Category Archives: US crime

Recent school shooters appear to have crossed paths in online extremist groups

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Report reveals that teen who killed one student in Nashville area interacted with Wisconsin shooter who killed two

Two teenagers who carried out deadly shootings before killing themselves at their respective high schools in attacks roughly a month apart from each other appear to have crossed paths online, according to a new joint report from ProPublica and Wisconsin Watch.

The first shooting took place on 16 December at the Abundant Life Christian school in Madison, Wisconsin. Two people – a teacher and a 14-year-old student – were killed by the shooter, 15-year-old Natalie Rupnow, before she killed herself.

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Woman charged after death of US patrol agent in gunfight near Canadian border

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Teresa Youngblut, 21, charged with weapons crimes over highway shootout in which German man also died

A Washington state woman has been charged in the fatal shooting of a US border patrol agent during a Vermont traffic stop that happened days after authorities began watching her and a German companion, who also died in the highway shootout, the FBI said on Friday.

Teresa Youngblut, 21, faces two weapons charges in connection with the death of the border patrol agent David Maland, 44, who died on Monday during the shootout in Coventry, a small town about 20 miles from the Canadian border.

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Two Americans freed from Afghanistan in prisoner swap for Taliban figure

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Ryan Corbett and William McKenty swapped for Khan Mohammed, who was held in California for drug trafficking

A prisoner swap between the United States and Afghanistan’s Taliban has freed two Americans in exchange for a Taliban figure imprisoned for life in California on drug-trafficking and terrorism charges.

The Taliban praised the swap as a step toward the “normalization” of ties between the US and Afghanistan, but that probably remains a tall order as most countries in the world still do not recognize their rule and another two Americans are believed held.

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Southwest Airlines pilot charged with DUI while preparing for takeoff

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Officers said pilot had bloodshot eyes and smelled of alcohol before planned flight from Savannah to Chicago

Police at a Georgia airport arrested an airline pilot on a DUI charge as he was making pre-flight checks aboard a Southwest Airlines flight with bloodshot eyes and reeking of what smelled like alcohol, according to a police report.

Passengers had boarded the Southwest Airlines flight from Savannah to Chicago and were awaiting takeoff on Wednesday morning when police boarded the plane and took the pilot away in handcuffs.

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Former Oakland mayor Sheng Thao indicted months after being recalled

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Indictment comes seven months after FBI raided her home, with formal announcement scheduled to happen on Friday

Sheng Thao, the former mayor of Oakland, California has been indicted by a federal grand jury, according to the San Francisco Chronicle.

The indictment comes seven months after an FBI raid on Thao’s home and two months after she was recalled by voters in Oakland.

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FBI releases more details on how New Orleans attacker planned his rampage

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Authorities piece together timeline of radicalization of Shamsud-Din Jabbar, the US army veteran behind the attack

Before plowing a pickup truck into a crowd of New Year’s revelers in New Orleans and killing 14 people, the man who carried out the Islamic State group-inspired attack had researched how to access a balcony on the city’s famed Bourbon Street and looked up information about a similar attack at a Christmas market in Germany, the FBI said.

Nearly two weeks after Shamsud-Din Jabbar’s rampage, the FBI continues to uncover new information detailing the extensive planning by the 42-year-old US army veteran who scouted out the area multiple times in the months leading up to the attack. Authorities have also been piecing together a timeline of his radicalization.

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FBI warns of potential ‘copycat or retaliatory’ New Orleans attacks

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Agency and DHS report possible threat from extremists in response to attack that killed more than a dozen people

The Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) and the US Department of Homeland Security (DHS) on Monday warned of a potential public safety threat from violent extremists in response to the New Year’s Day attack in New Orleans, Louisiana.

“The FBI and DHS are concerned about possible copycat or retaliatory attacks due to the persistent appeal of vehicle ramming as a tactic for aspiring violent extremist attackers. Previous attackers inspired by foreign terrorist organizations (FTOs) who have conducted vehicle attacks in the United States and abroad have used rented, stolen, and personally owned vehicles, which are easy to acquire,” the agencies said in a statement.

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Megan Thee Stallion granted restraining order against rapper Tory Lanez

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Grammy-winning musician alleged the imprisoned rapper is harassing her through surrogates after he shot her in 2020

Megan Thee Stallion has been granted a restraining order from the imprisoned rapper Tory Lanez until early 2030.

The Los Angeles superior court judge Richard Bloom has granted Megan’s request for a protective order after the hip-hop star alleged that Lanez was harassing her from prison through surrogates as he serves a 10-year sentence for shooting her in the feet.

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Gunman in ‘Pizzagate’ conspiracy attack fatally shot by North Carolina police

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During traffic stop, officers fire at Edgar Welch, 2016 shooter at eatery mistakenly thought to be center of pedophile ring

The gunman involved in the 2016 “Pizzagate” conspiracy theory attack on a Washington DC pizza restaurant that was mistakenly thought to be at the center of a pedophile ring has died after being shot by police in North Carolina during a traffic stop.

In a news release issued on Thursday, North Carolina’s Kannapolis police department announced that Edgar Maddison Welch died from his wounds caused by two police officers who fired at him after he pulled out a handgun during a traffic stop on Saturday.

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FBI investigates potential associates of New Orleans attacker in US and abroad

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Officials say evidence supports theory suspect, 42, carried out deadly attack alone but reveal leads are being pursued

Federal authorities investigating the avowed Islamic State (IS) sympathizer who carried out the New Year’s Day Bourbon Street terror attack in New Orleans said they are still investigating his potential associates elsewhere in the US and abroad.

In a news briefing, officials from the FBI and the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives (ATF) said they were pursuing leads in Houston, Atlanta and Tampa, Florida. They also revealed that Shamsud-Din Jabbar visited New Orleans twice in the months before the attack, and, on one of those trips, rode a bicycle up Bourbon Street wearing smart Meta glasses and also rode around the French Quarter neighborhood – ostensibly, officials said, to prepare for the attack that he carried out, killing 14 people and injuring dozens more.

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Deadly New Orleans attack underscores looming threat of IS attacks in the US

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Islamic State has urged followers to attack the US, and the attorney general has called the group a top security concern

The Islamic State (IS) threat on the US homeland has caused renewed concern as more details emerge about the man allegedly behind what the FBI is calling an “act of terrorism” in New Orleans on New Year’s Day that killed 14 and injured scores more.

US citizen and army veteran Shamsud-Din Jabbar, 42, was killed in the attack after driving into partygoers on Bourbon Street and engaging police in a gunfight. Found inside his rental truck was the infamous black flag of IS; it was later revealed he had pledged allegiance to the group in a series of videos posted to Facebook mere hours beforehand.

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‘At a loss for words’: loved ones mourn victims of New Orleans truck attack

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Family remembers Terrence Kennedy, 63, as ‘nicest person in the world’ after reporting he was one of 14 people killed

More victims of the New Year’s attack in New Orleans, which killed at least 14 people and injured dozens more, have been identified by their relatives, as authorities continue to investigate the fatal incident.

The New Orleans coroner’s office has released the names of 12 of the 14 victims who were killed when a man drove a pickup truck into crowds on Bourbon Street and then opened fire before being killed in a shootout with police, in what officials are investigating as an act of terrorism.

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FBI finds bomb-making material at home of New Orleans attack suspect

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Investigators recover equipment from house rented by attacker who killed 14 and injured dozens on New Year’s Day

Authorities have confirmed finding bomb-making materials at the New Orleans home that US military veteran Shamsud-Din Jabbar rented before ramming a pickup truck into a crowd of New Year’s revelers, according to an FBI statement containing the most complete account yet of the attack.

Investigators recovered from Jabbar’s rental truck a transmitter intended to trigger the two bombs, the statement read, confirming prior media reporting.

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‘Worst-case scenario’: when needed most, New Orleans bollards were missing in action

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Those barriers were being repaired – and others were down – when attacker struck, prompting questions

Like the rest of those living in New Orleans at the time, Aaron Miller – then the city’s homeland security director – was terrified after a gunman drove a truck into a crowd celebrating Bastille Day in the French coastal city of Nice in 2016, killing 86 people and wounding many more in a terrorist attack claimed by the Islamic State (IS).

Similar car attacks in Berlin, London, New York and Barcelona also put him on edge as he thought about the safety of his city.

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Man pushed in front of New York City subway train injured but alive, police say

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The incident occurred in the heart of Manhattan and a man has been taken into custody, but charges are yet to be filed

A man waiting for the subway in Manhattan was pushed in front of an oncoming train on Tuesday afternoon, but survived with injuries to his leg and head, according to the New York police department.

The apparent attack comes less than two weeks after a woman died after being set on fire on a stationary train in New York, an act of violence that horrified the city.

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Ohio police solve 43-year-old murder of woman with help of DNA technology

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Debra Lee Miller, 26, was killed in her apartment in 1981 by James Vanest, who was shot dead by police last month

The murder of an 18-year-old woman in Ohio 43 years ago has been solved with the help of DNA technology, authorities announced on Monday.

Jason Bammann, the Mansfield police chief, said the cold case of Debra Lee Miller, a local waitress beaten to death with an oven grate in her apartment on 29 April 1981, was finally solved when DNA of a man shot dead by police was linked to the crime scene.

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North Carolina governor commutes 15 death row sentences on last day in office

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Roy Cooper’s historic clemency action comes a week after Biden’s resentencings shielded dozens from execution

The governor of North Carolina has granted commutations to 15 people on death row on his final day in office, changing their sentences to life without the possibility of parole.

Roy Cooper, a Democrat, announced his clemency action on New Year’s Eve, prompting praise from opponents of capital punishment, who have advocated for mass commutations to thwart executions.

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Woman fatally set on fire in New York subway car identified

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It took nine days to identify Debrina Kawam, 61, of Toms River, New Jersey, after she burned to death in Brooklyn

The woman who was set on fire in a subway car in New York on 22 December, horrifying New Yorkers and renewing a debate over city safety, has been identified as 61-year-old Debrina Kawam, of Toms River, New Jersey.

The victim’s identity, released by the New York police department, came nine days after the fatal incident. Investigators had previously said they were using forensics and video surveillance to identify the victim.

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Texas teenager accused of using poison to kill rival’s competition show goat

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Aubrey Vanlandingham charged with animal cruelty after reportedly confessing to force-feeding pesticide to goat

A Texas teenager has been charged with animal cruelty after she was accused of using pesticide to poison and kill a rival’s competition show goat.

Authorities allege that Aubrey Vanlandingham, 17, used a drench gun to force-feed toxic pesticide to the goat, named Willie, at a barn at the Vista Ridge high school in Cedar Park in October.

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Son of US senator jailed for 28 years over chase and crash that killed police officer

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Ian Cramer, 43, son of North Dakota senator Kevin Cramer, sentenced over incident last year in which he fled hospital

The adult son of the Republican North Dakota US senator Kevin Cramer has been sentenced to serve 28 years in prison in connection with a wild chase in which he fled from a hospital and drove into a deputy’s vehicle, killing the deputy.

Ian Cramer, 43, pleaded guilty in September to all of the charges against him, including homicide while fleeing a peace officer, preventing arrest, reckless endangerment, fleeing an officer and drug- and driving-related offenses. Those charges related to the chase and crash in December last year that killed the Mercer county sheriff’s deputy Paul Martin, 53.

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