Category Archives: US crime

Texas woman allegedly tried to drown Palestinian-American girl, aged 3

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Civil liberties group calls for hate crime charges against suspect in alleged racist attack at apartment complex pool

The US’s largest Muslim civil liberties and advocacy organization is calling for hate crime charges to be filed against a Texas woman accused of trying to drown a three-year-old Palestinian-American girl while saying that the child’s mother wasn’t really American.

For now, the suspect in the case has been booked on counts of attempted murder and injury to a child.

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Woman’s trial for murder of police-officer boyfriend captivates Boston

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Karen Read, 44, accused of hitting boyfriend with SUV and leaving him to die in snowbank, claims she was framed

Over the last eight weeks, a jury in Massachusetts has pondered whether 44-year-old Karen Read murdered her boyfriend, a police officer, in an act of domestic violence, or was framed by corrupt authorities trying to cover up the killing.

Read’s trial has captivated Boston residents’ attention and triggered a wave of conspiracy theories far beyond the city. At the center is Read, a suburban woman who worked as an equity analyst, and her boyfriend, 46-year-old John O’Keefe, a veteran Boston officer who was found dead in the snow on 29 January 2022.

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Survivors of deadly mass shooting at Arkansas grocery store hid in freezer

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‘I just want my baby back,’ the mother of one of four people killed said, as 10 others wounded in shooting

Families who were shopping at the Arkansas grocery where four people were killed and nine others were wounded during a mass shooting on Friday reportedly hid in the freezer as they desperately tried to stay out of the attacker’s view, according to reports.

The chilling details emerged as authorities identified the alleged shooter and the people slain at the Mad Butcher store in Fordyce.

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Three people dead and 10 injured in mass shooting at Arkansas grocery

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Shooting occurred at Mad Butcher grocery store in Fordyce, a city of about 3,200 people 65 miles south of Little Rock

Three people were killed and 10 others were wounded – including at least two law enforcement officers – when a shooter opened fire on Friday at a grocery store in Arkansas, police said.

The shooting occurred on Friday morning at the Mad Butcher grocery store in Fordyce. The suspected shooter was critically injured after being shot by police, Arkansas state police said. The wounded officers did not have life-threatening injuries.

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Family of taekwondo instructors fights off sexual assault attempt

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The black-belt ‘group of good Samaritans’ rescued an employee at a Texas cellphone store ‘just in time’

A family of taekwondo instructors fought off a man who was sexually assaulting a woman next to their dojo in Texas and detained him until sheriff’s deputies could arrive to arrest him, according to authorities.

In a statement issued Thursday, the sheriff of Harris county – which encompasses Houston – thanked Han An, his wife, Hong An, and their three children Hannah, Simon and Christian for what he called “quick action in protecting others”.

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Manhattan district attorney asks judge to extend gag order against Trump

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Alvin Bragg has received onslaught of threats against him and other officials since guilty verdict in hush-money trial

Alvin Bragg, the Manhattan district attorney who prosecuted Donald Trump in his felony trial, has asked a judge to extend a gag order against the ex-president after an onslaught of threats and harassment against him and other officials since the guilty verdict.

The gag order was placed on Trump before the start of the felony trial. It prevented the former president from attacking witnesses, court staff, jurors and relatives of Judge Juan Merchan, who oversaw the trial.

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Prosecutors say Alec Baldwin was ‘engaged in horseplay’ with gun before fatal shooting

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Actor is due to go to trial over death of cinematographer Halyna Hutchins, who was killed on set of Rust

Fewer than three weeks before actor Alec Baldwin is due to go on trial in Santa Fe, New Mexico, prosecutors have said that he “engaged in horseplay with the revolver”, including firing a blank round at a crew member on the set of Rust before the tragic accident occurred.

Baldwin is facing involuntary manslaughter charges in the 2021 shooting death of cinematographer Halyna Hutchins.

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Alex Murdaugh’s son sues Netflix over docuseries linking him to 2015 death

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Son of convicted murderer says Netflix defamed him when suggesting he was involved in death of Stephen Smith

Richard Alexander “Buster” Murdaugh, the son of imprisoned South Carolina attorney Alex Murdaugh, has filed a defamation lawsuit against Netflix, accusing the streaming giant of “reckless indifference to the truth” when it linked him to the 2015 death of his schoolfriend Stephen Smith in a documentary.

The 28-year-old son of Alex Murdaugh, who was convicted in 2022 of murdering his wife, Maggie, and youngest son, Paul, seeks actual and punitive damages from Netflix and other companies connected to documentaries examining the murders for damaging his reputation “irreparably” and causing “mental anguish”.

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US pauses avocado and mango inspections in Mexico after attack

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Two officials assaulted and held while inspecting avocados in Michoacán in incident ‘unconnected to industry’

An attack on two employees of the US agricultural department prompted a temporary suspension of safety inspections on avocados and mangoes in Mexico, potentially disrupting a $2.4bn industry between the two countries.

Ambassador Ken Salazar said in a statement that the two officials were assaulted and temporarily held by assailants while they were inspecting avocados in the Mexican state of Michoacán.

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Brooklyn’s ‘bling bishop’ sentenced to nine years for defrauding parishioner

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Lamor Whitehead accused of conning woman out of her life savings and then spending the money on luxury goods

Brooklyn’s “bling bishop” Lamor Whitehead, sometimes described as a mentor to New York’s mayor, Eric Adams, has been sentenced to nine years in prison for defrauding a parishioner’s mother out of her life savings and other scams.

The Manhattan federal court judge Lorna Schofield handed down the sentence to Whitehead on Monday, three months after he was convicted of wire fraud, attempted extortion and lying to the FBI.

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Nine injured including two children in shooting at public splash pad in Michigan

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Police say eight-year-old shot in head is in critical condition and shooter Michael William Nash died by suicide

Nine people, including two children, have been shot and wounded at a city-run water park near Detroit in what appeared to be a random attack, police have said.

Two children were among the victims, including an 8-year-old who was shot in the head and is in critical condition, after a shooter opened fire at the Brooklands Plaza Splash Pad park, where families had gathered to escape the summer heat.

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Sean Combs returns key to New York City after Cassie attack video

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Mayor Eric Adams sent letters rescinding key and asking for it to be sent back to City Hall, which received it on 10 June

Sean Combs has returned his key to New York City after a request from mayor Eric Adams in response to the release of a video showing the music mogul nicknamed “Diddy” attacking R&B singer Cassie, officials said Saturday.

The mayor’s office said Combs returned the key after Adams sent letters to the embattled musician’s offices in New York and California on 4 June rescinding the key and asking for it to be sent back to City Hall. The city received the key on 10 June.

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Rainbow flags vandalized at Stonewall National Monument in New York City

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Investigation ongoing as state attorney general Letitia James says: ‘In New York, we stand for love and acceptance, not hate and bigotry.’

Rainbow flags lining the Stonewall National Monument in New York City to celebrate Pride month were taken down and destroyed this week, police said, marking the second year in a row that the flags have been vandalized during the annual celebration of the LGBTQ+ community throughout June.

Authorities received a report early Friday about the missing flags at the monument in Manhattan’s Greenwich Village neighborhood.

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US woman faces up to 30 years in prison over bong water: ‘It’s just so wrong’

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Minnesota police charge Jessica Beske, 43, after traces of methamphetamine found in drug paraphernalia in her car

A woman who was pulled over by Minnesota police officers faces up to 30 years in prison after a bong containing water that tested positive for methamphetamine was discovered in her car, despite Minnesota decriminalizing drug paraphernalia last year.

The case shows how some are still affected by harsher laws from the “war on drugs” era.

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‘Pervasive failings’: Phoenix police kill civilians without justification, US says

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Sweeping report says officers in Arizona city routinely violate rights of Black, Hispanic and Native American people

The Phoenix police department routinely discriminates against people of color and kills civilians without justification, the US Department of Justice announced in an investigative report on Thursday.

The government found a “pattern or practice” of the police department using excessive force and violating the civil rights of Black, Hispanic and Native American people. In a first finding of its kind against any US police department, the justice department also concluded that Phoenix police unlawfully detain unhoused people and dispose of their belongings. The justice department further uncovered police discrimination against people with behavioral health disabilities when officers are dispatched to help with people in crisis, and found that police had violated the rights of people engaged in protected speech.

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Four people shot at downtown Atlanta food court

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Police say all four victims conscious and alert after attack at Peachtree Center, and suspect believed to be one of the four

Four people were shot at a food court in downtown Atlanta on Tuesday afternoon, including the initial shooter, the city’s mayor said.

Mayor Andre Dickens said on X that the shooting happened at the Peachtree Center food court.

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Republicans push conspiracy theories after Hunter Biden verdict: ‘A fake trial’

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Rightwing politicians repeat unfounded theories that gun trial verdict is a ‘distraction’ from worse Biden crimes

Republicans responded to Hunter Biden’s conviction on Tuesday of lying about his drug use to buy a gun by doubling down on conspiracy theories that many senior party figures have been using to try and damage his president father.

Despite the fact that Joe Biden’s son could now face a hefty jail sentence, Donald Trump’s election campaign and its surrogates repeated unfounded attack lines that the conviction was part of a conspiracy to deflect attention from more serious crimes and represented the use of the Department of Justice (DoJ) as a political weapon.

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Cocaine worth about $450,000 washes up on Alabama shore

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Police investigating after packages worth nearly 55lb (25kg) discovered on Dauphin Island, south of Mobile

Nearly 55lb (25kg) of what appears to be cocaine recently washed up on the shores of Alabama, local police said.

The police department in the community of Dauphin Island made the discovery, saying the recovered amount was worth about $450,000. Officers then contacted the Mobile county sheriff’s office, which also has jurisdiction in the area and is investigating the situation.

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Shooting at Wisconsin rooftop party leaves 10 injured

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Violent incident in Madison adds to more than 200 mass shootings in the US so far this year

A shooting at a rooftop party in Wisconsin early on Sunday left at least 10 people injured, including teenagers, police said.

Nine people were injured by gunfire and another was injured by broken glass at the party at a high-rise apartment in downtown Madison.

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Pride flag in window of Oregon library apparent target of BB gun attack

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Newberg-Dundee police department said in addition to vandalism were ‘concerns of biased intent’

A Pride flag that hung in the window of an Oregon library was the apparent target of BB gun fire amid Pride month and a growing wave of anti-LGBTQ+ measures from US legislatures.

In a Facebook statement on Wednesday, the Newberg public library in Newberg, Oregon, said that around 7.10pm, a BB gun was fired at a window on the south-east corner of the library. A picture showed a shattered window, behind which a Pride flag hung.

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