Dangerous paedophile, 25, who insisted that he was a woman earned family's trust to groom 14-year-old girl and got her pregnant

David Orton was able to befriend victim because offender identified himself as transgender woman

By Edward Era Barbacena

A paedophile was able to groom, sexually assault and get a 14-year-old schoolgirl pregnant after identifying as a transgender women.

Tattooed David Orton befriended the young victim and her family and was trusted to be alone with her because of the 25-year-old's gender status.

But Orton was beginning a nine-and-a-half year jail sentence today after her parents alerted the police in October 2020.

Orton - of Hinckley, Leicestershire - had groomed the victim so extensively she had at first refused to believe she was being exploited and sexually abused.

But last June she told officers about the relationship and revealed she was pregnant with the sex offender's baby.

Last night women's rights campaigner Caroline Ffiske told MailOnline: 'This is the type of tragedy that gender critical women are worried about .

 'There is a risk that boundaries are lowered in an attempt to "be kind" but sex matters.' 

A source familiar with the case said the sex offender used the status as a transgender woman to get close to the victim.

They added: 'Orton used his identification as a woman to get close to his victim.'

MailOnline has been told Orton has been sent to a male prison. 

Last Thursday Leicester Crown Court heard the paedophile had used the name 'Danielle Rose Gemini' and had sex with the youngster after befriending her family.

Orton was arrested when the girl's parents became concerned about their daughter's relationship with her supposed friend.

Leicester Police said Orton had denied any wrongdoing but was found guilty of two counts of penetrative sexual activity with a child aged 13 to 15 after the trial.

The abuser was cleared of four more charges including two counts of raping a girl aged 13 to 15. 

Judge Timothy Spencer KC said: 'You are a self-pitying and self-obsessed individual who shows no detectable empathy and not a shred of remorse for your actions.

'Those actions have destroyed a mother and daughter relationship at a time when they should have been close, caused devastation to the wider family and taken away the teenaged years of a child that can never be re-lived.'

The victim cannot be named for legal reasons, but was said to be vulnerable.

Orton was referred to as a male in court and was charged under that gender. 

The fear a predatory man could identify as a woman to target females is often raised by women's rights campaigners.

They believe biological sex is immutable and women need female-only spaces.

Standing For Women founder Kellie-Jay Keen said: 'We know that predatory men will use any tool at their disposal to access victims.

'It's extraordinary naive to think they might not pretend to be women to give them unfettered access to children.

'Safeguarding must not ever bend to the whims of ideology, religions or cultural trends.

'When it does it leaves everyone more vulnerable' 

Detective Constable Sarah Le Boutillier, of Leicestershire Police, said: 'Orton used the victim's vulnerability for their own gain and not only groomed the victim, but also her parents who believed Orton was a genuine friend.

'Throughout our interviews, Orton refused to accept that there was any wrong doing and that they were in fact the victim. The claims were unfounded.

'This was a complex and lengthy investigation; the initial report was made to the police more than two years ago.

'The victim's parents refused to accept her initial explanations and persevered with their concerns.

'We are pleased the victim found the courage to eventually talk about what she had been through and recognised that she was a victim and that Orton's actions were not that of a friend.

'We hope the verdict and sentence now helps the victim to come to terms with what happened and try and put that time behind her, and also reassures her parents that they did the right thing by coming forward.

'We would like to reassure anyone else who may be in a similar situation to report their concerns, as they will be heard and we will help them through the process.

We know it's not always easy to speak out; we have specialist officers who can help you every step of the way and also put you in touch with agencies who can advise and support you moving forward.'

 

'I Just Killed Someone': American Teen of Bensalem Admits To Murder Over Instagram Video Call.

By Edward Era Barbacena

A 16-year-old teenage boy is being charged as an adult with murder after police say he told a friend that he had just killed someone and then showed them the victim's bloodied legs and feet of his alleged victim, authorities in Pennsylvania said.

Police received a 9-1-1 call on Friday, Nov. 25 saying a teen later identified as Joshua Cooper showed a 16-year-old friend the body and admitted to killing the victim over Instagram video, police in Bensalem said. He then asked the friend to help him dispose of the body.

Officers responding to Cooper's trailer home at Top of the Ridge Trailer park spotted him running out of one of the trailer's, and found an alleged attempt to clean up the crime scene around 4:10 p.m., police said.

Police found the body of a girl with a gunshot wound on the bathroom floor of the home, authorities said.

Other responding officers conducted a search for Cooper, who was stopped in the area of Newport Mews Drive and Groton Drive and taken into custody.

He was charged as an adult with the following crimes: Criminal Homicide, Possessing Instruments of Crime and Tampering with or Fabricating Physical Evidence. He was arraigned by District Justice Wertman, denied bail and sent to the Edison Juvenile Detention Center. 

 

American woman Chelsea Crompton of North Carolina charged with murder in death of 4-year-old girl - daughter of her boyfriend 

By Edward Era Barbacena

This is another story of an evil white woman who took the life of an innocent child who was to become a stepmother. Another child murdered by a stupid white adult and this horrendous incident is becoming alarming in the United States where white evil savages live and preying on helpless juveniles.  This is pure WHITE evil.   

A North Carolina woman was arrested and charged last week with the murder of a 4-year-old girl, according to local police.

Chelsea Crompton’s arrest Friday came after deputies with the Catawba County Sheriff’s Office announced earlier last week that they were investigating the death of 4-year-old Hazel Lidey in rural Vale, North Carolina, as a criminal act, according to a press release.

Crompton, who is reportedly Hazel’s father’s girlfriend, was arrested at a family member’s home in neighboring Madison County and is being held without bond in the Catawba County Detention Center.

According to a search warrant obtained by local WSOC, when officers responded to a report of an unresponsive girl on Nov. 17, they were initially responding to a reported drug overdose.

The warrant also stated that when EMS arrived, they discovered bruises on the girl’s body. She was airlifted to a hospital in Charlotte, North Carolina, and died four days later.

 

Colorado Springs mass shooting suspect Anderson Lee Aldrich and mother Laura Voepel accused of using racist slurs during July flight

By Edward Era Barbacena 

A suspect accused of killing five people inside a LGBT+ nightclub and the suspect’s mother allegedly used racist slurs towards a Hispanic family and a Black man during a flight to Denver in July.

A cell phone video from an airline passenger obtained by local news outlet KDVR Fox 31 appears to show mass shooting suspect Anderson Lee Aldrich and Aldrich’s mother Laura Voepel during an airport confrontation on 31 July.

Maria Martinez told the outlet that she began filming after Aldrich used a racist slur towards her as they left the plane.

As she continued to film them, a person believed to be Aldrich tells her: “You keep following me and I’m going to f*** you up.”

Ms Martinez said she and her daughter Kayla immediately recognized Aldrich as the person accused of killing five people and injuring 18 others inside a Colorado Springs LGBT+ nightclub on Saturday night.

Family friend Tanya De La O, who was traveling with the family, claims that Ms Voepel started using racist language after the Frontier Airlines flight had landed.

She told Fox 31: “I was having a hard time getting my luggage down (from the overhead bin), and all of a sudden, I just hear this woman say, ‘Hurry the f*** up. You b****.’ And then I turned around and said, ‘Excuse me?”

The Independent has requested comment from Ms Voepel and Frontier Airlines.

The video and comments from flight passengers join several media reports that string together details about the suspect’s life and relationships with family members.

A former friend and neighbour told The Daily Beast that Aldrich would “get into fights” with their mother “because he would be saying hateful things about whoever he was angry with”.

“He said things sometimes that probably should have been alarming to me. He used the term ‘f*****’ a lot. Most of the time it came from a place of anger,” acording to Xavier Kraus.

In June 2021, Aldrich, then 21 years old, allegedly threatened Ms Voepel with a homemade bomb, forcing neighbours to evacuate their homes while law enforcement officers and crisis negotiators responded to the incident.

According to a press release from the El Paso County Sheriff’s Office at the time, Ms Voepel had called 911 to report that her child was “threatening to cause harm to her with a homemade bomb, multiple weapons, and ammunition.” The standoff reportedly lasted for three hours.

On Wednesday, Aldrich made a first appearance in court via video stream. The 22-year-old suspect remains in custody without bond; prosecutors are finalising charges, which likely include five counts of first-degree murder with hate crime attachments.

 

Mass shooting in New Orleans leaves 5 people injured

By Edward Era Barbacena

Five people were shot on Bourbon Street early Sunday (Nov. 27), marring what had been a festive celebration on the weekend of the Bayou Classic football game.

New Orleans police said the gunfire broke out around 1:49 a.m. in the 200 block of Bourbon Street, leaving multiple victims wounded in the French Quarter. The NOPD said the victims included three males and two females, but did not disclose their ages.

NOPD spokesman Gary Scheets said none of the victims’ injuries are considered life-threatening.

Police said an argument took place before an unknown male suspect “produced a gun and began firing into the crowd, striking multiple victims.” All five shooting victims were taken for hospital treatment by New Orleans EMS personnel, and the trauma center of University Medical Center activated emergency staff under its mass casualty event protocol.

“Two individuals have been detained for questioning to determine whether they are involved in the incident,” Scheets said. “Weapons were taken from both individuals.”

NOPD Supt. Shaun Ferguson was among the officers who responded to the scene -- the second shooting in the area in the span of about five hours -- on a weekend when tens of thousands of additional visitors are in town for the annual Bayou Classic football game between Grambling State and Southern University.

The NOPD also said it was investigating the homicide of an 18-year-old man who was shot Saturday at 8:42 p.m. That victim was shot multiple times in the 700 block of Canal Street, near the intersection with St. Charles Avenue on the edge of the French Quarter and Central Business District. Police said that victim died at the hospital, but responding officers were able to apprehend a 15-year-old boy suspected in his killing. Neither the victim’s nor the suspect’s identities have been disclosed.

The NOPD has not said whether the shootings are related.

Sunday’s incident was New Orleans’ third mass shooting on Bayou Classic weekend in the past six years.

On the weekend of the 2016 game, 10 people were shot -- one fatally -- in the 100 block of Bourbon Street. The victims in the Nov. 27 shooting included eight men and two women, ranging in age from 20 to 37 years old.

Three years later, on the weekend of the 2019 game, another 10 people were shot in the 700 block of Canal Street. In that case, police booked Stafford Starks Jr. and LaBryson Polidore each with 10 counts of attempted first-degree murder. Court records show District Attorney Jason Williams’ office offered both shooters plea deals earlier this year that downgrading their charges to 10 counts of aggravated assault with a firearm. Starks was sentenced to 10 years in state prison, with three years of that term suspended. Polidore also received a 10-year sentence, which Criminal District Judge Darryl Derbigny suspended in its entirety. Derbigny also gave both men three years of supervised probation.

In 2015, the Bayou Classic weekend was marred by the Nov. 28 fatal shooting of Brandon Robinson, a bouncer killed outside the Prohibition Bar and Balcony in the 300 block of Bourbon Street. Terry Mack, a then 22-year-old Baton Rouge resident, pleaded guilty to manslaughter in 2017 and is serving a 30-year state prison sentence for that killing.

And in 2010, a 23-year-old man was shot in the abdomen and a 39-year-old man was wounded in the leg by a gunman who opened fire in the 500 block of Bourbon Street on Bayou Classic weekend.

 

White Supremacist Father And Son Of Brookhaven Charged With Attempted Murder In Shooting Of Black FedEx Driver

The Lincoln County Sheriff’s Department arrested and charged Gregory Charles Case and his son Brandon Case with attempted murder for a February 2022 attack on D’Monterrio Gibson 

By Edward Era Barbacena

The Lincoln County Sheriff’s Department has arrested Gregory Charles Case and his son Brandon Case, charging them with multiple crimes including attempted murder, stemming from a January 2022 shooting. D’Monterrio Gibson of Utica, Miss., told the Mississippi Free Press in February that the men confronted him as he was delivering packages for FedEx in Brookhaven, Miss., chasing him down and shooting at him repeatedly.

The Brookhaven Daily Leader first reported that a Lincoln County grand jury indicted the father and son on multiple charges, including attempted murder, shooting at a motor vehicle and conspiracy. Both men had their bonds set at $500,000, and have since bonded out.

Previously, Brandon Case was charged with aggravated assault for the shooting. His father Gregory faced charges of conspiracy to commit aggravated assault.

Charges Upgraded

Gibson gave his account to the Mississippi Free Press in the days that followed the attack. The men, he said, attempted to box him into a driveway during a routine delivery. Gibson was wearing his FedEx uniform and driving a Hertz rental truck.

“As I’m leaving the driveway, (one of the men) starts driving in the grass trying to cut me off. My instincts kick in, I swerve around him, and I start hitting the gas trying to get out of the neighborhood because I don’t know what his intentions are,” Gibson detailed then.

“I drive down about two or three houses,” he continued. “There’s another guy standing in the middle of the street pointing a gun at my windows and signaling to me to stop with his hands, as well as mouthing the word, ‘Stop.’ I shake my head no, I hide behind the steering wheel, and I swerve around him as well. As I swerve around him, he starts firing shots into my vehicle.”

Gibson managed to escape, reaching the interstate and reporting the attack to his employer. After reporting the shooting to the Brookhaven police, Gibson told Mississippi Free Press senior reporter Ashton Pittman that FedEx initially ordered him back to his Brookhaven delivery route. “I’m actually on unpaid time-off because I told them I was uncomfortable, and I was very anxious about being on that route,” he said in February.

Shortly afterward, FedEx reinstated Gibson’s back pay, releasing a statement to CNN stating that the company “takes situations of this nature very seriously,” adding that it was “shocked by this criminal act against our team member, D’Monterrio Gibson.”

Attorneys for the The Cochran Firm, who are representing Gibson, compared the case to the shooting of Ahmaud Arbery in Georgia in 2021. Attorney James Bryant asserted in February that the Brookhaven attack was the result of growing tide of white supremacy.

“What we’ve seen over the last several years is this emboldened white vigilante that believes that he can tell a Black man to do whatever he wants,” he said. “And if that Black man doesn’t listen, we’re going to take it back to the ‘50s or the ’40s, we’re going to shoot them, we’re going to assassinate them, and we’re going to make them pay.

Initially, representatives for Gibson said the initial charges were too lenient. Cochran Firm Mississippi Delta Managing Partner Carlos Moore told the Mississippi Free Press earlier this year that he was pressing the Lincoln County district attorney to upgrade the charges.

“I’ve spoken with the district attorney for Lincoln County, and I have asked him to upgrade the charges and present to the grand jury what this really was—attempted murder, not simply aggravated assault,” he said in February. “They intended to kill this man. And I think the evidence will show that.”

 

‘We don’t do gay’: Aaron Brink father of Colorado shooter Anderson Lee Aldrich goes on anti-gay rant in bizarre interview

By Edward Era Barbacena

The father of Anderson Lee Aldrich — the suspect in a mass shooting at a Colorado nightclub — spewed anti-gay comments in a rambling, incoherent explanation of his relationship with his estranged son.

The dad bizarrely claimed during an interview with CBS 8- San Diego that his first concern upon learning his son allegedly killed five at an LGBT establishment was whether his child was homosexual.

“I was scared. I was like ‘Oh my god, s–t, is he gay?’ And he’s not gay,” Aaron Brink, 48, said with an exaggerated sigh of relief.

Brink, who lives in San Diego and has been estranged from Aldrich for years, said he doesn’t support same-sex relationships.

“I’m a Mormon,” the former MMA fighter-turned-porn star told a reporter for the station. I’m a conservative Republican and we don’t do gay.”

He said Aldrich’s attorneys called him and told him that his 22-year-old child was involved in the shooting at Club Q in Colorado, but he hadn’t spoken to them in six months.

“I don’t what he’s accused of. I can’t get answers from the attorneys really, but they’re saying it’s involving a gay bar. I don’t know what the heck he did at a gay bar,” Brink said.

A CBS 8 reporter explained to Brink that Aldrich is accused of orchestrating a mass shooting at a gay bar, killing five people and wounding many more.

“OK, well s–t, he’s accused of doing that, I’m glad he’s not gay. I can say that, I’m glad he’s not gay,” Brink said in a shocking response.

He apologized to the families of the victims — saying regardless of politics, precious human lives were lost.

“I’m so sorry, I’m so sorry for your loss,” he said. “I’m so sorry.”

Bartenders Daniel Davis Aston, 28, and Derrick Rump, 38, were slain in the attack, along with Raymond Green Vance, 22, Ashley Paugh, 35, and Kelly Loving, 40.

Brink — who said he has permanent damage from a past meth addiction as well as head trauma from a career as an MMA fighter — had not spoken to his child in six months and prior to that believed they had died of suicide six years ago, he said.

He said his ex-wife, Aldrich’s mother, called him from Colorado in 2016 to tell him their child had killed themself after changing their name from Nicholas Brink to Anderson Aldrich.

“I thought he was dead. I mourned his loss,” Brink told CBS 8. “I had gone through a meltdown and thought I had lost my son.”

He said his ex-wife told him Aldrich changed their name and dropped Brink’s last name due to his career in the adult film industry as well as his feature in an A&E show called “Intervention,” chronicling his addiction to crystal meth.

Brink, who got his start in the adult entertainment industry at age 27, has starred in XXX video gems like White Boys Can Hump’’ in 2016 and both “My MILF Boss 8’’ and “It’s OK to Put It in My A–’’ in 2014, according to his IMDB page.

Pornography is considered a sin in the Mormon religion.

“His mother told me he changed his name because I was in Intervention and I had been a porno actor,” Brink said.

Six months ago, Brink said Aldrich called him on the phone, which was how he learned they were still alive. He said the call ended in an argument.

Still, Brink said he loves his child.

“I love my son no matter what. I love my son,” he said.

Aldrich is accused of shooting up Club Q just before midnight Saturday, killing five and wounding more than a dozen others before two patrons took them down.

They appeared dazed, bruised and bloodied in court Wednesday — apparently from the actions of the two people called heroes, who held them down until police arrived.

Authorities have not released a potential motive in the horrific attack, but are expected to file hate crime charges as well as murder charges against Aldrich. Hate-crime charges would mean prosecutors believe they have enough evidence to prove that the suspect targeted their victims based on a bias like their sexual or gender identities.

.

 

Pope Francis removes Caritas Internationalis leaders including Filipino priest Luis Antonio Tagle, appoints temporary administrator

By Edward Era Barbacena 

Pope Francis on Tuesday removed the entire leadership of an international confederation of charities which includes Filipino priest Luis Antonio Tagle and appointed a temporary administrator to improve the organization’s management.

Pope Francis issued a decree Nov. 22 appointing Pier Francesco Pinelli, an Italian management consultant, as temporary administrator of Caritas Internationalis (CI).

With the same ordinance, the pope said the positions of the Catholic confederation’s leadership are to cease immediately.

This decision includes Caritas Internationalis president Cardinal Luis Antonio Tagle and secretary general Aloysius John. The positions of the vice presidents, treasurer, ecclesiastical assistant, executive council, and representative council also end.

A press release said an independent review found deficiencies in Caritas Internationalis’ “management and procedures, seriously prejudicing team-spirit and staff morale.”

Caritas Internationalis, founded in 1951, is a Catholic confederation of 162 charitable organizations based in 200 countries around the world. Its headquarters are located on Vatican territory in Rome, and the Vatican oversees its activity.

The governance of Caritas Internationalis is elected for four-year terms during the organization’s general assembly. The next general assembly is scheduled for May 2023. 

According to a Nov. 22 press release, the temporary administrator, Pinelli, will carry out his service in consultation with the Dicastery for Promoting Integral Human Development, which is headed by Cardinal Michael Czerny, SJ.

The dicastery's press release said that the Vatican’s human development office commissioned an independent review of Caritas Internationalis’ workplace this year.

The review looked at “the workplace environment of the CI General Secretariat and its alignment with Catholic values of human dignity and respect for each person.”

Both current and former employees were invited to participate, according to the dicastery, which said: “No evidence emerged of financial mismanagement or sexual impropriety, but other important themes and areas for urgent attention emerged from the panel’s work. Real deficiencies were noted in management and procedures, seriously prejudicing team-spirit and staff morale.”

Pinelli will be assisted by Maria Amparo Alonso Escobar, Caritas Internationalis’ head of advocacy, and by Father Manuel Morujão S.J., who will provide personal and spiritual accompaniment to Caritas employees, according to Pope Francis’ decree.

Among Pinelli’s administrative tasks will be updating the confederation’s statutes and by-laws in preparation for the next general assembly in 2023.

Cardinal Tagle will also work with Pinelli to prepare for the general assembly.

The Dicastery for Promoting Integral Human Development, in its press release, cited Pope Francis’ new apostolic constitution, Praedicate evangelium, which says the human development office has competency over Caritas Internationalis and “exercises the responsibilities reserved by law to the Holy See in establishing and supervising international charitable associations and funds created for the same purposes, in accordance with the provisions of the respective statutes and in compliance with current legislation.”

 

Mindy Dixon, former priest Travis Clark, and Melissa Cheng

American Catholic priest Travis Clark pleads guilty to obscenity after filming threesome on church altar

A person walking by Saints Peter and Paul Catholic Church in Pearl River one night spotted lights inside and looked through the window to find the cleric having a sex romp with two dominatrices

By Edward Era Barbacena

A disgraced Louisiana Catholic priest has pleaded guilty to a felony obscenity charge for filming a threesome with two dominatrices on a church’s altar.

Travis Clark got a three-year suspended prison sentence for engaging in the unholy trinity, along with three years of supervised probation and a $1,000 fine, reported the Advocate.

A representative of the Archdiocese of New Orleans was present in court and signed off on the sentence after Clark entered his plea Monday.

The 39-year-old was serving as pastor at Saints Peter and Paul Catholic Church in Pearl River when one night in September 2020, when a passerby noticed that the lights were on inside the church.

When the witness peered through a window, he saw a half-naked Clark having a sex romp with two women in corsets and high-heeled boots atop the altar.

Police officers who were called to the church discovered a tripod-mounted camera that had been recording the sick romp.

Sex toys and stage lighting were also found at the scene.

Cops determined that everything that went on that night was consensual, but arrested the randy clergyman and his two scantily clad companions on obscenity charges because they were in view of the public.

The two professional dominatrices, Mindy Dixon and Melissa Cheng, pleaded guilty in July to misdemeanor counts of institutional vandalism and were slapped with two years of probation.

On the eve of the incident, Dixon had reportedly bragged on social media that she was going to “defile a house of God.”

The desecrated altar was burned in the aftermath of Clark’s “demonic” conduct, according to the archbishop of New Orleans, and a new altar was consecrated in November 2020.

Clark, who was ordained in 2013, was defrocked shortly after his arrest. He has paid restitution to the church in the amount of $8,000.

 

Matthew Mahrer and Christopher Brown

Two men arrested in NYC for plotting attack on Jewish targets identified

Christopher Brown, 21, and Matthew Mahrer, 22, were armed when they were detained at Penn Station after threatening online to target synagogues.

By Edward Era Barbacena

The two men arrested on Friday for allegedly plotting to attack Jewish targets in New York City were identified on Saturday as Christopher Brown, 21, and Matthew Mahrer, 22, CBS News reported.

The two were taken into custody at Penn Station at around 11:30 p.m. EST on Friday, after a bulletin was issued by law enforcement agencies seeking to question them.

They were reportedly armed with a large hunting knife at the time of their arrest. Authorities later seized a handgun and 30-round magazine, and confiscated a Nazi armband.

Brown and Mahrer had threatened on social media last week to target synagogues.

“Close coordination among American Jewish security organizations … and federal law enforcement partners potentially disrupted a significant and likely lethal attack targeting the Jewish community in New York,” said a joint statement released by the Community Security Service, the Community Security Initiative and the Anti-Defamation League.

"We are thankful for the work of the NYPD, FBI, Joint Terrorism Task Force and MTA Police. As always, we ask the community to remain vigilant, but no further immediate community actions are needed at this time,” the statement continued

 

Racist man Benton Beyer sentenced to 105 months for racist attack on Cold Spring family

Beyer must serve at least 70 months of his 105 months sentence.

By Edward Era Barbacena

An emotional day in court as a Minnesota mother described how a racist attack destroyed her family.

Benton Beyer was found guilty of stalking and harassing the Robinson family in Cold Spring. He also caused a truck to crash into their home. A judge Friday sentenced him to nearly 9 years in prison for the attack.

"Nothing could be worse than the impact your actions have had on my life and the life of my family," Andrea Robinson said.

Robinson talked through tears on the stand before the judge sentenced Beyer for targeting her multi-racial family because of the color of their skin.

"You did not destroy a home, you destroyed a family," Robinson said.

Video captured Benton's actions. He caused a stolen truck to crash into the Robinson's Cold Spring home. A teddy bear hanging from a noose inside. The culmination of 80-plus days of stalking and harassment.

"Every day I'm faced with the same struggle. The house I once called home now resembles a shell of life it once was and a family that's forever changed. The place we once called home will be emptied of contents and sold," Robinson said.

The state pushed for the maximum, saying Beyer targeted this family because some of its members were Black.

Beyer addressed the court, asking for probation so he can be around for his daughter.

And said his unhealthy actions affected many.

"They affected the Robinson family home and for that I am sorry. I hope they forgive me and go on living their lives peacefully," Beyer said.

In the end, the judge sentenced Beyer to what the state asked for: 105 months, or nearly 9 years.

"The impact this has had on their family kind of trumps everything," Judge Andrew Pearson said.

Robinson told WCCO she doesn't think Beyer took responsibility for his actions.

Beyer must serve at least 70 months of his 105 months sentence. 

American mass shooter accused in Colorado gay bar shooting facing murder and hate crime charges

Anderson Lee Aldrich  faces five murder charges and five charges of committing a bias-motivated crime causing bodily injury, 

By Edward Era Barbacena

The white man suspected of killing five people and injuring others at a gay bar in Colorado Springs is facing murder and hate crime charges, according to online court records obtained Monday.

Anderson Lee Aldrich, 22, faces five murder charges and five charges of committing a bias-motivated crime causing bodily injury, the records show.

A law enforcement official said the suspect used an AR-15-style semiautomatic weapon in Saturday night’s attack, but a handgun and additional ammunition magazines also were recovered. The official could not discuss details of the investigation publicly and spoke to The Associated Press on condition of anonymity.

Information on a lawyer who could speak on Aldrich’s behalf wasn’t immediately available Monday.

Club Q on its Facebook page thanked the “quick reactions of heroic customers that subdued the gunman and ended this hate attack.”

Already questions were being raised about why authorities didn’t seek to take Aldrich’s guns away from him in 2021, when he was arrested after his mother reported he threatened her with a homemade bomb and other weapons.

Though authorities at the time said no explosives were found, gun control advocates are asking why police didn’t try to trigger Colorado’s “red flag” law, which would have allowed authorities to seize the weapons his mother says he had. There’s also no public record prosecutors ever moved forward with felony kidnapping and menacing charges against Aldrich.

Mayor John Suthers said on NBC’s “Today” that the district attorney would file motions in court Monday to allow law enforcement to talk more about any criminal history “that this individual might have had.”

Of the 25 injured at Club Q, at least seven were in critical condition, authorities said. Some were hurt trying to flee, and it was unclear if all of them were shot, a police spokesperson said. Suthers told The Associated Press there was “reason to hope” all of those hospitalized would recover.

The shooting rekindled memories of the 2016 massacre at the Pulse gay nightclub in Orlando, Florida, that killed 49 people. Colorado has experienced several mass killings, including at Columbine High School in 1999, a movie theater in suburban Denver in 2012 and at a Boulder supermarket last year.

It was the sixth mass killing this month and came in a year when the nation was shaken by the deaths of 21 in a school shooting in Uvalde, Texas.

Authorities were called to Club Q at 11:57 p.m. Saturday with a report of a shooting, and the first officer arrived at midnight.

Joshua Thurman said he was in the club with about two dozen other people and was dancing when the shots began. He initially thought it was part of the music, until he heard another shot and said he saw the flash of a gun muzzle.

Thurman, 34, said he ran with another person to a dressing room where someone already was hiding. They locked the door, turned off the lights and got on the floor but could hear the violence unfolding, including the gunman being subdued, he added.

“I could have lost my life — over what? What was the purpose?” he said as tears ran down his cheeks. “We were just enjoying ourselves. We weren’t out harming anyone. We were in our space, our community, our home, enjoying ourselves like everybody else does.”

Detectives were examining whether anyone had helped the suspect before the attack, Police Chief Adrian Vasquez said. He said patrons who intervened during the attack were “heroic” and prevented more deaths.

Club Q is a gay and lesbian nightclub that features a drag show on Saturdays, according to its website. Club Q’s Facebook page said planned entertainment included a “punk and alternative show” preceding a birthday dance party, with a Sunday all-ages drag brunch.

Drag events have become a focus of anti-LGBTQ rhetoric and protests recently as opponents, including politicians, have proposed banning children from them, falsely claiming they’re used to “groom” children.

A hate-crime charge against Aldrich requires proving he was motivated by the victims’ actual or perceived sexual orientation or gender identity.

President Joe Biden said that while the motive for the shootings was not yet clear, “we know that the LGBTQI+ community has been subjected to horrific hate violence in recent years.”

“Places that are supposed to be safe spaces of acceptance and celebration should never be turned into places of terror and violence,” he said. “We cannot and must not tolerate hate.”

Colorado Gov. Jared Polis, who became the first openly gay man to be elected a U.S. governor in 2018, called the shooting “sickening.”

“My heart breaks for the family and friends of those lost, injured and traumatized,” Polis said.

A makeshift memorial sprang up Sunday near the club, with flowers, a stuffed animal, candles and a sign saying “Love over hate” next to a rainbow-colored heart.

Seth Stang was buying flowers for the memorial when he was told that two of the dead were his friends. The 34-year-old transgender man said it was like having “a bucket of hot water getting dumped on you. … I’m just tired of running out of places where we can exist safely.”

Ryan Johnson, who lives near the club and was there last month, said it was one of only two nightspots for the LGBTQ community in Colorado Springs. “It’s kind of the go-to for Pride,” the 26-year-old said of the club.

Colorado Springs, a city of about 480,000 located 70 miles (110 kilometers) south of Denver, is home to the U.S. Air Force Academy and the U.S. Olympic Training Center, as well as Focus on the Family, a prominent evangelical Christian ministry that lobbies against LGBTQ rights. The group condemned the shooting and said it “exposes the evil and wickedness inside the human heart.”

In November 2015, three people were killed and eight wounded at a Planned Parenthood clinic in the city when authorities say a gunman targeted the clinic because it performed abortions.

The shooting came during Transgender Awareness Week and just at the start of Sunday’s Transgender Day of Remembrance, when events around the world are held to mourn and remember transgender people lost to violence.

Since 2006, there have been 523 mass killings and 2,727 deaths as of Nov. 19, according to The Associated Press/USA Today database on mass killings in the U.S.

 

 

Dead American serial killer links to the murder of Cincinnati teen in 1978 after DNA test

Prosecutors said that Ralph Howell, who died in 1985, raped and murdered a Cincinnati college student Cheryl Thompson, and are convinced he was a serial killer.

By Edward Era Barbacena

 

DNA technology has been used to link the rape and murder of a University of Cincinnati student more than four decades ago to a now-deceased man who authorities suspect may also have been responsible for three other murders in Ohio, prosecutors said.

Hamilton County Prosecutor Joseph Deters last week announced a posthumous indictment of Ralph Howell, who died in a 1985 auto accident, on aggravated murder and rape charges in the murder of 19-year-old Cheryl Thompson.

“I have prosecuted multiple serial killers in my time as prosecutor,” Deters said in a statement. “My office firmly believes he is another.”

Thompson went missing in March 1978 after leaving her home to meet her boyfriend at a bar in Oakley, prosecutors said. About two weeks later, a state natural resources officer found her body along the bank of the Little Miami River. Authorities said she had been raped and she died of asphyxia caused by strangulation.

This year, a DNA sample taken from Thompson’s body at the time of the crime was sent to a third-party genealogy company that narrowed the search to a specific family tree that included Howell, and further investigation revealed that he had been arrested in 1983 on an abduction charge.

Oklahoma teacher’s aide arrested for sex with student two weeks after starting job at school

Ashley Waffle, 22, is accused of having relations with a teen student.

By Edward Era Barbacena

White teachers or faculty members who are having intimate relationship with students is no longer new to us. However, it is becoming very alarming that such immoral cases are getting to high. Though many of white women as teachers are aware of the consequences, many have become weak to overcome it. 

A 22-year-old Oklahoma teacher’s aide was busted for having sex with a student after it was revealed she started a relationship with the teen just two weeks into the job, according to reports.

Ashley Waffle, a temporary teacher’s aide with Granite Public Schools, began her employment on Oct. 10, and started messaging with a 16-year-old on Oct. 25 on Snapchat, KSWO reported.

The outlet said that school officials alerted police to rumored liaisons between the student and Waffle that were spreading around the small town of less than 2,000.

According to court documents, Waffle had relations with the teen twice at her apartment sometime before Nov. 9, KSWO reported.

Waffle was fired on Nov. 10, and now faces two second-degree rape charges that could land her in prison for up to 15 years.

She is currently being held at the Greer County jail, according to the outlet.

District superintendent Missy Berry told parents in a letter this week that they were cooperating with law enforcement as their investigation continues.

At Least 5 Dead and 25 Injured in Gunman’s Rampage at an L.G.B.T.Q. Club in Colorado

The police said a suspect in the shooting, who was also injured, was arrested.

By Edward Era Barbacena

A man shrouded in body armor and wielding an AR-15 style rifle, attacked an L.G.B.T.Q. nightclub in Colorado Springs on Saturday night, in a rampage that killed at least five people and injured at least 25 others.

At least one person inside the nightclub, Club Q, tackled and subdued the gunman, the authorities said, helping to prevent further bloodshed.Mayor John Suthers of Colorado Springs said that a man had grabbed a handgun from the gunman and then hit him with it, subduing him. When the police burst into the club, the man was still on top of gunman, pinning him down, Mr. Suthers said.

The owners of the club, who had looked at surveillance tape, lauded the actions of two patrons whom they said they did not know but who, together, had overpowered the gunman and held him on the floor until police arrived.

“One customer took down the gunman and was assisted by another,” said Matthew Haynes, one of the club owners. Referring to the first person who acted, Mr. Haynes added, “He saved dozens and dozens of lives. Stopped the man cold. Everyone else was running away, and he ran toward him.”

Police officials identified the gunman as Anderson Lee Aldrich, 22. He was injured and treated in a hospital. The police recovered two guns at the club, said Adrian Vasquez, chief of the Colorado Springs Police Department. The authorities said they were still working to determine who owned the long rifle used in the shooting, as well as other weapons found at the scene.

Mr. Vasquez said the suspect had not spoken with investigators and did not appear to have said anything at the crime scene. He said the shooting had lasted barely a minute.

The local district attorney, Michael J. Allen, said in a statement that his office expected that “the case will officially transfer to my office” for a charging decision in the coming days. He said the shooting appeared to have been carried out by a single person. The F.B.I. was also involved in the investigation.

The exact number of injured victims was uncertain. Some people had driven themselves to seek treatment, police officials said, and not all injuries were from gunshot wounds. Some may have suffered injuries while fleeing. At least two remained in critical condition on Sunday morning, doctors from two hospitals said.

The shooting erupted minutes before midnight, as revelers enjoyed a night out in a club considered a safe haven for the L.G.B.T.Q. community. It was painfully reminiscent of the 2016 massacre at Pulse, a gay nightclub in Orlando, Fla., where a gunman killed 49 people and wounded 53 others after proclaiming allegiance to the Islamic State terrorist group.

Joshua Thurman, who had gone to Club Q for an early birthday celebration, thought the first gunshots were part of the music. He stayed on the dance floor, but when he heard more shots and saw a flash from the muzzle of a gun, he ran to a dressing room at the rear of the club. He stayed there with a drag performer and another patron and described hearing the “pow! pow!” of gunshots.

“When we came out of the dressing room, we saw bodies,” he recalled on Sunday morning, choking back a sob. “There was broken glass, blood — I lost friends!”

Mr. Thurman, 34, spoke to reporters outside the club, where he had gone to retrieve his car from the parking lot. He said he had worked at the club as a go-go dancer and that a bartender whom he had come to know over the years was among those killed.

Mr. Thurman said Club Q was a “safe place” for its patrons: “This is a place we love, a place of peace, a place to be ourselves.”

The motive behind the attack at Club Q was still unknown. Mayor Suthers said the shooting “has all the appearances of being a hate crime,” but he said that investigators were still combing through the gunman’s social media history and doing interviews to determine a motive.

President Biden denounced the apparent targeting of the L.G.B.T.Q. community.

“Places that are supposed to be safe spaces of acceptance and celebration should never be turned into places of terror and violence,” he said in a statement. “We cannot and must not tolerate hate.”

Mr. Biden renewed his call for a federal assault weapons ban, though there is not enough support in Congress to enact one. “When will we decide we’ve had enough?” he asked. “We must address the public health epidemic of gun violence in all of its forms.”

A man with the same name and age as the club shooting suspect was arrested in June 2021 after the man’s mother had called the police and said that she was not with her son and did not know where he was, but that he had threatened to hurt her with a bomb, ammunition and other weapons. Police negotiators persuaded him to walk out of a house and surrender — but not before the police had evacuated residents from about 10 nearby houses in a suburban neighborhood just outside of Colorado Springs, because of the bomb threat.

The man was charged with several crimes after that arrest, including felony menacing and three kidnapping charges. It is unclear whom he was accused of kidnapping.

The police said in 2021 that they had not found any explosives. A spokesman for the local  district attorney declined to say on Sunday how the charges were resolved.

The mother of the Anderson Aldrich involved in that case had been renting a spare room from Leslie Bowman, who said in an interview on Sunday that she had been away at the time.

“His mom had called me and said, ‘Don’t come home right now, there are some people looking for Andy,’” Ms. Bowman recalled, using the man’s nickname.

On Sunday, after the shooting, Ms. Bowman was left wondering why the man may have been at large and able to get hold of a rifle, if he had been accused of the bomb threat.

“Why is he not in jail, after that happening?” Ms. Bowman asked. “After that initial day, police never reached out to me for additional information. I’m a Second Amendment supporter, don’t get me wrong. But for him to be out there, and have access to weapons after that incident, I don’t understand it.”

Efforts to reach family members of the Mr. Aldrich arrested in the shooting on Sunday were unsuccessful.

Colorado Springs, a city of about 500,000 people south of Denver, is a Republican stronghold, and for decades it was a center for conservative Christian efforts to pass laws limiting the rights of gay people.

But the city, which has long had a small but vibrant L.G.B.T.Q. community, has become more diverse. It now hosts an annual Pride parade, and its fast population growth has diluted the influence of far-right conservatives.

Club Q stands on a major commercial boulevard, next to a Walgreens drugstore and a Subway sandwich shop. The club first opened in 2002, in the inconspicuous location behind a strip mall that the founder chose in part because, at the time, patrons needed an entrance where they could come and go without being seen, said Nic Grzecka, who co-owns the club with Mr. Haynes.

The owners said that when they reviewed surveillance video of the shooting, they saw the gunman pull up heavily armed and wearing a military-style flak jacket. Mr. Haynes said the gunman had entered the nightclub with “tremendous firepower” — a rifle and what appeared to be six magazines of ammunition — and began shooting.

Police officers arrived and took the gunman into custody within six minutes of receiving an emergency call about the shooting. Mr. Grzecka and Mr. Haynes got there a few minutes later. “It was chaos,” Mr. Haynes said.

Hours before the shooting, Club Q posted on Facebook about a “musical drag brunch” on Sunday morning to mark the Transgender Day of Remembrance, which honors the memory of those who lost their lives to anti-transgender violence.

After the 2016 mass shooting at Pulse, Mr. Haynes said he and Mr. Grzecka were “vigilant” about security at their club.

“We’ve worked with the Colorado Springs Police Department and the F.B.I. in response to various threats over the years,” he said. “But there had been no known recent threats toward Club Q.”

After the Pulse shooting, Mr. Grzecka said, the gay community in Colorado Springs had come together, “thinking we were taking a stance.”

He added, “We had this vigil, standing in our parking lot, never thinking this was going to happen in our community.”

 

Elon Musk reactivates Trump's Twiiter account after nearly two years of being suspended

By Edward Era Barbacena

Donald Trump is officially back on Twitter after Elon Musk said in a tweet Saturday night that the former president was going to be reinstated.

Trump, 76, was banned from the social media platform after the Jan. 6, 2021, insurrection.

On Friday, Musk posted a 24-hour Twitter poll asking users to decide if the controversial Trump, who recently announced a new run for the White House, should be reinstated on the embattled platform.

In the end, more than 15 million people voted, with those choosing to reinstate Trump taking 51.8% of the vote to 48.2% who said no.

“The people have spoken. Trump will be reinstated. Vox Populi, Vox Dei,” Musk wrote just after 8 p.m.

The Latin phrase means “the voice of the people is the voice of God.”

While the poll was still open, Trump posted on his Truth Social account claiming he wouldn’t be quickly returning to Twitter.

“Vote now with positivity, but don’t worry, we aren’t going anywhere. Truth Social is special!” he said, sharing a screenshot of Musk’s Twitter poll.

On his last tweet, which is from Jan. 8, 2021, he wrote, “To all of those who have asked, I will not be going to the Inauguration on January 20th.”

Just before he launched his Twitter poll concerning the fate of Trump’s presence on the platform, Musk announced the reinstatement of satirical news site the Babylon Bee, controversial author Jordan Peterson and firebrand comedian Kathy Griffin. 

Musk spent $44 billion to purchase Twitter, which has been in turmoil ever since his reign began on Nov. 3.

He immediately laid off thousands of workers, and hundreds more have quit in the weeks since.

Musk spent $44 billion to purchase Twitter, which has been in turmoil ever since his reign began on Nov. 3.

He immediately laid off thousands of workers, and hundreds more have quit in the weeks since.

By Thursday, so many employees had left the app it began to slow down, prompting fears it could shutter altogether.

 

Tesla Explodes Into Flames On Pennsylvania Highway, Requires 24X More Water To Extinguish 

By Edward Era Barbacena

A Tesla exploded into flames on a Pennsylvania highway this week and spewed toxic fumes from its lithium ion battery for a considerable amount of time because it took firefighters a significantly longer period of time to extinguish the fire compared to vehicles that use a standard combustion engine.

The incident happened at approximately 11 a.m. Tuesday on Interstate 80 at the 137 mile marker, the Morris Township Volunteer Fire Company #1 said in a statement.

The fire reportedly ignited after the family that was driving the car ran over a piece of debris that caused the car to catch on fire. No one was hurt as everyone was able to quickly get out of the vehicle.

“As Engine Tanker 17 and Engine Tanker 19 arrived on scene it was quickly discovered that this was not your typical vehicle fire as crews quickly utilized just over 4,000 gallons of water. In total approximately 12,000 gallons of water was utilized,” the statement said. “To give you an idea of the severity, crews can normally extinguish a fully involved vehicle fire with approximately 500 gallons or less.”

“Due to the lithium ion battery on the vehicle, extinguishing this fire would require additional tankers as the vehicle would continue to reignite and burn fierce at times,” the statement continued. “In total it took crews nearly two hours of continually applying water on the vehicle as the battery would begin to reignite and hold high temperatures.”

Photos of the Tesla showed that it was completely eviscerated by the fire.

A Tesla caught on fire on I-80 in Clearfield County today. It took two hours of continuous water to put it out, according to Morris Township Fire Company. “This vehicle burnt so hot and long that if it was not for the rims you might not even of know it was a vehicle.”

The Columbia Volunteer Fire Company was dispatched to assist the Morris Township Volunteer Fire Company #1 and Grassflat Volunteer Fire Company with trying to put out the fire.

The Columbia Volunteer Fire Company said that a considerable amount of water is needed even after the fire is put out to keep the batteries cool so they do not reignite.

Teslas have had myriad problems over the years ranging from knowingly selling cars that had a design flaw that could cause the cars to erupt in flames to cutting corners to ensure that vehicles had safe braking systems, Business Insider reported. Teslas have also been accused of having “faulty suspension” that can cause accidents.

While Teslas are insanely fast and the car’s instantaneous torque make it fun to drive, some have had problems with the car’s not working properly, quality issues, and awkward driving controls, like having to use a computer screen in the middle of the car to activate windshield wipers.

After Hurricane Ian hit Florida earlier this fall, numerous Teslas and other electric vehicles began spontaneously exploding because the salt in the seawater damages the batteries in such a way where they can erupt in flames, according to FEMA.

“In the following weeks, at least 12 EV fires were reported in Collier and Lee Counties,” FEMA said. “One on Sanibel Island burned 2 houses to the ground.”

 

Alabama man to be executed for murdering preacher's wife in 1998

Kenneth Eugene Smith was sentenced to death by judicial override

By Edward Era Barbacena

Alabama is preparing to execute a man convicted in the 1988 murder-for-hire slaying of a preacher’s wife, even though a jury recommended he receive life imprisonment instead of a death sentence.

Kenneth Eugene Smith, 57, is scheduled to receive a lethal injection at a south Alabama prison on Thursday evening. Prosecutors said Smith was one of two men who were each paid $1,000 to kill Elizabeth Sennett on behalf of her husband, who was deeply in debt and wanted to collect on insurance.

Elizabeth Sennett was found dead on March 18, 1988, in the couple’s home on Coon Dog Cemetery Road in Alabama's Colbert County. The coroner testified that the 45-year-old woman had been stabbed eight times in the chest and once on each side of the neck. Her husband, Charles Sennett Sr, who was the pastor of the Westside Church of Christ in Sheffield, killed himself one week after his wife's death when the murder investigation started to focus on him as a suspect, according to court documents.

Smith’s final appeals focused on the state's difficulties with intravenous lines at the last two scheduled lethal injections. One execution was carried out after a delay, and the other was called off as the state faced a midnight deadline to get the execution underway. Smith's attorneys also raised the issue that judges are no longer allowed to sentence an inmate to death if a jury recommends a life sentence.

John Forrest Parker, the other man convicted in the slaying, was executed in 2010. "I’m sorry. I don’t ever expect you to forgive me. I really am sorry," Parker said to the victim’s sons before he was put to death.

According to appellate court documents, Smith told police in a statement that it was, "agreed for John and I to do the murder" but that he just took items from the house to make it look like a burglary. Smith’s defense at trial said he agreed to beat up Elizabeth Sennett but that he did not intend to kill her, according to court documents.

The U.S. Supreme Court on Wednesday denied Smith's request to review the constitutionality of his death sentence

Smith was initially convicted in 1989, and a jury voted 10-2 to recommend a death sentence, which a judge imposed. His conviction was overturned on appeal in 1992. He was retried and convicted again in 1996. This time, the jury recommended a life sentence by a vote of 11-1, but a judge overrode the jury’s recommendation and sentenced Smith to death.

In 2017, Alabama became the last state to abolish the practice of letting judges override a jury’s sentencing recommendation in death penalty cases, but the change was not retroactive and therefore did not affect death row prisoners like Smith.

The Equal Justice Initiative, an Alabama-based nonprofit that advocates for inmates, said that Smith stands to become the first state prisoner sentenced by judicial override to be executed since the practice was abolished.

Smith filed a lawsuit against the state seeking to block his upcoming execution because of reported problems at recent lethal injections. Smith’s attorneys pointed to a July execution of Joe Nathan James Jr., which an anti-death penalty group claimed was botched. The state disputed those claims. A federal judge dismissed Smith's lawsuit last month, but also cautioned prison officials to strictly follow established protocol when carrying out Thursday's execution plan.

In September, the state called off the scheduled execution of inmate Alan Miller because of difficulty accessing his veins. Miller said in a court filing that prison staff poked him with needles for over an hour and at one point, they left him hanging vertically on a gurney before announcing they were stopping for the night. Prison officials said they stopped because they were facing a midnight deadline to get the execution underway.

West Virginia racist couple facing hate crime charges after a shooting black man with paintball gun

 

West Virginia racist white couple facing hate crime charges after a shooting black man with paintball gun

By Edward Era Barbacena

A Lewis County racist white couple is facing hate crime charges after an incident where one of them was accused of threatening a black man for talking to his wife after they shot a different black man with a paintball gun.

On Thursday, officers with the Weston Police Department received a complaint of a car stopped near a residence on Center Avenue in Weston whose occupants “started yelling racial slurs,” according to a criminal complaint.

During that time, a male occupant of the vehicle, identified as Troy Pertuset, 36, of Jane Lew, “shot a paintball gun from the car” and struck a black victim in the chest, officers said.

A few minutes later, officers received a call of a dispute taking place at GoMart with Troy “with a gun,” and a female identified as Brandy Pertuset, 38, of Jane Lew, who were “threatening a black male subject,” according to the complaint.

On Thursday, officers with the Weston Police Department received a complaint of a car stopped near a residence on Center Avenue in Weston whose occupants “started yelling racial slurs,” according to a criminal complaint.

During that time, a male occupant of the vehicle, identified as Troy Pertuset, 36, of Jane Lew, “shot a paintball gun from the car” and struck a black victim in the chest, officers said.

A few minutes later, officers received a call of a dispute taking place at GoMart with Troy “with a gun,” and a female identified as Brandy Pertuset, 38, of Jane Lew, who were “threatening a black male subject,” according to the complaint.

West Virginia man facing felony charges after he allegedly shot children with BB gun

When officers spoke with the first victim at the Center Avenue residence, he stated that Troy and Brandy pulled up to the residence and “he heard them say ‘Where are you n*****?'” before Troy “pointed the paintball gun at him and shoot him with it,” officers said.

In the incident at the GoMart, a witness stated that a separate black victim was in a verbal dispute with Troy and Brandy, during which time Brandy used racial slurs against the victim prior to Troy telling the victim “‘I got a f***ing pistol and I’m going to f***ing shoot you for talking to my wife’,” before Troy said “‘I’m going to f***ing kill this n*****’,” according to the complaint.

As a result of the incident, Troy and Brandy have been charged with committing a hate crime. They are being held in Central Regional Jail on a $50,000 bond.

 

Belmont woman arrested for hate crime on Peninsula

Laura Vawter just attacked a Spanish-speaking man for no reason

By Edward Era Barbacena 

A racist white woman accused of committing hate crimes on the Peninsula against Spanish-speaking people has been arrested, the San Mateo County District Attorney’s Office said.

Laura Vawter, 62, of Belmont, is accused of entering a laundromat in San Carlos Oct. 28 and attacking a man speaking Spanish on the phone, telling the man to “go back to Mexico,” the DA’s Office said. Following her arrest and release, she was subsequently arrested again for allegedly yelling and kicking staff and customers at Taqueria El Grullense on El Camino Real in Redwood City Nov. 2, the DA’s Office said.

Vawter allegedly has mental health issues and made numerous statements that were out of touch with reality, the DA’s Office said. She has been charged with a misdemeanor hate crime, battery and other misdemeanors. Vawter’s next court date is Nov. 9, and she remains in jail. No

 

Racist Glasgow killer who cut sailor's throat stamped on inmate's head in horrific prison attack

Glasgow High Court heard that Christopher Miller was serving life for the murder of Merchant Navy officer Kunal Mohanty in the Gorbals when he attacked Joseph Wedlock.

By Edward Era Barbacena

A racist killer has been handed extra time in jail for an attack of a fellow inmate, who was left brain damaged.

Christopher Miller kicked and repeatedly stamped on Joseph Wedlock in an assault caught on CCTV.

Wedlock ended up in rehab for almost a year and now stays with his mother as he is no longer able to live on his own.

Miller was today sentenced to four years and eight months at the High Court in Glasgow for the attack.

He returned there having been jailed for a minimum 18 years in 2009 for the racially motivated murder of Merchant Nay officer Kunal Mohanty in the Gorbals.

In a crime which shocked the country at the time, jurors heard how he slit the throat of the 30 year-old, who had travelled from India to build a better life for his family.

As the victim lay dying, Miller boasted to a friend: "I've just done a P**i."

The latest jail-term will run consecutive to the life sentence.

The court heard how the attack at HMP Addiewell came amid unrest in the prison September 7, 2021.

Prosecutor Angela Gray said this centred around "bullying allegations".

CCTV captured Wedlock initially being shoved to the ground by another inmate.

He walked off before more fighting broke out between prisoners. Wedlock again ended up on the floor.

Miss Gray: "He tried to get back to his feet, but Christopher Miller kicked him on the head and, while lying motionless, he then repeatedly stamped on him."

Staff stepped in before a badly hurt Wedlock was rushed to hospital.

Medics found he had suffered a "traumatic" brain injury and fractures.

He was initially kept in hospital for five weeks before being transferred to a rehab centre, which he only left in August this year.

The court heard Wedlock remains affected by what happened including needing help with simple chores.

Miller's KC John Scullion said the killer struck having been among a number of inmates who had taken street valium that day.

Miller pled guilty to assaulting Wedlock to his severe injury, permanent disfigurement and impairment as well as to the danger of his life.

Lord Richardson cut the sentence from seven years due to his guilty plea.

The judge said: "Your attack was horrendous. I have seen the CCTV - you kicked him and stamped on him, I counted, at least 10 times while he was unconscious and on the floor

 

Why Nearly All Mass Shooters In The United States Are Men

By Edward Era Barbacena 

As with almost every mass shooter in recorded U.S. history, both of the suspects in the recent attacks are men.

A staggering 98% of these crimes have been committed by men, according to The Violence Project, a nonpartisan research group that tracks U.S. mass shooting data dating back to 1966.

"Men just are generally more violent," said the group's president, Jillian Peterson, a forensic psychologist and professor of criminology and criminal justice at Hamline University. "There are many theories as to why that is."

As NPR has reported, researchers say that men, more than women, tend to externalize their problems and look for others to blame, which can translate into anger and violence. And when women do choose violence, guns are not typically their weapon of choice.

If men vastly outnumber women as mass shooters, those perpetrators are often a model for the next male shooters, who "see themselves in them," Peterson said, a phenomenon that she noted is particularly true among young, white men. Violence Project data show that white men are disproportionately responsible for mass shootings more than any other group.

"They study the perpetrators that came before them," she said. "Many school shooters study Columbine, for example; other university shooters study the Virginia Tech shooting. And they really are kind of using those previous shootings as a blueprint for their own."

During the pandemic, we saw this type of shooting fade away for a number of reasons. The most obvious reason is places just weren't open. We weren't gathering en masse. We didn't have public spaces like schools and workplaces for this to take place.

Second of all, these mass shootings really faded from the headlines. We weren't talking about them; we weren't thinking of them. And because of that, that social contagion aspect of mass shootings really faded away.

And then the third piece is we were all kind of collectively grieving. We were all collectively going through this trauma and suffering through this global pandemic. So it's possible that individuals didn't feel as personally aggrieved during the past year.

But at the same time, as a psychologist, I've been worried about all the risk factors that we know of for mass shootings that have been exacerbated in the pandemic. So, trauma, experiencing a mental health crisis, suicidality, time online and access to firearms have all increased.

There's no one answer to the policies that we need to have in place. We can kind of work our way backwards and say, these are individuals who are in crisis, who have very easy access to firearms. And are there simple things we can do like universal background checks or safe storage that prevent that ease of access?

But we can also go further back and talk about things like, how do we make sure everybody's trained in crisis intervention and suicide prevention? How do we build trauma-informed schools and go even further back? I think there's a lot of things that we can do as a society and even as individuals to help disrupt that pathway to violence.

I would say, in particular, the media coverage seems to have shifted. I'm not seeing as much of the perpetrator in the news cycle. I'm not seeing the perpetrator's name and face everywhere, which we know is what contributes to the social contagion.

I think we are having these conversations about gun policies that we could put in place — like red-flag laws, waiting periods — that might have prevented this type of shooting. I am hopeful that people are really done with this and really ready to make the changes that we need to make to prevent future victims.

 

Dallas medical examiner, 46, is shot dead by her ex-college basketball player husband, 51, in murder-suicide after she filed for divorce 

James "Jed" Frost, who played at Missouri in the early 1990s, shot wife Beth Frost before turning the weapon on himself, sheriff's deputies said.

By Edward Era Barbacena

The man who killed his estranged wife, a Dallas medical examiner, inside her office before turning the gun on himself, was identified as a former college basketball player, authorities said Friday.

James "Jed" Frost, who played at the University of Missouri in the early 1990s, fatally shot his wife, Dr. Beth Ellen Frost, Tuesday afternoon inside her office at the Dallas County Medical Examiner's Office, officials said.

The shooting is under investigation, a Dallas County Sheriff's spokeswoman said.

A key question is how James Frost got into the second-floor office through the employee entrance, Dallas County commissioner John Wiley Price said.

He would have needed to show an employee badge to get into the office of his wife, who filed for divorce earlier this year, according to Price.

"We're going to review all the security protocols," Price said. "I have all-access and I can't get in there."

First responders rushed to Dr. Frost's office near downtown Dallas after shots were heard about 4:45 p.m., sheriff's deputies said.

The scene of the crime will be converted to a storage room, Price said, so no one will have to use that space as his or her office in the future.

"We don't expect anyone to occupy that office," Price said. "I'm doing it because of the incident that happened."

Frost, 51, was a senior on the Tigers’ memorable 1993-94 squad that went 28-4 overall and 14-0 in the Big 8 Conference under Collegiate Basketball Hall of Fame coach Norm Stewart.

The 6-foot-1 guard was a walk-on who played in 79 games for the Tigers, all but six of them as a backup.

Dr. Frost, 46, was certified in forensic pathology and had been practicing in Texas for three years, according to state medical board records. She had no record of any disciplinary action or criminal arrests.

 

Dallas air show crash kills 6; bomber, fighter jet involved

By Edward Era Barbacena

Two historic military planes collided and crashed to the ground in a ball of flames during a Dallas air show, leaving six people dead, officials said.

National transportation officials were investigating the cause of Saturday's collision between a World War II-era bomber plane and a fighter jet. The crash came three years after the crash of a bomber in Connecticut that killed seven, and amid ongoing concern about the safety of air shows involving older warplanes. The company that owned the planes flying in the Wings Over Dallas show has had other crashes in its more than 60-year history.

Emergency crews raced to the crash site at the Dallas Executive Airport, about 10 miles from the city's downtown. Crumpled wreckage of the planes could be seen in a grassy area inside the airport perimeter.

The crash claimed six lives, Dallas County Judge Clay Jenkins tweeted Sunday, citing the county medical examiner. Authorities are continuing to work to identify the victims, he said. It was not clear if there were any injuries or fatalities on the ground. Dallas Fire-Rescue told The Dallas Morning News there were no reports of injuries there.

Anthony Montoya saw the two planes collide.

"I just stood there. I was in complete shock and disbelief," said Montoya, 27, who attended the air show with a friend. "Everybody around was gasping. Everybody was bursting into tears. Everybody was in shock."

Victoria Yeager, the widow of famed Air Force test pilot Chuck Yeager and herself a pilot, was also at the show. She didn't see the collision, but did see the burning wreckage.

"It was pulverized," said Yeager, 64, who lives in Fort Worth. "We were just hoping they had all gotten out, but we knew they didn't."

The National Transportation Safety Board took control of the crash scene, with local police and fire providing support, Dallas Mayor Eric Johnson said. The Federal Aviation Administration also was going to investigate, officials said. The planes collided and crashed about 1:20 p.m., the FAA said in a statement.

Officials did not specify how many people were inside each plane, but Hank Coates, president of Commemorative Air Force, the company that owns the planes and put on the air show, said one of the aircraft, a B-17 Flying Fortress bomber, typically has a crew of four to five people. The other, a P-63 Kingcobra fighter plane, has a single pilot. The aircraft are flown by highly trained volunteers, often retired pilots, he said.

Air shows must obtain special waivers from the FAA and all of the pilots have to demonstrate their skills in low flying and other manuevers used in air shows, said John Cox, a former airline captain with more than 50 years' experience. Cox is also founder of Safety Operating Systems, a company that helps smaller airlines and corporate flight services from around the world with safety planning.

Each air show is overseen by an "air boss" who serves as the flight controller for the event, Cox said.

"If there's any adjustments that have to be made, it's the air boss that makes those calls and the pilots comply with that," he said. In addition, any pilot with a mechanical problem would announce it to the air boss, he said.

Air shows typically rely on extremely detailed plans, including contingencies for emergencies, Cox said. For example, any pilot who ran into trouble could break out of formation and go to a designated area free of other planes that is identified by a landmark of some kind.

The B-17, a cornerstone of U.S. air power during World War II, is an immense four-engine bomber used in daylight raids against Germany. The Kingcobra, a U.S. fighter plane, was used mostly by Soviet forces during the war. Most B-17s were scrapped at the end of World War II and only a handful remain today, largely featured at museums and air shows, according to Boeing.

Several videos posted on social media showed the fighter plane flying into the bomber, causing them to quickly crash to the ground and setting off a large ball of fire and smoke.

The Commemorative Air Force has had previous crashes during its more than 60-year history, including a deadly 1995 crash near Odessa, Texas, involving a B-26 bomber that killed five crew members, according to an NTSB report. The plane crashed while practicing for an air show. The NTSB determined that the probable cause of the 1995 crash was the failure of the pilot to maintain minimum airspeed for flight.

In 2001, two separate West Texas crashes involving planes owned by the group — one in April and one in May — killed three people. In June 2005, two people were killed when a single-engine plane owned by the group crashed in Williamson, Ga.

The Commemorative Air Force, previously called the Confederate Air Force until members changed its name in 2001 to avoid any association with the Civil War, had been headquartered in Midland, Texas, but relocated to Dallas in 2014.

Wings Over Dallas bills itself as "America's Premier World War II Airshow," according to a website advertising the event. The show was scheduled for Nov. 11-13, Veterans Day weekend, and guests were to see more than 40 World War II-era aircraft. Its Saturday afternoon schedule of flying demonstrations included the "bomber parade" and "fighter escorts" that featured the B-17 and P-63