “Bad and Boujee,” featuring Lil Uzi Vert. They put out a trilogy of albums called “Culture,” “Culture II” and “Culture III,” with the first two hitting No. 1 on the Billboard 200 album chart. They also earned an ASCAP Vanguard Award in 2018 for their streaming success with multiplatinum songs like “Motorsport (featuring Cardi B and Nicki Minaj),” “Stir Fry,” and “Walk It Talk It.”
The trio also played a fictional version of themselves on an episode of the hit TV show “Atlanta,” but the group was not currently together.
Offset, who is married to Cardi B, released a solo album in 2019, while Takeoff and Quavo released the joint album “Only Built for Infinity Links” last month. Quavo posted links Monday on his Instagram to his and Takeoff’s Halloween-themed music video, “Messy,” along with a video of him and his friends driving around Houston.
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This story has been corrected to show that Takeoff was killed Tuesday, not Friday.
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Landrum reported from Los Angeles. Associated Press writer Jill Bleed in Little Rock, Arkansas, Jake Bleiberg in Dallas and Lindsay Whitehurst in Washington contributed to this report.
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Migos rapper Takeoff killed in Houston shooting
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The rapper Takeoff, of the popular rap trio Migos, was shot and killed after attending a party in Houston, Texas, early Tuesday morning, his attorney and police confirmed. He was 28.
“Along with my firm, I am devastated by the tragic death of Kirshnik Ball, known to his fans as Takeoff,” said Drew Findling, the attorney, in a statement. “Takeoff was not only a brilliant musical artist with unlimited talent but also a uniquely kind and gentle soul. He will be greatly missed now and always.”
Houston Police Chief Troy Finner confirmed during a Tuesday afternoon press conference that Takeoff had been killed in the shooting. He urged any witnesses to come forward with information about what happened.
Richard Shotwell via AP
The shooting occurred around 2:30 a.m. local time at the end of private party that was being held at 810 Billiards and Bowling, police said. Police said that shortly after the party ended, an argument broke out that led to the shooting.
When officers arrived, they found Takeoff dead just outside the entrance to the bowling alley, which is located on the third floor of a larger complex, police said.
Two others, a 23-year-old male and a 24-year-old female, were wounded and hospitalized, according to police. They were able to secure private transportation to the hospital and both suffered injuries that were not considered life-threatening, police said. They remained hospitalized as of Tuesday afternoon, police said.
Jordan Strauss
No suspects are in custody and police did not indicate any had been identified. An investigation into the shooting is underway and still in its early stages, and police have asked the public to report relevant tips as detectives review surveillance footage at the Houston venue along with video and photos from social media and party attendees.
At least two firearms were used in the shooting, according to Finner. About 40 or 50 guests attended the private party, according to police, and investigators believe the shooter or shooters had been in attendance.
Finner said that, while he did not want to speculate, there was no indication that Takeoff had been involved in “anything criminal” at the time of the shooting. Finner could not say whether or not Takeoff was the intended target of the shooting, or how many times he was struck.
Takeoff’s uncle and fellow Migos member, Quavo, 31, also appeared to have been in attendance at the party, but police would not confirm Tuesday afternoon if he was there.
Finner said he had spoken with Takeoff’s mother, who flew in from out of town, prior to the Tuesday afternoon press conference.
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Pepper balls launched at group crossing US-Mexico border
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EL PASO, Texas — U.S. Border Patrol agents launched pepper balls at a group of migrants who crossed the U.S.-Mexico border along the Rio Grande in El Paso after the agency said one person threw a rock at one agent and another was assaulted with a flagpole.
Video captured Monday by the El Paso Times shows Border Patrol agents approaching the group, which included a man holding a very large Venezuelan flag, that had crossed the shallow river.
Border Patrol spokesperson Landon Hutchens said in a statement that as the group of Venezuelan nationals protested along the river, they tried to enter the U.S. illegally.
“One of the protesters assaulted an agent with a flag pole,” Hutchens said. “A second subject threw a rock causing injury to an agent at which time agents responded by initiating crowd control measures.”
Those measures included launching “less-lethal force” pepper balls, he said. He said the crowd then dispersed and returned to Mexico. Hutchens did not give details on the agents’ injuries.
Before the conflict at the river Monday, a group of migrants had marched in Juarez, across the border from El Paso, demanding an opportunity to cross the border, the newspaper reported.
According to a new Biden administration policy that took effect last month, which came in response to a dramatic increase in migration from Venezuela, Venezuelans who walk or swim across the U.S. border will be immediately returned to Mexico.
The Biden administration has agreed to accept up to 24,000 Venezuelan migrants at U.S. airports while Mexico has agreed to take back Venezuelans who come to the U.S. illegally over land.
Roberto Velasco, Mexico’s director for North American affairs, tweeted Monday that the Mexican government had requested information from its U.S. counterparts about the confrontation.
Jonathan Blazer, director of border strategies at the American Civil Liberties Union, called the footage “highly alarming.”
“People seeking asylum on U.S. soil should be screened for protection, not pushed back, especially through use of force,” Blazer said.
According to statistics from Customs and Border Protection, its officials used “less-lethal” force — such as batons, stun guns, tear gas and pepper spray — 338 times in the fiscal year that ended Sept. 30.
Hutchens said the Customs and Border Protection’s Office of Professional responsibility will review Monday’s incident.
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Sentencing hearing set for Parkland school mass murderer
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FORT LAUDERDALE, Fla. — Florida school shooter Nikolas Cruz’s two-day sentencing hearing begins Tuesday with the families of the 17 people he murdered getting their chance after almost five years to address him directly about the devastation he brought to their lives.
After they and the 17 people Cruz wounded get their chance to speak, Circuit Judge Elizabeth Scherer on Wednesday will formally sentence him to life in prison without parole for his Feb. 14, 2018, massacre at Parkland’s Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School. She has no other option as the jury in his recently concluded penalty trial could not unanimously agree that the 24-year-old former Stoneman Douglas student deserved a death sentence.
The families gave highly emotional statements during the trial, but were restricted about what they could tell jurors: They could only describe their loved ones and the toll the killings had on their lives. The wounded could only say what happened to them.
They were barred from addressing Cruz directly or saying anything about him — a violation would have risked a mistrial. And the jurors were told they couldn’t consider the family statements as aggravating factors as they weighed whether Cruz should die.
Now, the grieving and the scarred can speak directly to Cruz, if they choose.
His attorneys say Cruz is not expected to speak. He apologized in court last year after pleading guilty to the murders and attempted murders — but families told reporters they found the apology self-serving and aimed at garnering sympathy.
That plea set the stage for a three-month penalty trial that ended Oct. 13 with the jury voting 9-3 for a death sentence — jurors said those voting for life believed Cruz is mentally ill and should be spared. Under Florida law, a death sentence requires unanimity.
Prosecutors had argued that Cruz planned the shooting for seven months before he slipped into a three-story classroom building, firing 140 shots with an AR-15-style semi-automatic rifle down hallways and into classrooms. He fatally shot some wounded victims after they fell. Cruz said he chose Valentine’s Day so it could never again be celebrated at Stoneman Douglas.
Cruz’s attorneys never questioned the horror he inflicted, but focused on their belief that his birth mother’s heavy drinking during pregnancy left him brain damaged and condemned to a life of erratic and sometimes violent behavior that culminated in the massacre — the deadliest mass shooting to go to trial in U.S. history.
Nine other people in the U.S. who fatally shot at least 17 people died during or immediately after their attacks by suicide or police gunfire. The suspect in the 2019 massacre of 23 at a Walmart in El Paso, Texas, is awaiting trial.
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US federal agents fired pepper ball projectiles at Venezuelan protesters near El Paso after border patrol agent was injured, officials say | CNN
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CNN
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Federal agents shot pepper balls at Venezuelan migrants who were protesting along the Rio Grande River International Boundary near downtown El Paso, Texas, on Monday after an agent was injured, according to US Customs and Border Protection.
The agency issued a statement on the incident after an El Paso Times report included a 15-second video clip showing what appeared to be Border Patrol agents on the banks of the Rio Grande using projectiles to push a crowd – some of whom were holding a Venezuelan flag – back into Mexico.
The incident took place around 12:20 p.m. local time (1:20 p.m. ET) when CBP said “a group of Venezuelan nationals attempted to illegally enter the United States while protesting” along the river.
“One of the protesters assaulted an agent with a flag pole. A second subject threw a rock causing injury to an agent at which time agents responded by initiating crowd control measures,” the CBP statement read, adding that the crowd control measures included “the authorized less-lethal force pepperball launching system.”
“The crowd then dispersed and returned to Mexico. Customs and Border Protection’s Office of Professional responsibility will review the incident,” the statement read.
The actions near the border come amid increasing tension at the US-Mexico border following the Biden administration’s new deal with Mexican authorities that subjects Venezuelans to the Trump-era public health authority known as Title 42, which allows officials to expel migrants into Mexico after they’re apprehended at the border.
Officials say the number of Venezuelans attempting to cross the border has spiked dramatically, nearly quadrupling in the past year. This is due, in part, to poor economic conditions, food shortages and limited access to health care in Venezuela. More than 7 million Venezuelans are now living as refugees or migrants outside their country, matching Ukraine in the number of displaced people and surpassing Syria, according to the United Nations.
In the US, some Venezuelan migrants were separated from family member despite having already lived in the US and began protesting along the border.
Nonprofits working in the El Paso area tell CNN that hundreds of Venezuelan nationals have been camping on the Mexican banks of the Rio Grande and staying in shelters in Ciudad Juarez, Mexico – which is across the border from El Paso.
The American Civil Liberties Union issued a statement condemning the use of projectiles on migrants, calling the incident “highly alarming.”
“This is the latest in a long line of abuses carried out by CBP,” the ACLU tweeted. “Our government’s failed attempts at preventing people from seeking protection in the US lead to death and suffering. The Biden administration must restore a humane process for seeking asylum.”
The Texas Civil Rights Project also issued a statement stating the organization is “appalled and disgusted” by the footage.
“People with the incredible courage to seek a better life deserve to be met with dignity,” the group tweeted. “@CBP and @DHSgov should be advancing humanitarian solutions that meet people with dignity and respect, rather than bullets directed at their backs.”
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Uvalde families demand Texas police chief resign
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Uvalde families demand Texas police chief resign – CBS News
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My Child Brought Home This Horrifying Pamphlet From School. I’m Furious — And You Should Be Too.
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If you’re a woman or a parent or really a human of any stripe in America, there’s a lot to rage about lately. Probably many of us have learned to modulate our anger, because being in a constant state of outrage is detrimental to our health.
Today my rage is crushing and all-consuming and feels like lava coursing through my veins. My 7-year-old brought home a pamphlet from school earlier this week titled “National Child Identification Program.”
She handed it to me with a bewildered look on her face and opened it to show me a page with slots for her fingerprints, one box for each finger. She said she supposed we needed to fill this out.
My mind reeled as I searched for the appropriate reply. I told her we’d look at it later, and she trotted off. And then I opened the pamphlet and saw two simple sketches of a naked, genderless child, labeled “FRONT” and “BACK.”
I choked up as I realized what I was meant to do. I was to label the figure with any birthmarks, moles, scars, or other distinguishing feature on my child, so that her body could be identified, if, for example, her face was blown off by an assault weapon.
As a parent of three kids ― one each in elementary, middle and high school ― I rolled my eyes when our large, urban school district required students carry clear backpacks this school year. I live in Texas and the horror of the Uvalde school shooting was top of mind. I wondered if anyone really believed clear backpacks were making anyone safer. I breathed a sigh of relief that my youngest didn’t understand why the clear backpack edict was made.
There are a thousand ways for parents to meet this moment with young kids. I suppose we’re embracing willful ignorance for our 7-year-old. She didn’t comprehend this pamphlet or what it meant, any more than she comprehended the clear backpacks. She has a vague understanding of bad guys sometimes doing bad things in the world, even at schools. I can’t find the words to explain why the adults around her won’t do simple things to keep her safe at school. It’s disgraceful and I’m ashamed of our elected leaders, who refuse to put the lives of small children ahead of a well-financed gun lobby. I cannot summon a rational explanation, even on a second-grade level, for the current state of affairs.
The pamphlet sent to the author by her daughter’s school. Courtesy of Joanna McFarland Owusu
My husband and I can’t shield our teenagers from headlines, and they fully grasp the reason for active shooter drills. The best we can muster in broaching this topic with them is that the grown-ups in our country have failed them. Despite decades of talk about commonsense gun reform, our country has only made modest policy changes around the margins. We tell them that it shouldn’t be this way ― and that it isn’t this way in other countries. Teenagers whose brains aren’t fully developed and can’t yet buy alcohol aren’t able to acquire a gun license in other countries. Guns, and specifically assault weapons, aren’t easily accessible in other countries, and gun deaths in other countries are a fraction of gun deaths in the U.S.
We all seem to maintain some emotional detachment from this topic. I remind them that, statistically, they’re unlikely to experience a shooting at their schools. We tell ourselves this so we can sleep at night.
So, here is my earnest, desperate plea to every person who has a child, or knows a child, or believes children have a right to exist to carry on the human race ― future payers into the Social Security system, if nothing more.
If you live in Texas like me, or any other state, for that matter, where far-right Republicans have made a mockery of your child’s safety, vote for the candidate with a reasonable stance on gun rights. No one’s coming for your hunting rifles. Vote for a return to some semblance of sanity on the topic of gun control (among others).
Because I refuse to believe or accept that clear backpacks and active shooter drills and law enforcement programs to help identify children’s disfigured or dismembered bodies are really the best we can do ― the best we can offer our kids.
My rage knows no bounds, and I’ll carry it with me to the ballot box.
Joanna McFarland Owusu is a writer and editor based in Dallas. Joanna was a federal government analyst in a former life, and is a longtime policy stan and news junkie. When she isn’t reading the news or writing, Joanna spends most of her time Uber-momming two teenage sons and an elementary-aged daughter around town.
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CBS Evening News, October 27, 2022
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CBS Evening News, October 27, 2022 – CBS News
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Uvalde families demand resignation of DPS chief: “We’re not waiting any longer”
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Angry families of Uvalde school shooting victims demanded the resignation of Texas Department of Public Safety Director Steven McCraw on Thursday during their first face-to-face confrontation with him. Nineteen students and two teachers died in the May 24 shooting at Robb Elementary School.
“If you’re a man of your word, you’ll resign,” Brett Cross, whose son Uziyah Garcia died in the shooting, said at a public safety commission hearing in Austin. “We’re not waiting any longer.”
McCraw, who is in charge of dozens of state troopers who responded to the shooting, previously said he would step down if any of his officers had culpability in the botched response to the massacre. One trooper, Juan Maldonado, was fired last week for his inaction, and others are under investigation.
But at Thursday’s hearing, McCraw was defiant in his first public comments since June.
“I can tell you this right now — DPS as an institution right now, did not fail the community, plain and simple.”
Michael M Santiago/GettyImages/Getty Images
In the days after the massacre, he blamed local police, although DPS had 91 officers at the scene. McCraw said Thursday the DPS investigation is ongoing and will be presented to the Uvalde County district attorney at year’s end.
Family members say the continued lack of information and accountability from DPS five months after the shooting makes them feel like they are being victimized all over again. Jesse Rizzo, the uncle of shooting victim Jackie Cazares, blamed McCraw for what he called continued misinformation tearing the community apart.
“Our town is divided,” Rizzo said. “Our teachers feel betrayed.”
Earlier this month, the entire police department for the Uvalde Consolidated Independent School District (UCISD) was suspended as it faces multiple investigations.
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Man who sold gun used in Texas synagogue standoff sentenced to 95 months in prison | CNN
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CNN
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The man who sold a pistol to a gunman who used it to hold four people hostage at a Colleyville, Texas, synagogue in an 11-hour standoff in January has been sentenced to 95 months in prison, the US attorney for the Northern District of Texas announced.
Henry “Michael” Dwight Williams, who had been indicted in February, pleaded guilty to being a felon in possession of a firearm in June. He was sentenced by Chief US District Judge David Godbey to seven years and 11 months in federal prison on Monday, court records show. CNN has reached out to Williams’ attorney, Suzy Vanegas, for comment.
On January 15, FBI agents recovered a pistol from the Congregation Beth Israel synagogue, where Malik Faisal Akram, a British national, had held four people hostage before he was fatally shot by federal law enforcement agents, a criminal complaint states.
Williams, who had previously been convicted of aggravated assault with a deadly weapon, sold the semi-automatic Taurus G2C pistol to Akram on January 13, according to the complaint.
The FBI tied Williams to Akram through cell phone records. When agents first interviewed Williams on January 16, he told them that he remembered meeting a man with a British accent, but that he couldn’t recall the man’s name, according to the release from the US attorney’s office.
Agents reinterviewed Williams on January 24, after he was arrested on an outstanding state warrant. Williams then confirmed he sold Akram the handgun at an intersection in South Dallas. “This defendant, a convicted felon, had no business carrying – much less buying and selling – firearms,” US Attorney Chad Meacham said.
“We are grateful to the FBI, which sprang into action as soon as the synagogue hostage crisis began, and to the agents who worked tirelessly to track the weapon from Mr. Akram to the defendant.”
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Texas teen charged in killing of mother found in trunk
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Authorities say a Texas teen charged with killing his mother, whose body was found in the trunk of a car he crashed in Nebraska, has been released from the hospital and faces a hearing to be sent back to his home state
GRAND ISLAND, Neb. — A Texas teen charged with killing his mother, whose body was found in the trunk of a car he crashed in Nebraska, has been released from the hospital and faces a hearing to be sent back to his home state, authorities said Tuesday.
Tyler Roenz, 17, was discharged from a Nebraska hospital last week and is being held in Hall County, where he faces an extradition hearing on Friday, the Nebraska State Patrol said in a news release.
The teen has been charged as an adult with murder in Texas in the death of his mother, 49-year-old Michelle Roenz, according to Harris County, Texas, Sheriff’s Deputy Thomas Gilliland. The two were reported missing from their home in Harris County on Oct. 13 by the teen’s father.
The next day, Michelle Roenz’s body was found in the trunk of car that her son crashed during a police chase in southern Nebraska, authorities said. Investigators have said Michelle Roenz died from strangulation and blunt force trauma.
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10-year-old boy playing with shotgun shoots and kills younger brother, Texas officials say
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A 10-year-old boy was playing with a shotgun when it discharged, killing his younger brother, authorities in Houston, Texas, said on Monday.
Harris County Sheriff Ed Gonzalez said at a press conference that they responded to an “awful incident” inside a Houston apartment complex, where they found an 8-year-old boy who had been shot in the upper torso. His older brother had been playing with a shotgun in the apartment’s only bedroom when it discharged just after 3 p.m. on Monday, the sheriff’s office said in a statement.
The 8-year-old was pronounced dead at the scene.
The siblings’ 13-year-old brother was also in the apartment at the time of the shooting but was not injured, Gonzalez said. The three brothers were alone at the time of the incident.
The sheriff did not rule out possible charges, but said the investigation into the incident is ongoing.
He stressed the importance of responsible gun ownership.
“We’ve talked in the past about the importance of safe storage, of securing weapons, responsible gun ownership,” Gonzalez said. “This appears to be a tragic situation of what could happen when that doesn’t occur.”
It is not clear who owned the shotgun.
The sheriff also offered his condolences to the family.
“We know they’re extremely devastated by what was occurred out here this afternoon,” he said during the press conference.
The incident is part of a growing trend of tragic shootings in the U.S involving children.
According to data analyzed by advocacy group Everytown for Gun Safety, there have been at least 232 unintentional shootings by children in the U.S., resulting in 102 deaths and 142 injuries, in 2022.
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Pair receives life for killing US consulate worker, 2 others
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EL PASO, Texas — Three gunmen with the Barrio Azteca gang were sentenced to life imprisonment Monday for killing a U.S. consulate worker, her husband and the husband of another consulate worker in Ciudad Juarez, Mexico, officials said.
The three had all been found guilty by a federal jury in February of the fatal March 2010 shootings of consulate worker Lesley Enriquez, her husband Arthur Redelfs, an El Paso County jailer, and Jorge Salcido Ceniceros. All three were sentenced Monday in El Paso, according to a U.S. Attorney’s Office statement.
The victims were returning home from a children’s birthday party when they were mistakenly targeted and killed.
Trial evidence showed that Jose Guadalupe Diaz Diaz and Martin Artin Perez Marrufo, both of Chihuahua, Mexico, served as the hit team that killed the three on March 13, 2010, after being mistaken for members of a rival gang, according to the U.S. Attorney’s office statement.
According to the same statement, “Barrio Azteca is a transnational criminal organization engaged in, among other things, money laundering, racketeering, and drug-related activities in El Paso, Texas, among other places.”
The gang joined with other drug gangs to battle the Sinaloa Cartel, at the time headed by Joaquín ‘Chapo’ Guzman, and its allies for control of the drug trafficking routes through Juarez, according to the statement.
The drug routes through Juarez, which is situated across the border from El Paso, are important to drug trafficking organizations because it is a principal illicit drug trafficking route into the United States, federal officials said.
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Police: 2 men suspected in Florida shooting caught in Texas
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TAMPA, Fla. — Two suspects in a shooting outside a Florida bar that left one person dead and six wounded earlier this month were arrested Monday in Texas, officials said.
The U.S. Marshal’s Office Fugitive Task Force arrested the two men, Josue Clavel, 22, and Damaso Bravo, 32, in Brownsville, Texas, according to a Tampa police news release.
The men had been hiding at a hotel with their girlfriends, officials said, adding the group had $20,000 in cash.
“I cannot stress enough how members of the Tampa Police Department have worked tirelessly around the clock to find those responsible and bring justice to these victims,” Chief Mary O’Connor said.
In the early morning hours of Oct. 9, Clavel and Bravo got into a fight with several people at the LIT Cigar and Martini Lounge in downtown Tampa, police said. The fight moved outside, and Clavel and Bravo fired multiple shots, striking seven people and killing one, a 30-year-old man visiting from California for a wedding, officials said.
Tampa police detectives also identified Clavel and Bravo as members of the Latin Kings gang. Florida officials said they are working with authorities in Texas to have the men extradited back to Tampa.
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