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Tag: Violence

  • Israeli airstrike in northern West Bank kills 5, who army says were planning attack

    Israeli airstrike in northern West Bank kills 5, who army says were planning attack

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    ZEITA, West Bank — An Israeli airstrike on a vehicle in the occupied West Bank killed five Palestinians, according to Israel’s army and Palestinian health authorities, as violence flares in the Israeli-occupied territory.

    The Israeli army said its forces struck a vehicle carrying five militants in a rural area northwest of the city of Tulkarem in the northern West Bank early Saturday morning, as the occupants were on their way to carry out an attack. The Health Ministry later confirmed that five men were killed in the strike and were taken to nearby Tulkarem hospital

    According to an Associated Press journalist and witnesses, the blast took place along a road connecting the Palestinian villages of Zeita and Qaffin.

    “I was going to work in the morning and I heard an explosion here next to the house,” said Taiser Abdullah, a Zeita resident.

    The official Palestinian news agency Wafa said four of the bodies were “burned and charred beyond recognition” from the blast.

    Over 590 Palestinians have been killed by Israeli fire in the West Bank since the Israel-Hamas war erupted in Gaza in October, according to the Palestinian Health Ministry, which tracks the deaths. Most have been killed during Israeli raids and violent protests, but the dead also include bystanders and Palestinians killed in attacks by Jewish settlers.

    The northern West Bank has seen some of the territory’s worst violence over the past 10 months. Tulkarem, and its two refugee camps, has become one of the territory’s main flashpoints, and is regularly raided by Israeli forces. Palestinian militant groups, including Hamas and Palestinian Islamic Jihad, are active in the city.

    The strike came just days after the consecutive assassinations of Hamas leader Ismail Haniyeh in Tehran early Wednesday, and top Hezbollah commander Fuad Shukr in Beirut the evening before, escalations that threaten to plunge the region into a full-fledged regional war. Iran and its proxies, including Hezbollah, vowed to retaliate. Major airlines canceled flights to Tel Aviv, Israel, and Beirut, Lebanon.

    While Israel has said it is responsible for the killing of Shukr, it has not confirmed or denied a role in the targeted killing of Haniyeh.

    The Pentagon announced late Friday that the U.S. military will move a fighter jet squadron to the Middle East and maintain an aircraft carrier in the region. The previous day, President Joe Biden said he had urged Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu to seize the chance for a cease-fire with Hamas, adding that Haniyeh’s killing in Iran had “not helped” efforts to negotiate an end to the war.

    At least 39,480 Palestinians have been killed in Gaza in the nearly 10 months since Hamas’ brutal Oct. 7 attack on Israel triggered the latest Israel-Hamas war. The Palestinian health authorities that provide the casualty tolls do not differentiate between civilians and combatants.

    ——

    Jeffery reported from Ramallah, West Bank.

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  • Justice Dept. says it’s committed to sharing info about foreign election threats with tech companies

    Justice Dept. says it’s committed to sharing info about foreign election threats with tech companies

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    WASHINGTON — The Justice Department remains committed to sharing with social media companies information that it picks up about efforts by foreign governments to influence this year’s elections, Deputy Attorney General Lisa Monaco told a lawyers’ conference on Friday.

    Speaking at the American Bar Association’s annual meeting, Monaco, the department’s No. 2 official, said that though it’s ultimately up to technology companies to decide what if any action to take, “We will provide companies with actionable intelligence so they can make decisions regarding abuse on their platforms by adversaries conducting foreign malign influence operations, including targeting our elections.”

    The comments were part of a wide-ranging speech on election security in which Monaco also warned that Russia remains the primary foreign threat to elections, with Moscow targeting specific voting demographics and using encrypted direct-messaging apps to reach Americans, and sound an alarm about a rising threat of violence to public officials — including election workers.

    The Justice Department in the last two years has prosecuted nearly 700 threat cases, more than half of which involved public officials.

    “These threats are unacceptable. No one — no one — should endure threats of violence simply for doing their job,” Monaco said. “For the right to vote to be real for every American, election workers — who are often, after all, volunteers — must be able to do their jobs free from improper influence, physical threats, or any other conduct designed to intimidate.”

    The speech was given at the ABA’s Democracy Summit in Chicago, with Monaco reminding the audience of lawyers of their obligation to uphold the rule of law and promote faith in election integrity.

    “Our republic depends on the operation of a free and fair electoral process — with results that are respected and with elections that are free from violence and free from foreign interference,” Monaco said.

    Monaco’s remarks come weeks after a Supreme Court ruling that permitted the federal government to interact with social media companies, with the justices ruling against Republican-led states who claimed federal officials leaned on the platforms to unconstitutionally squelch conservative points of view. The court said the states and other parties did not have the legal right, or standing, to sue.

    The department this week also made public for the first time a series of procedures the FBI uses for deciding when to share information with social media companies about threats to their platforms. That step was encouraged in a recent report by the Justice Department inspector general.

    “As we carry out this work, we will continue to keep the public updated not only about why we are doing it but also how” Monaco said.

    Under the procedures, the FBI may be in touch with companies when it identifies activities on a platform being conducted by, or on behalf of, a foreign government to support an influence operation or if there are specific and credible facts showing the activity can be attributed to a foreign government.

    The procedures state that the FBI must make clear that it is not asking the social media company to take any action and that the company is under no obligation to do so.

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  • Minutes after Trump shooting, misinformation started flying. Here are the facts

    Minutes after Trump shooting, misinformation started flying. Here are the facts

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    WASHINGTON (AP) — Within minutes of the gunfire, the attempted assassination of former President Donald Trump spawned a vast sea of claims — some outlandish, others contradictory — reflecting the frightening uncertainties of the moment as well as America’s fevered, polarized political climate.

    The cloudburst of speculation and conjecture as Americans turned to the internet for news about the shooting is the latest sign of how social media has emerged as a dominant source of information — and misinformation — for many, and a contributor to the distrust and turbulence now driving American politics.

    Mentions of Trump on social media soared up to 17 times the average daily amount in the hours after the shooting, according to PeakMetrics, a cyber firm that tracks online narratives. Many of those mentions were expressions of sympathy for Trump or calls for unity. But many others made unfounded, fantastical claims.

    “We saw things like ‘The Chinese were behind it,’ or ‘ Antifa was behind it,’ or ‘the Biden administration did it.’ We also saw a claim that the RNC was behind it,’” said Paul Bartel, senior intelligence analyst at PeakMetrics. “Everyone is just speculating. No one really knows what’s going on. They go online to try to figure it out.”

    Here’s a look at the claims that surfaced online following the shooting:

    Claims of an inside job or false flag are unsubstantiated

    Many of the more specious claims that surfaced immediately after the shooting sought to blame Trump or his Democratic opponent, President Joe Biden, for the attack.

    Some voices on the left quickly proclaimed the shooting to be a false flag concocted by Trump, while some Trump supporters suggested the Secret Service intentionally failed to protect Trump on the White House’s orders.

    The Secret Service on Sunday pushed back on claims circulating on social media that Trump’s campaign had asked for greater security before Saturday’s rally and was told no.

    “This is absolutely false,” agency spokesman Anthony Guglielmi wrote Sunday on X. “In fact, we added protective resources & technology & capabilities as part of the increased campaign travel tempo.”

    Videos of the shooting were quickly dissected in partisan echo chambers and Trump supporters and detractors looked for evidence to support their beliefs. Videos showing Secret Service agents moving audience members away from Trump before the shooting were offered as evidence that it was an inside job. Images of Trump’s defiantly raised fist were used to make the opposite claim — that the whole event was staged by Trump.

    “How did the USSS allow him to stop and pose for a photo opp if there was real danger??” wrote one user, using the abbreviation for the U.S. Secret Service.

    Social media bots helped amplify the false claims on platforms including Facebook, Instagram, X and TikTok, according to an analysis by the Israeli tech firm Cyabra, which found that a full 45% of the accounts using hashtags like #fakeassassination and #stagedshooting were inauthentic.

    An image created using artificial intelligence — depicting a smiling Trump moments after the shooting — was also making the rounds, Cyabra found.

    Moments like this are ‘cannon fodder’ for extremists

    Conspiracy theories quickly emerged online that misidentified the suspected shooter, blamed other people without evidence and espoused hate speech, including virulent antisemitism.

    “Moments like this are cannon fodder for extremists online, because typically they will react with great confidence to whatever has happened without any real evidence” said Jacob Ware, a research fellow at the Council on Foreign Relations. “People will fall into spirals and will advance their own ideologies and their own conclusions.”

    Before authorities identified the suspect, photos of two different people circulated widely online falsely identifying them as the shooter.

    In all the speculation and conjecture, others were trying to exploit the event financially. On X on Sunday morning, an account named Proud Patriots urged Trump supporters to purchase their assassination-attempt themed merchandise.

    “First they jail him, now they try to end him,” reads the ad for the commemorative Trump Assassination Attempt Trading Card. “Stand Strong & Show Your Support!”

    Republicans cast blame on Biden

    After the shooting, some Republicans blamed Biden for the shooting, arguing sustained criticisms of Trump as a threat to democracy have created a toxic environment. They pointed in particular to a comment Biden made to donors on July 8, saying “it’s time to put Trump in the bullseye.”

    Ware said that comment from Biden was “violent rhetoric” that is “raising the stakes,” especially when combined with Biden’s existential words about the election. But he said it was important not to make conclusions about the shooter’s motive until we know more information. Biden’s remarks were part of a broader approach to turn scrutiny on Trump, with no explicit call to violence.

    Trump’s own incendiary words have been criticized in the past for encouraging violence. His lies about the 2020 election and his call for supporters to “fight like hell” preceded the Jan. 6, 2021, attack on the Capitol, which led to his second impeachment on charges of incitement of insurrection. Trump also mocked the hammer attack that left 80-year-old Paul Pelosi, the husband of the former House speaker, with a fractured skull.

    Surveys find that Americans overwhelmingly reject violence as a way to settle political differences, but overheated rhetoric from candidates and social media can motivate a small minority of people to act, said Sean Westwood, a political scientist who directs the Polarization Research Lab at Dartmouth College.

    Westwood said he worries that Saturday’s shooting could spur others to consider violence as a tactic.

    “There is a real risk that this spirals,” he said. “Even if someone doesn’t personally support violence, if they think the other side does, and they witness an attempted political assassination, there is a real risk that this could lead to escalation.”

    ___

    The Associated Press receives support from several private foundations to enhance its explanatory coverage of elections and democracy. See more about AP’s democracy initiative here. The AP is solely responsible for all content.

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  • Elected officials condemn Trump attack, call for calm

    Elected officials condemn Trump attack, call for calm

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    Massachusetts and New Hampshire officials are condemning political violence and calling for calm after the attempted assassination of former President Donald Trump at a Pennsylvania rally.

    Trump was rushed off the stage Saturday after a bullet grazed his ear in what authorities described as an apparent assassination attempt. One spectator was killed and two others critically injured in the incident, authorities said.

    Federal authorities named Thomas Matthew Crooks, 20, of Bethel Park, Pennsylvania, as the suspect. He was shot and killed by authorities. A motive is not yet known.

    But the attack stoked fears about increasing violence in the nation’s toxic political system ahead of an already divisive presidential election, with Trump locked in a neck-and-neck race for the White House against incumbent Democratic President Joe Biden.

    Massachusetts Gov. Maura Healey condemned the attack, praised law enforcement for its “swift response,” and said she was “relieved” the former president is safe.

    “Political violence has no place in this country, and all Americans must condemn it,” the Democrat said in a statement.

    Senate President Karen Spilka, D-Ashland, and Senate Minority Leader Bruce Tarr, R-Gloucester, issued a joint statement, saying they “grieve for the families affected by Saturday’s tragedy and condemn those who would seek to use violence to further their political goals.”

    “While we may disagree on many things, we are deeply committed to this country’s ideals of settling those disagreements through public participation, debate, and respect for our colleagues regardless of their affiliation,” they said.

    Members of Massachusetts’s all-Democratic congressional delegation also denounced the violence and appealed for calm.

    “It doesn’t matter how much we might disagree in politics, violence is never acceptable,” Rep. Seth Moulton, D-Salem, said in a statement. “This is a polarized time, but we’re stronger when we’re united, not divided.”

    New Hampshire’s political leaders also voiced their outrage and appealed for calm in the November elections.

    “Political violence of any kind is never acceptable,” Sen. Jeanne Shaheen, D-N.H., said in a statement. “I’m appreciative of the quick efforts of law enforcement and hope the former President and anyone else injured today recovers fully.”

    Republican Gov. Chris Sununu echoed those sentiments on social media, saying in a statement that “violence of any form has no place in America” and wishing Trump a “speedy recovery” from his injuries.

    The assassination attempt on Trump was the first instance of a president or presidential candidate being targeted with violence since President Ronald Reagan survived a shooting in 1981.

    Biden used a rare White House address Sunday to condemn violence and pleaded with Americans to cool the political rhetoric ahead of the November elections, citing the attempt on Trump and other recent incidents involving elected officials.

    “A former president was shot. An American citizen was killed while simply exercising his freedom to support the candidate of his choosing. We cannot, we must not go down this road in America,” the Democrat said. “We’ve traveled it before throughout history. Violence has never been the answer.”

    Trump arrived Sunday in Milwaukee for the Republican National Convention, where he is expected to accept his party’s formal nomination in a speech later this week.

    Delegates from the state’s Republican Party, who are expected to attend the four-day convention, issued a statement wishing Trump a speedy recovery, condemning the violence and calling on Americans “to unify as a nation to condemn this horrible incident.”

    “Like every American, we are outraged, horrified and deeply concerned,” MassGOP Chairwoman Amy Carnevale and other party officials said. “Whether Democrat or Republican, despite our differences, we all desire peace and prosperity for our nation.”

    Christian M. Wade covers the Massachusetts Statehouse for North of Boston Media Group’s newspapers and websites. Email him at cwade@cnhinews.com.

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    By Christian M. Wade | Statehouse Reporter

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  • Global leaders condemn Donald Trump’s assassination attempt

    Global leaders condemn Donald Trump’s assassination attempt

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    HONG KONG — Global leaders have expressed concern Sunday over an assassination attempt targeting former U.S. President Donald Trump at a rally in Pennsylvania that left one attendee dead and critically injured two others, with many condemning the violence that shocked the world.

    Trump’s campaign said the presumptive Republican nominee was doing “fine” after being whisked off the stage though the shooting pierced the upper part of his right ear.

    The Secret Service said it killed the suspected shooter who attacked from an elevated position outside the rally venue.

    As heads of state condemned the attack, Russian foreign ministry spokeswoman said American lawmakers should use the money allocated to supply weapons to Ukraine “to finance the American police” so as to “ensure law and order.”

    Albanian Prime Minister Edi Rama said on social media platform X that it was “distressing” to witness Trump being shot while speaking at a rally and to hear an attendee had died.

    “This is a tragedy for the democratic world,” he said.

    Australian Prime Minister Anthony Albanese condemned the attempted assassination as an inexcusable attack on the United States and Australia’s shared democratic values.

    “In Australia, as in the United States, the essence and the purpose of our democracies is that we can express our views, debate our disagreements and resolve our differences peacefully,” Albanese told reporters in the Australian Parliament House.

    Austrian Chancellor Karl Nehammer said on social media platform X that he was appalled by the attempt.

    “Political violence has no place in our society! My thoughts are with all the victims of this attack!” he said.

    Brazil’s President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva said on X that the attack must be “strongly repudiated” by all democracy defenders and dialogue in politics, calling the incident unacceptable.

    Canada’s Prime Minister Justin Trudeau posted on X saying that he was sickened by the shooting and his thoughts were with Trump, those at the event and all Americans.

    “It cannot be overstated — political violence is never acceptable,” he wrote.

    Chinese Foreign Ministry said in a statement that China is concerned about the attack and President Xi Jinping has already extended his regards to Trump.

    Czech Prime Minister Petr Fiala strongly condemned the attack and wished Trump a fast recovery.

    Egyptian President Abdelfattah El Sissi expressed concern and stressed his country’s condemnation of the attack in a statement and said he wished the US election campaigns to be resumed in a peaceful and healthy atmosphere, free of any aspects of terrorism, violence, or hatred,” he said.

    El Salvador’s presidential palace said President Nayib Bukele condemned “the assassination attempt” on Trump.

    “There is no place for violence in a democracy,” the President’s office said in a press release posted on X.

    Estonian Prime Minister Kaja Kallas posted on X saying she was shocked by the shooting and that her thoughts were with the victims. “Political violence in any form has no justification,” she wrote.

    French President Emmanuel Macron sent his wishes to Trump for a prompt recovery. “It is a drama for our democracies. France shares the indignation of the American people,” he posted on X.

    Finnish President Alexander Stubb said on X that the attack shocked him and he was glad to hear that Trump seemed to be doing well. He strongly condemned the assault and any act of political violence.

    German Chancellor Olaf Scholz posted on X saying the attack was “despicable” and such violent acts threaten democracy. “My compassionate thoughts are also with the other people who were hurt in the attack,” he said.

    Hungary’s Prime Minister Viktor Orban said his thoughts and prayers were with Trump “in these dark hours” on X.

    India’s Prime Minister Narendra Modi said on X that he was deeply concerned by “the attack on my friend.”

    “Strongly condemn the incident. Violence has no place in politics and democracies,” he said. “Our thoughts and prayers are with the family of the deceased, those injured and the American people.”

    Masrour Barzani, the prime minister of the Kurdistan region of Iraq, condemned the attack on X “in the strongest terms,” saying his thoughts are with the victims of “this senseless act of terrorism.”

    Israel’s President Isaac Herzog said on X that he condemned “utterly and unequivocally” the attempt on Trump’s life and wished him a fast recovery on behalf of all the Israeli people, adding their thoughts are with the victims and their families.

    Italy’s Premier Giorgia Meloni wished Trump a quick recovery and said in a statement she hoped “the next few months of the election campaign will see dialogue and responsibility prevail over hatred and violence.”

    “We must stand firm against any form of violence that challenges democracy. I pray for former President Trump’s speedy recovery,” Japanese Prime Minister Fumio Kishida said on X.

    Kosovo’s Prime Minister Albin Kurti condemned the assassination attempt on X.

    “Political disagreement in a democracy must always be expressed through peaceful forms of speech and protest, and resolved by free and fair elections.”

    Latvian President Edgars Rinkevics also said on X that he was shocked by the assault, adding that political violence is unacceptable and deplorable.

    Lithuanian President Gitanas Nausėda posted on X saying he was shocked and appalled to learn about the shooting and strongly condemned the act of political violence.

    Mexico’s president Andrés Manuel López Obrador denounced the attack on X and said “violence is irrational and inhumane.”

    Norwegian Prime Minister Jonas Gahr Støre wrote on X that he was saddened by the assault attack, condemning political violence in all its forms.

    Pakistani Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif called the shooting a “shocking development.” He said he condemned all violence in politics and wished the former president a swift recovery and good health.

    Writing on her Telegram channel, Maria Zakharova, spokeswoman for the Russian foreign ministry said American lawmakers should use the money they use to supply weapons to Ukraine “to finance the American police and other services which should ensure law and order within the United States.”

    South Korea’s President Yoon Suk Yeol said on X that he was appalled by “the hideous act” of political violence. He added the people of Korea stand in solidarity with Americans.

    Slovak Prime Minister Robert Fico, who survived an assassination attempt himself in May, condemed the shooting in a Facebook post. He drew direct parallels between the two incidents, suggesting that the attack on Trump was the result of a campaign by his political opponents.

    Swedish Prime Minister Ulf Kristersson said his country condemned “the terrible attack” and his thoughts were with the victims and their families.

    Taiwan’s president Lai Ching-te said his thoughts and prayers are with Trump on X, adding that political violence of any form is never acceptable “in our democracies.”

    Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan condemned the assassination attempt on X, offering his good wishes to Trump, his family and supporters.

    He said he believed “the investigation into the attack will be conducted effectively” so as not to undermine the US elections.

    European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen said she was deeply shocked by the shooting on X, adding political violence has no place in democracy.

    Philippine President Ferdinand Marcos Jr. said on X he was relieved to learn that Trump is fine and condemned the attack.

    “The voice of the people must always remain supreme,” he said

    Also on X, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said he was appalled to learn about the shooting, saying such violence has no justification. He added he was relieved to learn that Trump is safe.

    Zelenskyy extended his wishes for strength to everyone who was horrified by the event.

    U.K. Prime Minister Keir Starmer said on X that he was appalled by the “shocking scenes,” and sent his best wishes to Trump and his family.

    “Political violence in any form has no place in our societies and my thoughts are with all the victims of this attack,” he said.

    Former British Prime Minister Boris Johnson, a close ally of Trump, said it was a “miracle” the former president escaped from the assassination attempt.

    “As we give thanks for his safety we are reminded once again of the tragic fragility of democracy in the face of violence and unreason,” he wrote on X.

    ___

    Associated Press journalists around the world contributed to this report.

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  • Biden says ‘everybody must condemn’ attack on Trump, hopes to speak with ex-president soon

    Biden says ‘everybody must condemn’ attack on Trump, hopes to speak with ex-president soon

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    REHOBOTH BEACH, Del. — President Joe Biden said Saturday that “everybody must condemn” the suspected assassination attempt on former President Donald Trump, adding that he hoped to speak with his 2024 presidential rival soon.

    Addressing the nation about two hours after the shooting, Biden said he was relieved that Trump is reportedly “doing well.” He said he had been unable to reach Trump before his remarks and pledged to update the public later Saturday on whether they speak as well as additional details about the investigation.

    “We cannot allow this to be happening,” Biden said. “The idea that there’s violence in America like this is just unheard of.”

    Biden, speaking without a teleprompter, said he was waiting for additional information before formally calling the attack an attempted assassination on the former president.

    “I have an opinion, but I don’t have any facts,” he told reporters, pledging to provide updates as he learns more.

    Later Saturday, he was set to return to the White House, cutting short a weekend stay in Delaware to monitor the unfolding situation.

    The president delivered remarks from the White House’s emergency briefing room in Rehoboth Beach, Delaware, which is set up whenever the president travels to allow him to deliver remarks to the country in a matter of minutes. He was spending the weekend at his beach home and was at a nearby church for mass when the shooting occurred.

    As he left the church, reporters asked if the president had been briefed about the shooting. Biden turned toward reporters with a serious look on his face but replied simply, “no,” before stepping into his motorcade.

    Biden received an “initial briefing” from aides moments later then convened security officials for a more in-depth update from Kimberly Cheatle, the director of the United States Secret Service, Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas, and White House homeland security adviser Liz Sherwood-Randall.

    Many Republicans quickly blamed the violence on Biden and his allies, arguing that sustained attacks on Trump as a threat to democracy have created a toxic environment. They pointed in particular to a comment Biden made to donors on July 8, saying “it’s time to put Trump in the bullseye.”

    There was no immediate information on the shooter or their motivations.

    The Biden campaign said Saturday that it was pausing all messaging to supporters and working to pull down all of its television ads as quickly as possible in light of the shooting.

    Vice President Kamala Harris said in a statement that she was also briefed, adding that she and her husband “are relieved” that Trump was not seriously inured.

    “We are praying for him, his family, and all those who have been injured and impacted by this senseless shooting,” she said.

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  • Safe States and Partners Oppose Proposed Cuts to Health Funding

    Safe States and Partners Oppose Proposed Cuts to Health Funding

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    Safe States and 164 national, state, and local partners oppose the drastic cuts proposed to health programs by the House Appropriations Committee and call for maintaining investments in injury and violence prevention.


    ATLANTA, July 8, 2024 (Newswire.com)
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    Safe States and 164 medical, public health, non-profit, and research organizations representing the Injury and Violence Prevention Network and allied organizations strongly oppose the proposed $1.8 billion in cuts to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), including zeroing out of funding for the CDC’s National Center for Injury Prevention and Control (NCIPC), and call upon Congress to prioritize health by rejecting the House Labor, Health and Human Services, Education and Related Agencies (Labor-HHS) Appropriations proposed funding bill for fiscal year 2025.

    Injuries and violence remain critical public health threats facing the United States. According to the CDC, in the first half of life, more Americans die from violence and injuries — such as motor vehicle crashes, falls, suicides, homicides, or opioid overdoses — than from any other cause, including cancer, HIV, or the flu. Yet, with support, injuries and violence are predictable and preventable.

    The House Appropriations Subcommittee on Labor-HHS FY 2025 proposed funding measure calls for drastic cuts and restructuring of major health agencies, including a 22 percent cut to the CDC. The proposal would eliminate the CDC’s NCIPC, cutting $761 million in critical programs such as firearm injury and mortality research, suicide prevention, adverse childhood experiences (ACEs) prevention, opioid overdose prevention, and so much more, will devastate communities.

    According to Safe States Executive Director Richard Hamburg, “Investing in public health prevention programs is an essential role of government. While unintentional injuries alone are the leading cause of death for 1-44 year olds, the financial toll of injuries and violence in the US is $4.2 trillion. The return on investment for programs like traumatic brain injury screenings, youth suicide prevention programs, elder fall prevention, and transportation safety is significant.”

    Now is the time to build upon current investments rather than erase progress through deep funding cuts to programs fundamental to creating healthier lives and communities. Robust investment in the CDC and its diverse array of programming is vital to America’s health and well-being. The Injury Center provides distinct primary prevention programming, research, and evaluation that is not duplicative to programs across other agencies, and the proposed cuts would effectively undo decades of progress toward a safe and healthy future. “The proposed evisceration of the CDC’s Injury Center is short-sighted, with real-life consequences,” said Hamburg.

    Formed in 1993, the Safe States Alliance is the only national non-profit organization and professional association comprised of public health injury and violence prevention professionals representing all U.S. states and territories. Safe States’ mission is to strengthen the practice of injury and violence prevention and be the recognized leader and driving force in understanding and preventing injuries and violence, a leading cause of death for ages 1-64 in the U.S.

    Source: Safe States Alliance

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  • Violent holiday weekend sees mass shootings in Michigan, Illinois and Kentucky

    Violent holiday weekend sees mass shootings in Michigan, Illinois and Kentucky

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    CHICAGO — A shooting at a block party in Detroit left two people dead and more than a dozen wounded, capping a violent holiday weekend in the U.S. that also saw mass shootings in Kentucky and Chicago.

    More than 100 people were shot in Chicago, 19 of them fatally, over the long Independence Day weekend, when there is often a spike in violence. One mass shooting Thursday in a neighborhood on Chicago’s South Side, left two women and an 8-year-old boy dead. Two other children were also critically injured.

    “We cannot take our eyes off the ball,” Chicago Police Superintendent Larry Snelling said at a Monday news conference. “We cannot stop thinking about the people who have been victimized by this crime.”

    City officials announced plans for an emergency resource center to open Monday evening for people struggling with trauma, while Mayor Brandon Johnson blamed the pervasive violence on years of disinvestment and poverty, particularly in the city’s Black neighborhoods. Johnson, who took office last year, said Chicago has not received enough federal resources for victims and that he recently renewed a request for help.

    The four-day weekend in Chicago saw a spike in violence compared with the same time period last year when 11 people were killed and more than 60 wounded.

    “We are losing a piece of the soul of Chicago,” Johnson said at the news conference. “We will not let criminal activity ruin and harm our city.”

    In Detroit, two people were fatally shot and at least 19 were injured at a block party on the city’s east side early Sunday, according to authorities. Detroit police planned a news conference Monday to announce new safety strategies for block parties.

    Shootings during the holiday weekend also took place in California and Kentucky, where police say four people were killed and three others wounded in an early morning shooting during a party at a home. The shooting suspect later died after fleeing the home in Florence, Kentucky, and driving into a ditch during a police chase, authorities said. Florence is a city of about 36,000 people located about 12 miles (19 kilometers) south of Cincinnati, Ohio.

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    Callahan reported from Indianapolis.

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  • Transgender girl murdered in western Pa.; man charged in homicide

    Transgender girl murdered in western Pa.; man charged in homicide

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    SHARON, Pa. — A western Pennsylvania man is charged with homicide following the death and dismemberment of a transgender teenager.

    Dashawn Dale Depree Watkins, 29, of Sharon, Pa., was charged Wednesday with murder in the first degree, aggravated assault, abuse of a corpse and tampering with evidence following the death of Pauly Likens.

    Pamela Ladner, director of the Shenango Valley LGBTQIA+ Alliance in Sharon said she has spoken to Likens’ mother, Jennifer, and she confirmed that Likens identified as a transgender girl.

    Likens was murdered June 23 near a canoe launch in downtown Sharon, police said.

    Mercer County District Attorney Peter C. Acker said he does not plan to charge Watkins with a hate crime. Acker said this is one of the worst homicide cases he’s ever seen in his 46 years as a lawyer. 

    “I’ve gotten several questions about whether or not we’re investigating this as a hate crime,” Acker said. “The answer is no because the defendant is an admitted homosexual and the victim was transitioning.”

    Likens was reported missing June 25. Her father said she planned to spend the night at a friend’s house on June 22. About 2:30 a.m. on June 23, Likens posted an image on Snapchat of a dark road and said she was out for a late-night walk to clear her mind and she was not heard from after that.

    On June 25, Hermitage police responded to a report of dismembered human remains at Shenango River Lake. Over the next week, more remains were recovered around the lake.

    Mercer County Coroner John A. Libonati confirmed the remains to be Likens. Upon completion of an autopsy for some of the recovered remains the coroner’s office ruled Likens’ cause of death to be sharp force trauma to the head with the manner of death as homicide. Acker said authorities have not yet all of Likens’ remains.

    Surveillance video from June 23 in the area of the canoe launch shows a vehicle entering and exiting the canoe launch when Likens’ phone last connected with cellular towers in the area. Video images later show the vehicle turning toward the apartment building where Watkins lives. After the vehicle leaves the canoe launch, the victim is not seen leaving the area, police said.

    Police also watched video surveillance from inside Watkins’ apartment complex in the early morning of June 23. The surveillance shows Watkins carrying a large duffle bag out of the apartment just before Likens’ last known phone activity. The video shows Watkins taking this duffle bag with him to make initial contact with Likens on June 23. At that time, the bag appeared to be empty.

    Watkins returns 20 to 25 minutes later carrying the duffle bag, which then appears to be heavy and awkward, into the first floor of the apartment building, police said.

    State troopers detained Watkins on July 2. According to the criminal complaint, Watkins told police he used the Grindr app to arrange a meet-up with someone.

    In the interview, Watkins said he did not previously know the person he met. Watkins explained the bag by telling police that he took a large bag from his car which had been there from a vacation from about a month ago.

    Police executed search warrants on the entryway of 335 Sterling Ave. and of Watkins’ apartment. Preliminary tests indicated that there was blood in the hallway and inside the apartment at multiple locations including the bathroom and under the bathroom flooring. A receipt from June 23 indicated that Watkins purchased a saw with exchangeable blades, which was found in the apartment. 

    A preliminary hearing is scheduled for July 25.

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    By MELISSA KLARIC Sharon Herald Staff Writer

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  • 2 killed and 3 injured in July Fourth attack in California beach city

    2 killed and 3 injured in July Fourth attack in California beach city

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    HUNTINGTON BEACH, Calif. — Two people were killed and three others injured in an attack that broke out during a neighborhood Fourth of July gathering in a Southern California beach city, police said Friday.

    The county coroner removed two bodies Friday morning from the crime scene, which encompassed a grassy median in a residential neighborhood lined with palm trees. The violence was just a few blocks from the beach in a community known as “Surf City USA.”

    A 26-year-old Huntington Beach resident was arrested on suspicion of murder and attempted murder, said city spokeswoman Jennifer Carey. Officials released no further details on the attack Thursday night other than to say it was an “assault with a deadly weapon.” It began less than two hours after the city’s fireworks display ended roughly a mile (1.6 kilometers) away.

    Violence was reported across the country on Thursday. The Fourth of July historically is one of the nation’s deadliest days of the year.

    In the Huntington Beach neighborhood, evidence of a gathering remained, including chairs, a cooler and drink cans on a grassy median near the homes. Remnants of fireworks also littered the street.

    People on bicycles rode up to crime scene tape blocking off the street Friday to ask police and bystanders what happened.

    The district attorney’s office said they had not yet received the case from police but charges could be filed as early as Monday. A spokesperson for the Orange County coroner did not have details Friday about the victims’ fatal wounds. And the mayor did not respond to a request for comment.

    Shootings and other violence during the extended Fourth of July weekend have left at least 18 other people dead, including 11 in Chicago, and injured dozens more nationwide.

    ___

    Dazio and Ding reported from Los Angeles.

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  • Beverly man charged with trafficking cocaine

    Beverly man charged with trafficking cocaine

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    BEVERLY — The execution of a search warrant Wednesday has resulted in the arrest of a 58-year-old Beverly man on charges of drug trafficking.

    On Wednesday evening, members of the Beverly Police Drug Control Unit, with assistance from Salem police and detectives, executed a search warrant at the Beverly home of David Davis, 58, and charged him with trafficking over 100 grams of cocaine.

    A search of Davis’ home and vehicle located approximately 119 grams of cocaine in baggies of various sizes, a digital scale, and $1,033 in cash.

    A Beverly police detective was bitten by a dog while serving the search warrant. He was taken to Beverly hospital for treatment of injuries to his arm.

    Davis was taken into custody at the scene and pleaded not guilty at his arraignment Thursday in Salem District Court. He is being held on $10,000 bond, and a probable cause hearing has been set for July 24 in Salem District Court.

    The search was a result of an ongoing investigation.

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    By Buck Anderson | Staff Writer

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  • UN-backed contingent of foreign police arrives in Haiti as Kenya-led force prepares to face gangs

    UN-backed contingent of foreign police arrives in Haiti as Kenya-led force prepares to face gangs

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    PORT-AU-PRINCE, Haiti — The first U.N.-backed contingent of foreign police arrived in Haiti on Tuesday, nearly two years after the troubled Caribbean country urgently requested help to quell a surge in gang violence.

    A couple hundred police officers from Kenya landed in the capital of Port-au-Prince, whose main international airport reopened in late May after gang violence forced it to close for nearly three months.

    It wasn’t immediately known what the Kenyans’ first assignment would be, but they will face violent gangs that control 80% of Haiti’s capital and have left more than 580,000 people across the country homeless as they pillage neighborhoods in their quest to control more territory. Gangs also have killed several thousand people in recent years.

    The Kenyans’ arrival marks the fourth major foreign military intervention in Haiti. While some Haitians welcome their arrival, others view the force with caution, given that the previous intervention — the U.N.’s 2004-2017 peacekeeping mission — was marred by allegations of sexual assault and the introduction of cholera, which killed nearly 10,000 people.

    Romain Le Cour, senior expert at Global Initiative Against Transnational Organized Crime, called on the international community and government officials to share details including the mission’s rules of engagement and concept of operation.

    “We haven’t heard about a proper strategy about the mission on the ground, what is going to happen vis-a-vis the gangs,” he said. “Is it a static mission? Is it a moving mission? All those details are still missing, and I think it’s about time that there’s actually transparency.”

    Meanwhile, the United Nations Integrated Office in Haiti issued a brief statement welcoming the Kenyans’ arrival: “It is a crucial step in the fight to restore security in the Haitian capital and its surroundings and protect the rights of Haitians.”

    The Kenyans’ deployment comes nearly four months after gangs launched coordinated attacks targeting key government infrastructure in Haiti’s capital and beyond. They seized control of more than two dozen police stations, fired on the main international airport and stormed Haiti’s two biggest prisons, releasing more than 4,000 inmates.

    “We’ve been asking for security for the longest time,” said Orgline Bossicot, a 47-year-old mother of two who sells carrots and charcoal as a wholesale distributor.

    Gang violence has stymied her sales, and she tries to stay out as late as possible before sundown to make up for the losses despite being afraid.

    “You don’t know who’s waiting for you around the corner. We are a target,” she said, adding that she is hopeful about the Kenyan police joining forces with local authorities. “It would be a great step forward for me, for Haiti and for a lot of people.”

    Critics say the coordinated gang attacks that began Feb. 29 could have been prevented if the foreign force had been deployed sooner, but multiple setbacks including a legal challenge filed in Kenya and political upheaval in Haiti delayed its arrival.

    The coordinated attacks achieved their objective: preventing then-Prime Minister Ariel Heny from returning to Haiti. At the time, he was in Kenya to push for the deployment of the force, but he resigned in late April amid the surge in gang violence.

    Since then, a nine-member transitional presidential council was formed. It chose former U.N. official Garry Conille as prime minister May 28 and appointed a new Cabinet in mid-June.

    Despite the new leadership, gang violence has persisted, and experts say it will continue unless the government also addresses the socioeconomic factors that fuel the existence of gangs in a deeply impoverished country with a severely understaffed and under-resourced police department.

    “It’s hard to assess what is going to be the attitude of the gangs vis-a-vis the (mission),” Le Cour said. “It’s probably fair to say there won’t be a homogenous response from the gangs. Some of them might fight. Some of them might want to negotiate and open dialogue with the Haitian government.”

    In a recent video, Jimmy Chérizier, a former elite police officer who now leads a powerful gang federation known as G9 Family and Allies, addressed the new prime minister for the first time.

    “You did not distribute weapons in working-class neighborhoods,” said Chérizier, best known as Barbecue. “Do not play into the hands of traditional politicians and businessmen, who used violence for political and economic ends, and who now want to recover, by force, the weapons they had distributed. The problem that exists today can only be resolved through dialogue.”

    Conille has not commented on the video. On Monday night, he wrote on the social media platform X that he saluted the determination of the Kenyan government and its people to support Haiti “in the fight against the insecurity that is corroding society.”

    “The Government and the Haitian people hope this multinational mission will be the last one that helps it stabilize for the renewal of political personnel and the return to effective democracy,” Conille wrote.

    The U.N. Security Council authorized Kenya to lead the multinational police mission in October 2023, a year after Henry first requested immediate help.

    The use of Kenyan police has been questioned by human rights watchdogs and others who point out the years of allegations against officers of abuses including extrajudicial killings. On Tuesday, police again were accused of shooting protesters in Nairobi.

    The Kenyans will be joined by police from the Bahamas, Bangladesh, Barbados, Benin, Chad and Jamaica for a total of 2,500 officers that will be deployed in phases for an annual cost of some $600 million, according to the U.N. Security Council.

    So far, the U.N.-administered fund for the mission has received only $18 million in contributions from Canada, France and the U.S. The U.S. also has pledged a total of $300 million in support.

    “While gang violence appears to have receded from its peak earlier this year, the country’s security situation remains dire,” the U.N. Security Council said in a June 21 statement.

    More than 2,500 people were killed or injured in the first three months of this year, a more than 50% increase from the same period last year.

    Many Haitians live in fear, including Jannette Oville, a 54-year-old mother of two university-age boys.

    She’s a wholesaler of crops like plantains and green peppers, and gangs have robbed her several times as she travels aboard public buses with her goods.

    “I need security. I need to work. I need the roads to open up so I can provide for my family,” she said, confiding that she tucks money in her armpit or underwear to try to keep it safe.

    “Being a female entrepreneur in Haiti is never easy,” she said. “There’s a lot of risk. But we take a risk to make sure our families are good.”

    The U.N. Security Council also noted that “the acute security situation continues to have severe humanitarian consequences.”

    An estimated 1.6 million Haitians are on the brink of starvation, the highest number recorded since the devastating 2010 earthquake, according to the U.N.

    ___

    Coto reported from San Juan, Puerto Rico.

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  • Officials talk of restricting masks at protests after violence outside L.A. synagogue

    Officials talk of restricting masks at protests after violence outside L.A. synagogue

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    The violent protest Sunday at a synagogue has prompted Mayor Karen Bass to say Los Angeles should consider rules governing demonstrations and the wearing of masks by those protesting.

    Bass on Monday did not offer a proposal but said the city needed to look at the issue — including “the idea of people wearing masks at protests.” A number of pro-Palestinian protesters had their faces covered Sunday.

    The mayor, at an afternoon news conference, also said she was seeking city and state funding for additional security measures at places of worship in the city. Hours after the clashes, she ordered the LAPD to increase patrols in the heavily Jewish Pico-Robertson area where the protest occurred and at religious venues.

    Masks have been a part of many pro-Palestinian and some pro-Israeli protests over the war in Gaza, including on college campuses.

    When a mob attacked a pro-Palestinian camp at UCLA in May, it was difficult to identify suspects because many wore masks that hid their identities. Police said they would use technology that captures facial images and outlines and compares them with other photos on the internet and social media to put names to faces.

    It is unclear how the government could restrict mask use at protests.

    During the 2020 George Floyd protests, some health officials urged demonstrators to wear masks to protect against COVID-19. Although coronavirus cases have fallen dramatically since then, masks can still offer protection, especially to those who have underlying health problems.

    Earlier this month, New York Gov. Kathy Hochul said she was considering a mask ban on the New York subway, saying she was concerned about people with face masks committing antisemitic acts.

    “We will not tolerate individuals using masks to evade responsibility for criminal or threatening behavior,” Hochul told reporters at a news conference. “My team is working on a solution. But on a subway, people should not be able to hide behind a mask to commit crimes.”

    New York Mayor Eric Adams supported the idea, telling reporters that “cowards cover their faces.”

    Some civil liberties advocates opposed the idea.

    “Mask bans were originally developed to squash political protests and, like other laws that criminalize people, they will be selectively enforced — used to arrest, doxx, surveil, and silence people of color and protesters the police disagree with,” Donna Lieberman, executive director of the New York Civil Liberties Union, said in a statement, according to the Associated Press.

    North Carolina has also been talking about a mask ban, citing Gaza war protests. But there has been pushback from some health professionals and people with underlying health problems.

    One North Carolina resident told the Washington Post: “I’ve thought I should wear masks with something printed on it like ‘immune deficient’ or ‘cancer patient.’ But we should not have to do that.”

    A new proposal now includes health exemptions.

    There have been no formal proposals in Los Angeles, and it’s unclear whether the City Council would support the idea.

    But a local Anti-Defamation League official expressed support Monday for a mask restriction. Jeffrey Abrams, the ADL’s Los Angeles regional director, stood on stage alongside Bass at the afternoon news conference and said the city needed to do more to protect the community.

    “Just as Mayor Bass said, we need to look at every available legal tool, as the city attorney looks at existing anti-masking laws in the state of California,” Abrams said.

    The Sunday protest was condemned by top officials including Bass, President Biden and Gov. Gavin Newsom.

    A pro-Palestinian protester gets in a car surrounded by pro-Israeli counterdemonstrators near Adas Torah synagogue Sunday.

    (Zoë Cranfill / Los Angeles Times)

    The protest began Sunday afternoon at the Adas Torah synagogue in the heavily Jewish Pico-Robertson neighborhood but eventually spread into nearby areas over several hours. Fistfights broke out between pro-Palestinian demonstrators — who said they were protesting an event at the synagogue promoting the sale of stolen Palestinian land — and supporters of Israel.

    “Yesterday was abhorrent, and blocking access to a place of worship is absolutely unacceptable,” Bass said Monday. “This violence was designed to stoke fear. It was designed to divide. But hear me loud and clear: It will fail.”

    “Intimidating Jewish congregants is dangerous, unconscionable, antisemitic, and un-American,” the president said in a statement. “Americans have a right to peaceful protest. But blocking access to a house of worship — and engaging in violence — is never acceptable.”

    The law enforcement sources said the event was advertised in Friday’s issue of the Jewish Journal promising to provide information on “housing projects in all the best Anglo neighborhoods in Israel.” “Anglo” is a direct translation from Hebrew meaning “English-speaking.” The ad does not specify where in Israel the real estate is.

    Protest fliers posted on social media said, “Our Land Is Not For Sale,” and condemned “land theft,” according to an Instagram post from the Southern California chapter of the Palestinian Youth Movement, which did not immediately respond to requests for comment Monday.

    Hussam Ayloush, the executive director of the Council on American-Islamic Relations office in Los Angeles, said the site of the demonstration was chosen not because it was in front of a synagogue but because of the event it was hosting.

    The protest “was in response to the blatant violations of both international law and human rights from agencies that seek to make a profit selling brutally stolen Palestinian land as the Israeli government continues its eight-month-long genocidal campaign and ethnic cleansing in Gaza,” he said in a statement.

    “Elected officials and the mainstream media have politicized this incident as religious discrimination as opposed to a human rights issue,” Ayloush added.

    Rabbi Hertzel Illulian, founder of the JEM Community Center in Beverly Hills, arrived at Adas Torah on Sunday to worship during afternoon prayer and was confronted by a group yelling into megaphones. Some synagogue visitors were blocked from going inside, he said.

    “We could not pray well because these people outside were screaming,” he said.

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    Karen Garcia, Richard Winton, Hannah Fry, Nathan Solis

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  • Killer in 1987 Salem murder granted parole

    Killer in 1987 Salem murder granted parole

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    BEVERLY — A man who was serving a life sentence for a 1987 execution-style murder in Salem has been granted parole, despite the objections of the victim’s family and the Essex District Attorney’s office.

    Charles “Chucky” Doucette, who pleaded guilty to the second-degree murder of Raymond Bufalino, was granted parole by the state parole board on May 13.

    Doucette, who is now 64, shot Bufalino twice in the head as they were sitting in Bufalino’s car near Harmony Grove Cemetery on the Salem-Peabody line in 1987. He was also convicted of two violent home invasions while on bail awaiting trial, and was arrested when he was out on parole on two previous occasions.

    In its unanimous decision, the parole board said Doucette “has demonstrated a level of rehabilitation that would make his release compatible with the welfare of society.”

    In testimony before the parole board in March, Bufalino’s wife, Shauna O’Sullivan, pleaded with the board not to release Doucette.

    “With his tendency for violence I fear that he will reoffend,” she said in a video of the hearing. “I would hate to hear of another person having to live through the anguish and emotional turmoil that I went through. I believe he made his choice all those years ago and that he should be held accountable for his crimes.”

    O’Sullivan said her son was 9½ months old at the time his father was murdered.

    “I’m not angry or bitter,” she told the board. “I’m past that now, some 38 years later.

    “I feel I owe it to my husband’s memory to say something.”

    Bufalino’s sister and brother also spoke against giving Doucette parole. In a statement read by a victim service advocate at the parole hearing, Suzanne Maynard and Anthony Bufalino called Doucette a “menace to society and a true threat to society.

    “Look at what happened the first time he got paroled,” they said. “Nothing but trouble. So tell me, since being back in prison has he changed? I doubt it.”

    Essex County Assistant District Attorney Kayla Burns also spoke against parole, saying Doucette has continued to minimize his culpability and deflect blame.

    “He puts the blame on other people being in his life,” Burns said.

    During the hearing, Doucette, who has lived in Beverly and Peabody, said he has changed in his years in prison thanks to counseling and programs on subjects such as domestic violence and anger management.

    “I’ve always been bigger and stronger than most people. I always got my way through intimidation and being a total ass,” he told the parole board. “I’m not that person today. I have children. I have grandchildren. I have great-grandchildren. I don’t want them to make the mistakes I made. I want them to learn from the mistakes I made.”

    Doucette’s mother and sister spoke in favor of his release. His sister, Kim Malick, said Doucette has remained close to her children, who are now in their 20s.

    “He met my oldest daughter when she fit into the palm of his hand in prison,” Malik said. “I would love for him to have the opportunity to come home and see her.”

    Doucette had been granted parole twice previously and was arrested both times — once on a rape charge that was later dropped, and another on a domestic assault charge of which he was acquitted — and sent back to prison.

    In total, Doucette was serving seven life sentences for the murder, two counts of home invasion, two counts of armed robbery, and two counts of stealing by confining or putting a person in fear.

    He was denied parole in his last three attempts before the board granted parole in May.

    According to the board’s decision, Doucette has invested in his rehabilitation, including participating in domestic violence programs and counseling, and working and volunteering in the prison law library. “He has strong vocational skills and work ethic,” the board said.

    Doucette has maintained stable relationships with his family and has been sober since 1990, according to the board.

    He told the board he wanted to get his commercial driving license and move to Texas to be near his family.

    Bufalino, of Salem, worked for Doucette’s father at a Salem gas station and was considering a lawsuit after getting injured while working. Doucette was also angry that Bufalino owed him money, according to the parole board’s statement of the case.

    While seated together in Bufalino’s car, Doucette shot him once behind the right ear and once in the mouth. Bufalino’s body was found by his wife, who had gone to search for him. He was 30 years old.

    At the hearing, Doucette apologized to Bufalino’s family. At one point he broke down crying when he said that his own daughter no longer talks to him.

    “I know how bad it hurt me with my own daughter not being part of my life,” Doucette said. “I can’t put into words what I must have cost Ray’s family and his son especially.”

    After gaining parole, Doucette was scheduled to be released to a long-term residential program. Conditions included a 10 p.m. curfew, electronic monitoring at the parole officer’s discretion, a substance abuse treatment plan, domestic violence counseling, counseling for intimate partner/co-dependence relations, and no contact with the victim’s family.

    Staff Writer Paul Leighton can be reached at 978-338-2535, by email at pleighton@salemnews.com, or on Twitter at @heardinbeverly.

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    By Paul Leighton | Staff Writer

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  • Brickbat: Pressure Built Up

    Brickbat: Pressure Built Up

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    In 2022, San Francisco fireman Robert Muhammad used a work computer to find fellow firefighter Gabriel Shin’s home address. Muhammad had earlier threatened Shin for refusing to reveal who was talking about Muhammad’s personal business at work. Muhammad took a hydrant wrench to Shin’s house and, finding him outside, began repeatedly swinging the wrench at his head, leaving Shin with broken arms and a concussion. The attack stopped only after a neighbor pulled a handgun and confronted him. Shin has filed a lawsuit against the department, but Muhammad has been allowed to remain on the job, and Shin said his supervisors ordered him to drop the charges and not to cooperate with the criminal investigation.

    The post Brickbat: Pressure Built Up appeared first on Reason.com.

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    Charles Oliver

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  • Timeline of the case

    Timeline of the case

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    1990

    Newlywed Pam Smart, then a 22-year-old media coordinator at Winnacunnet High School in Hampton, New Hampshire, plots with her teenage students to have her husband, Gregg Smart, murdered. She has an affair with a student, William “Billy” Flynn of Seabrook, then 15, who shoots Gregg Smart in their Derry condominium.

    1991

    Pam Smart is convicted as an accomplice to first-degree murder and sentenced to life in prison without parole after a trial in Exeter, New Hampshire. The case gained international attention and was one of America’s first major cases involving a sexual affair between a school staff member and student. Flynn is later convicted of second-degree murder.

    1992

    Notable author Joyce Maynard writes the novel “To Die For” drawing from the Smart case.

    1994

    Pam Smart is transferred to Bedford Hills Correctional Facility in New York to serve her life sentence.

    1995

    “To Die For” inspires a film of the same name, starring Nicole Kidman and Joaquin Phoenix.

    2005

    Pam Smart is denied her first request at a commutation hearing that year.

    2010

    In interviews, Smart says she never wanted Gregg killed and never asked anyone to do it.

    2015

    Flynn is freed after serving a 25-year prison sentence.

    2019

    N.H. Governor’s Council votes 4-0 against Smart’s request for a commutation hearing.

    2022

    Smart appeals to N.H. Supreme Court, which dismisses her petition a year later.

    2024

    In a video sent to WMUR TV, for the first time at age 56, Smart says she accepts responsibility for Gregg’s murder and asks to have an “honest conversation” with Gov. Chris Sununu and the Executive Council.

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  • ‘He was my person:’ Fiancé remembers man murdered while working at Houston Farmers Market

    ‘He was my person:’ Fiancé remembers man murdered while working at Houston Farmers Market

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    HOUSTON – The family of as man shot and killed while working at the Houston Farmers Market is opening up about the loss of their loved one.

    Damon Price, 36, was shot after confronting two teens who were allegedly trying to steal a golf cart from the Houston Heights business early Thursday morning.

    According to the Houston Police Department, a fight ensued after Price confronted them. That’s when a 14-year-old pulled out a gun and shot Price, killing him.

    On Saturday, just two days after he was killed, Price’s fiancé is opening up only to KPRC 2′s Gage Goulding.

    “To know Damon is to love Damon, and he was truly loved,” Ashley Thomas said. “A great father, a great friend, provider, everything. He was everything to me.”

    Price, at just 36 years old, was murdered while working the early morning shift as a gatekeeper at the Houston Farmers Market.

    He leaves behind his fiance and the six kids they share between them.

    Damon Price and his fiancé Ashley Thomas. Price, 36, was killed when two teens shot and killed him while trying to steal a golf cart from the Houston Farmers Market. (Copyright 2024 by KPRC Click2Houston – All rights reserved.)

    Ashley Thomas: “I’m gonna say my kids because he love my kids like they were his own. And that was my babies, too. I know they hurt.”

    Gage Goulding: “They have to grow up without a father now, your kids. That was a father figure for them to grow up without that.”

    Ashley Thomas: “For four years. They [were] so used to him coming in the door. And now to see that he can’t come in and not to hear him say. His words ‘Off your ass, on your feet’ is, this is crazy, to not hear those words.”

    Gage Goulding: “What are you going to miss most about Damon?”

    Ashley Thomas: “The way he loved me and he loved on me.”

    She didn’t realize something happened until she called down to the Houston Farmers Market on Thursday morning. She sensed that something was wrong when she woke up.

    “We have a routine, she said. “And the routine was if I don’t text him before he text me, we better text each other and I did not get it text, a ‘Good morning, baby.’”

    When she reached the security guard at the Houston Farmers Market, she learned the love of her life was gone.

    “That’s when she told me to sit down. And I’m like, ‘Why, I gotta sit down?’ And she tells me. I still feel like I’m in a dream and I pinch me. But it’s my reality. Yeah, he’s not here.”

    Damon was shot and killed by a 14-year-old who was trying to steal a golf cart. When he confronted them, a fight started and one of the teens pulled out a gun, shooting and killing Damon.

    Gage Goulding: “These are teenagers that did this and took this man not only out of your life, but out of your children’s life, out of his children’s life.”

    Ashley Thomas: “I can’t—I can’t even process it. What are y’all doing? I can’t even be angry because these are children. I don’t know how to be angry at kids when I have kids myself.”

    Gage Goulding: “Do you think that there’s a violence problem here in Houston?”

    Ashley Thomas: “Of course, and it needs to come to an end.”

    Damon’s family is planning on a balloon release to celebrate his life next week.

    The teen who police believe killed Damon is in jail.

    Copyright 2024 by KPRC Click2Houston – All rights reserved.

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    Gage Goulding, Oscar Chavez

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  • Haiti’s new prime minister hospitalized days after being selected to lead country, official says

    Haiti’s new prime minister hospitalized days after being selected to lead country, official says

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    PORT-AU-PRINCE, Haiti — Haiti’s newly selected prime minister, Garry Conille, was hospitalized late Saturday in the capital of Port-au-Prince just days after arriving in the country, an official told The Associated Press.

    It wasn’t immediately known why Conille was hospitalized.

    Louis Gérald Gilles, a member of the transitional presidential council that recently chose Conille as leader of the troubled Caribbean country, said he was en route to the hospital and was unable to provide further information.

    A person close to Conille, who spoke on condition of anonymity because he was not authorized to speak to the media, told AP that he was with the prime minister when he noticed Conille appeared to have trouble breathing. The person said he called high-ranking officials and told them Conille needed to be taken to the hospital.

    A spokesman for Conille did not immediately return a message for comment.

    AP journalists observed high-ranking officials entering the hospital, including Frantz Elbé, director of Haiti’s National Police. Also present was Bruno Maes, UNICEF’s representative in Haiti. They both declined comment.

    A handful of curious onlookers gathered outside the hospital as authorities blocked the street with tinted-glass SUVs.

    Conille was chosen as prime minister May 28 after a convoluted selection process. He faces an arduous task as Haiti’s newest leader, including quelling widespread gang violence as the country prepares for the U.N.-backed deployment of a Kenyan police force, a move that was delayed in part because Haiti lacked a premier after former Prime Minister Ariel Henry stepped down April 25.

    Henry was on an official visit to Kenya when gangs launched coordinated attacks Feb. 29, burning police stations, shooting at the country’s main international airport and storming Haiti’s two biggest prisons, releasing more than 4,000 inmates. The violence left Henry locked out of the country and eventually led to his resignation.

    Conille arrived in Haiti on June 1, having worked outside the country until recently as UNICEF’s regional director for Latin America and the Caribbean, a post he assumed in January 2023. He previously served as Haiti’s prime minister from October 2011 to May 2012 under then President Michel Martelly.

    Conille has been meeting with multiple officials and visiting various parts of Port-au-Prince since arriving, including climbing into an armored vehicle wearing a helmet and flak jacket to go along on a patrol with officers from Haiti’s National Police.

    Earlier Saturday, Conille toured Haiti’s main international airport, which recently reopened after gang violence forced it to close for nearly three months. On Friday, he met with leaders of the private business sector as well as the country’s two telecommunications companies.

    Conille also had been meeting regularly with the transitional council as they debated who should be appointed to Haiti’s new Cabinet.

    ___

    Coto reported from San Juan, Puerto Rico. Associated Press video journalist Pierre-Richard Luxama contributed to this report.

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  • Authorities identify Pelham man shot, killed by officer

    Authorities identify Pelham man shot, killed by officer

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    NASHUA, N.H. — Authorities have identified a Pelham man who was shot and killed by police Sunday night outside Lowe’s at 143 Daniel Webster Highway.

    Ryan Prudhomme, 41, died of a single gunshot wound to the chest outside the home improvement store. The investigation of the officer-involved shooting continues.

    Attorney General John Formella and New Hampshire State Police Col. Mark Hall identified the man in a joint statement.

    An autopsy confirmed that Prudhomme died from the gunshot wound, according to the state’s chief medical examiner.

    Nashua police responded to Lowe’s about 8:45 p.m. They were following up on a report from the Pelham Police Department to be on the lookout for Prudhomme, who was armed when he left his home.

    Prudhomme still had a handgun when officers encountered him outside the store, authorities said.

    Two officers fired less-lethal munitions while another officer used deadly force. Lifesaving measures were attempted, but the man died from his injuries, the authorities said.

    The officers’ identities will not be released until formal interviews occur, which can take five to 10 days, according to the statement.

    The investigation is being conducted by the state Department of Justice and the New Hampshire State Police Major Crimes Unit.

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    By Angelina Berube | aberube@eagletribune.com

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  • French authorities regain full control of New Caledonia’s capital after days of deadly unrest

    French authorities regain full control of New Caledonia’s capital after days of deadly unrest

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    French authorities in New Caledonia regained full control of their Pacific territory’s capital, the French interior and overseas minister said on Friday after two weeks of unrest that had left seven people dead and significant destruction in the archipelago that has seen decades of tensions between those seeking independence and those loyal to France.

    Gerald Darmanin said in a post on X Friday that “a major police operation has taken place successfully” in the Riviere-Salee district of Noumea, the last area of New Caledonia’s capital that was under the protesters’ control.

    Darmanin said 400 members of French and New Caledonia’s security forces were involved in the operation, including members of the French elite anti-terrorism and anti-organized crime police unit and its counterparts of the French military. Twelve people were arrested in the operation and 26 roadblocks were dismantled and cleared, the minister said.

    The violence flared on May 13 in response to attempts by French President Emmanuel Macron’s government to amend the French Constitution and change voting lists in New Caledonia. France declared a state of emergency in its Pacific territory on May 15 and rushed hundreds of troop reinforcements to help police quell the revolt that included shootings, clashes, looting and arson.

    Both sides of New Caledonia’s bitter divide — Indigenous Kanaks, who want independence and those loyal to France — erected barricades, either to revolt against authorities or to protect their homes and properties. Pro-independence protesters built up barricades of charred vehicles and other debris, turning parts of the capital, Noumea into no-go zones.

    French President Emmanuel Macron decided on Monday to lift the state of emergency in New Caledonia to help facilitate dialogue between local parties and French authorities for the future of the 270,000 residents of the archipelago and restore peace.

    Pro-independence parties and Kanak leaders have urged Macron to withdraw the electoral reform bill if France wants to “end the crisis.” Opponents fear the voting legislation will benefit pro-France politicians in New Caledonia and further marginalize the Indigenous Kanaks who have long pushed to be free of French rule amid sharp economic disparities and decades of discrimination.

    Although violence has subsided in the past days, tensions remain as pro-independence leaders have called on supporters to and “remain mobilized” and “maintain resistance” against France.

    While emergency measures have been lifted, an evening and overnight curfew is still in place. Travel is banned in New Caledonia between 6 p.m. and 6 a.m. except for health emergencies, and a ban on public gatherings, transport and carrying of weapons and sale of alcohol remains in place.

    The main international airport, La Tontouta, will remain closed to commercial traffic at least until Monday, and schools will not resume before mid-June, according to local authorities.

    New Caledonia became French in 1853 under Emperor Napoleon III, Napoleon’s nephew and heir. It became an overseas territory after World War II, with French citizenship granted to all Kanaks in 1957.

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