Sanquan Davis was re-arrested for carrying a concealed gun

Sanquan Davis (Shown R) was arrested for the armed robbery of a Waffle House on May 10, 2007.After being released on bond, Davis was re-arrested for carrying a concealed gun and possession with intent to sell and distribute cocaine. Davis was court ordered into CMPD's Electronic Monitoring program on December 14, 2007.On March 4, 2008, Sanquan Davis cut off his electronic monitor and hasn't been seen since. Davis currently has several outstanding warrants for his arrest as a result of his failure to comply with the court order.Sanquan Davis should be considered armed and dangerous. Davis is known to frequent South Boulevard, Sharon Lakes and Nations Ford Road area in south Charlotte.

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William "Billy" Rodriguez shoved her into a bedroom and pointed a gun at her head.

William "Billy" Rodriguez, 30, was arrested early Monday morning after police executed a search warrant at his house at 255 Second St., according to arrest records. According to a complaint filed by Rodriguez's girlfriend, on Sunday Rodriguez punched her in the stomach, then shoved her into a bedroom and pointed a gun at her head."I'm gonna shoot you in your (expletive) head and your brains are gonna scatter," Rodriguez allegedly said as his girlfriend held their 17-month-old daughter. The girlfriend and the child's names are being withheld by the Times Union.
The girlfriend filed a complaint, and police obtained a warrant. They raided the house at 2:31 a.m. Monday and arrested Rodriguez. Authorities said they found a .25-caliber Colt semiautomatic pistol, loaded with six rounds, in the crib where the baby was asleep."The defendant's actions were likely to be injurious to the physical, mental and moral welfare of the victim, who was asleep in the crib at the time of said weapon being recovered," arresting officer Christopher Cornell wrote in his report.Rodriguez was charged with second-degree menacing, unlawful imprisonment, two counts of acting in a manner injurious to a child and second-degree criminal possession of a weapon. He was arraigned in City Court and remains in Albany County jail with no bail.

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Recognized the gun when the Times-Union published a police evidence photo of the weapon in a story about the gas station robbery. It was unique becaus

five-shot revolver was meant to give an elderly Jacksonville woman peace of mind as she slept with it under her pillow,But more than a decade after her daughter bought it from a stranger in a parking lot, the weapon might have been one of two guns that police said four teens used to rob a Hendricks Avenue Gate station.One of the teenagers died in a police shooting as they fled the scene of that Feb. 21 crime.Now authorities are focusing part of their probe on whether someone stole that .38-caliber revolver during an attack on another senior citizen last November, Assistant State Attorney Bernie de la Rionda confirmed Tuesday.The 69-year-old victim of that attack in a park on Spring Park Road is the longtime boyfriend of the woman who bought the revolver for her mother. Both the victim and his 66-year-old girlfriend said in Times-Union interviews that he temporarily was keeping the Smith & Wesson in his truck because her grandchildren were visiting for Thanksgiving.The robbery happened after the man warned a group of teenagers who were playing basketball not to park their cars on the grass, according to a Jacksonville Sheriff's Office report.
The man said he lost consciousness after a knock to his head. When he woke up, his 2002 Chevrolet Silverado was gone along with the wallet, cell phone and gun he had in it.The Times-Union isn't identifying the victim or his girlfriend because police haven't made arrests in the November 2007 robbery case.Both said they recognized the gun when the Times-Union published a police evidence photo of the weapon in a story about the gas station robbery. It was unique because of repairs to the filed-down hammer, they said.The man said police told him when he went downtown to speak to a detective last week that someone reported the gun stolen about 20 years ago.That may be, his girlfriend told the Times-Union.At the time she bought it, she didn't know anything about the seller except that he identified himself as a gun collector who needed some fast cash. After answering his Times-Union classified ad, she met him in a grocery store parking lot and gave him $150 for the weapon.Then for years, it sat under a pillow on her mother's king-size bed.

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T. Malebese ,P. Mokhele , M. Tsenoli remain in custody after being charged with the murder

Mr. T. Malebese (22), Mr. P. Mokhele (26) and Mr. M. Tsenoli (20) appeared in court this week and will remain in custody after being charged with the murder of a 33-year old busdriver of Big Sky near Ficksburg last month.On February 5th the driver was on its way from Qwaqwa to Bloemfontein. Near Fouriesburg the three men got on the bus and pretended to be passengers. According to Mosupa, one man pulled a gun on the driver once the bus had left Ficksburg.
"The busdriver was told to stop on the R25, near zone 8 of Meqheleng. The men wanted money of him. The driver refused to hand over money and was shot in the chest. He died on the scene". The suspects fled without any money.The crime intelligence unit in Ficksburg and Ladybrand used their dog unit to gather information about the three men and take them into custody at their home in Meqheleng. They appeared in the Ficksburg court on murder charges.
The interrogation has been postponed to April 8th, due to a possible request for bail.

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El Paso drive-by shooting

El Paso Police are investigating a drive-by shooting that took place early this morning. Initial police reports said that a woman in a Mitsubishi sedan was traveling westbound on I-10 when a gold or white Hummer pulled up alongside her and fired shots. The woman was hit in the upper torso and taken by the car's driver to Providence Memorial Hospital

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Viktor Bout aka Lord of War, world's most notorious arms dealer

Thai police arrested perhaps the world's most notorious arms dealer, Viktor Bout, on Thursday after a sting operation in which US agents posed as Colombian rebels seeking an arsenal of modern weapons.
The former Russian air force pilot now faces extradition to the United States, where New York prosecutors have formally charged him and an associate with conspiring to sell millions of dollars in arms to terrorists.
The 40-year-old suspect -- who famously served as a model for actor Nicholas Cage's arms smuggling anti-hero in the Hollywood movie "Lord of War" -- was arrested at a luxury hotel in the Thai capital Bangkok, police said.Reports have linked him to civil wars in Africa and he is said to have helped arm Afghanistan's Taliban militia, Osama bin Laden's Al-Qaeda network, Marxist rebels in South America and Liberian warlord Charles Taylor.One British minister dubbed the Russian the "Merchant of Death" and the pressure group Amnesty International has alleged that at one time he operated a fleet of more than 50 planes ferrying weapons shipments around Africa.In Washington, officials said Bout had been arrested after sources working for the US Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA) mounted a sting operation by posing as Colombian guerrillas seeking to buy weapons.According to a previously sealed complaint released by New York prosecutors, the DEA sources set up several meetings with Bout's associate Andrew Smulian in Romania, Denmark and the Dutch West Indies to discuss a deal.During the meetings, agents recorded telephone calls to Bout in which he discussed shipping an arsenal of deadly weapons, including helicopters, armour-piercing rocket launchers and surface-to-air missiles.
"We were able to infiltrate his criminal organisation, to gain access to some of his key associates," said a DEA official who asked not to be named."These undercover sources were acting as high level representatives of the FARC, attempting to obtain arms," he explained, referring to the rebels of the illegal Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia (FARC).Major General Pongpat Chayaphan of the Thai police told AFP in Bangkok that Bout was arrested after a Thai court issued a warrant against him for attempted mass murder."He is now in the custody of the Crime Suppression Division. We will take legal action against him here, before deporting him to face trial in another country, likely the US," he said."We have followed him for several months. He just came back to Thailand today," Pongpat said, adding that more details would be given on Friday.Police brought Bout, an overweight figure with cropped dark hair, a moustache and a bright orange polo shirt, into their headquarters in handcuffs.Following the arrest, US prosecutors from the Southern District of New York said they would seek Bout's extradition to face charges "for conspiracy to provide material support to a terrorist organization".Bout's native Russia will also seek Bout's extradition, according to an official cited by the Ria-Novosti news agency, while Belgium has asked the international police agency Interpol to issue a global alert for him.In Liberia, a former officer with ousted dictator Taylor's intelligence service on Thursday described Bout as a "timber trader who paid his bills with weapons" destined for the warlord's notoriously brutal army.
Between 1998 and 2001, when Liberia was in the grip of civil war and subject to a United Nations arms embargo, Bout's boats arrived at the Liberian port of Buchanan loaded with weapons and left carrying wood, he said.A former Soviet air force officer who was born in 1967, Bout was dubbed the "Merchant of Death" by former British government minister Peter Hain due to his involvement in supplying arms to Liberia and Angola.
In March last year, US Treasury Department imposed sanctions against seven companies accused of fueling the war in Democratic Republic of Congo at the start of the decade. Three of the companies were linked to Bout.

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Cancun police chief of staff Wilfredo Flores Saucedo and his bodyguard, Alejandro Xicotencalt, were shot dead

Cancun police chief of staff Wilfredo Flores Saucedo, 56, and his bodyguard, Alejandro Xicotencalt, were shot dead in a department vehicle Monday night, Police Commissioner Adrian Samos Medina said. They were driving home on a busy avenue in the Caribbean resort, one of Mexico's biggest tourist areas. Flores was a former army colonel. Police had made no arrests and were still investigating, Samos said Tuesday."We don't know how many (gunmen) or who they were," said police spokesman Oscar Meza. "(Flores) had 15 bullet wounds, mainly in his head and neck," Meza said. "We can't see a motive. He works in an office planning public security. He's not on operations and has nothing to do with investigating drug cartels."
Prosecutor Bello Melchor Rodriguez said the assassination "has the markings of a narco-killing." Last weekend alone, kidnappers killed four policemen in the Pacific coast state of Guerrero; three were gagged and shot and another was beheaded. Police in Tijuana last week found the severed heads of three police officers and a fourth man. And at least 11 police officials have been gunned down this year in Nuevo Laredo, in the north. Police killings are rarer in Cancun, although the resort has seen a few civilian murders in recent months. Drug-related violence has claimed the lives of more than 600 people this year in Mexico. In 2005, more than 1,500 people died in gang-related drug violence. Killings and attacks on the Mexican side of the border prompted the U.S. State Department to issue a travel alert in January 2005 warning Americans about the spike in violent crime, including murder and kidnapping.
Although the alert expired a year ago, the State Department still cautions travelers about continued high crime levels, especially in Mexico City, Tijuana, Ciudad Juarez, Nuevo Laredo, and the state of Sinaloa. Earlier this year, President Vicente Fox — under pressure from the U.S. Congress and border state governors — decided not to sign a bill that would have decriminalized possession of small amounts of marijuana, cocaine and heroin. The bill also would have allowed local police to join federal authorities in investigating drug traffickers.Drug violence and attacks on police have risen in the run-up to Sunday's presidential election; former Mexico City mayor Andrés Manuel Lpez Obrador and conservative Felipe Caldern of the ruling National Action Party (PAN) are in a close race for the presidency.

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Shooting deaths of five young people whose bodies were found Tuesday off a dirt road in a rural section of Tijuana

The shooting deaths of five young people whose bodies were found Tuesday off a dirt road in a rural section of Tijuana are being linked to their suspected gang involvement, authorities said.
“It makes us very sad, because of their youth, but the initial information that we've received indicates they weren't exactly white doves,” said Alberto Capella Ibarra, Tijuana's secretary of public safety. A passer-by spotted their bodies about 8 a.m. near Bulevar 2000, a new thoroughfare linking eastern Tijuana with the coast, authorities said. The youngest victim was a girl, between 16 and 18, according to the Baja California Attorney General's Office. Three of the four male victims ranged in age from 18 to 22, while the fourth appeared to be between 25 and 30, according to a statement the office released Tuesday. The Attorney General's Office had not identified the victims by Tuesday evening. They had been dead between three and six hours when they were found, according to the statement. The discovery comes a day after soldiers and federal police took on members of a kidnapping ring in a seven-hour gunbattle in a well-to-do hillside neighborhood in the central La Mesa district. The operation claimed one suspect's life, but resulted in the release of a kidnapping victim, the son of a prominent businessman, who was being held at the residence, Capella said. “In the business sector, there is much satisfaction” over the victim's rescue, Capella said.
Violence has increased in the region in recent months even as federal, state and municipal authorities have pledged a united front against organized crime and the Mexican military has taken on a unprecedented role in fighting criminal groups.
“We're in a new era, there's no doubt,” said Victor Clark, a Tijuana human rights activist who has followed crime trends in the city for years.
The stepped-up effort comes as the grip of the Arellano Felix cartel has weakened, and smaller criminal cells have been operating with less control, Clark said.
The complexity of the battle was evident Tuesday, as Gov. Jose Guadalupe Osuna Millan called on federal prosecutors to present better cases, lamenting that a judge released a group of suspects who had been detained by the military, citing lack of evidence. Ricardo Gonzalez Saba, national president of the influential business group COPARMEX, urged continued efforts against crime when he spoke in Tijuana Tuesday to business leaders and government officials. The issue of crime “is not ending, it is increasing in strength and virulence,” he said. One way or another, the crime issue has touched all sectors of society, and the image of violence has badly harmed tourist areas such as Avenida Revolucion and Rosarito Beach. State and municipal officials have taken measures to decrease police corruption, and say such reports have dropped drastically. This week's violence in Tijuana occurred far from tourist areas, and the incidents “have nothing to do” with foreign visitors to the city, Capella said. “Why not ask about all the gang-related shootings that take place in San Diego and Los Angeles,” he said, “and how this affects Mexicans who travel as tourists to California.”

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204th Street and East Side Torrance members can no longer associate with one another. That includes "standing, sitting, walking, driving, gathering or

A judge Tuesday approved a court order meant to cripple two Harbor Gateway gangs, severely limiting the members from walking, driving or even standing with one another.
Los Angeles Superior Court Judge David Yaffe's approval of a preliminary injunction, which occurred the same day a young boy was shot in an apparently gang-related attack, creates a so-called safety zone and gives police officers the authority to enforce a variety of tough restrictions on the members of the 204th Street and East Side Torrance gangs. Although police could not say that East Side Torrance was involved in Tuesday's shooting, they are investigating the possibility because the victim and his family strayed into the gang's turf. Police and prosecutors have been waiting for the ruling since December, when they filed the gang injunction and served papers on more than 40gang members.
Members of 204th Street hired an attorney to fight the order, but East Side Torrance members did not. "(The judge) said there was enough for the preliminary injunction. It's an ongoing threat and it needs to be stopped," said Deputy City Attorney Anne Tremblay, assistant supervisor of her office's gang division. The "safety zone" established by the injunction is bounded by Del Amo Boulevard to the north, Western Avenue on the west, Lomita Boulevard on the south and Normandie Avenue on the east. It extends 100 yards to the outside of each
boundary and takes in the locations where 14-year-old Cheryl Green was killed in December 2006, and a 6-year-old boy was wounded Tuesday.
According to the order, 204th Street and East Side Torrance members can no longer associate with one another. That includes "standing, sitting, walking, driving, gathering or appearing anywhere in public view, in a public place or in any place accessible to the public." The only exemptions are in a school or church.
In addition, police can arrest gang members who confront, intimidate, annoy, harass, threaten, challenge, provoke, assault or batter anyone who lives, works or passes through the safety zone.
Gang members also cannot: Possess any firearm, ammunition or other dangerous weapon.
Sell, traffic or possess any controlled substance or marijuana, and any drug paraphernalia, including pipes and rolling papers.
Act as lookouts by "whistling, yelling or otherwise signalling" with hand signals, walkie talkies or cellular telephones to warn others that police are nearby.
Obstruct traffic, drink in public, carry graffiti tools, loiter, trespass or violate curfew. The injunction specifically identifies more than 40 East Side Torrance and 204th Street gang members by name, but is not limited to them.
LAPD Harbor Division officers must again serve gang members with the order before they can begin enforcing it, Tremblay said. Capt. William Hayes, the Harbor Division's commander, said he had not been informed about the judge's decision and was awaiting word from the City Attorney's Office on what action to take next.
Police and prosecutors pushed for the injunction following Green's killing. Her suspected killers are 204th Street gang members who allegedly shot her because she is black. Officers took a year to gather evidence against gang members to support the injunction and write a document before submitting it to a judge.

Attorney Ronald Mintz, who represents 204th Street in its opposition, said the police evidence against his clients is based on hearsay, rumor and innuendo.

"The judge didn't really care what I had to say," Mintz said.

A court hearing will be scheduled for prosecutors to seek a permanent injunction similar to those imposed in recent years in Harbor City, Redondo Beach and Lennox.
Mintz said his clients believe the injunction against the gang members violates their individual rights. Prosecutors, Mintz said, sued a "fictitious entity" that does not drink beer in public or smoke marijuana. Its members, he said, cannot be treated as a unit, and are legally no different than the Boy Scouts of America.
"A Boy Scout may go out and shoot somebody," Mintz said. "That doesn't make all the members guilty."
East Side Torrance formed in the 1970s, getting its name from its location. Although the area it calls home has a Torrance mailing address, it is east of the city's boundary in the Harbor Gateway area of Los Angeles.
Its territory is bounded by Western, Sepulveda Boulevard, Normandie and Carson Street, according to an affidavit filed by Los Angeles police Detective Dan Robbins in support of the gang injunction. East Side Torrance feuded with Torrance's La Rana gang, which helped create the 204thStreet gang in the 1980s. East Side Torrance's rivals include 204th Street to the north, Harbor City Boys and Harbor City Crips to the south, and Tortilla Flats in the unincorporated area to the east. "When one gang tries to move into another's turf, deadly gang wars are often the result," Robbins wrote

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Two Latino males flashed gang signs before opening fire on the red GMC Yukon

6-year-old black boy was critically wounded Tuesday when he was shot in the head by suspected Latino gang members as the victim's family drove through the Harbor Gateway neighborhood on their way to an auto auction, Los Angeles Police Chief William J. Bratton said.
Two Latino males flashed gang signs before opening fire on the red GMC Yukon with six people inside, including a woman who is eight months pregnant, Bratton said. The rear window of the SUV was shattered by the gunfire, and one of the rounds hit the boy in the head, he said.The victim was rushed by paramedics to Harbor-UCLA Medical Center after the shooting, which occurred about 12:40 p.m. on 227th Street between Halldale and Denker avenues, police said. The boy was listed in critical condition.
The shooting caps several weeks of violent incidents believed to involve gangs around Los Angeles County that have sparked both fear and anger in some neighborhoods. Earlier this week, a Los Angeles High School football player was gunned down in what authorities described as an unprovoked attack by gang members. Last week, a gang member opened fire at a bus stop in South Los Angeles, wounding eight people, including five children. Before that, a gun battle between LAPD officers and gang members outside a Glassell Park school caused much of the community to be locked down for hours.Some -- but not all -- of the incidents involved violence between blacks and Latinos.As of Saturday night there had been 67 homicides reported in the city since Jan. 1, compared with 54 for the same period last year, an increase of 24%, according to the LAPD. But violent crime in general continues a downward trend, with 5.1% fewer incidents reported so far this year.
Police said the family of the victim in Tuesday's shooting was not from the Harbor Gateway neighborhood, which is known for racial tensions between Latino gangs and black residents. Other passengers inside the vehicle were a man and a woman and two other children, ages 3 and 1 1/2 .There were no other reported injuries, police said.Police cordoned off two blocks Tuesday afternoon as they launched a massive search for the two suspects, one described as between the ages of 28 and 30, heavyset, wearing a white T-shirt and black pants; the other, between ages 16 and 20, with a shaved head and possibly a mustache, wearing blue jeans and riding a racing bicycle.Bratton did not say whether the suspects had ties to a specific gang, but he noted that the neighborhood is home to the East Side Torrance gang. "This is an area that is under the influence of a Latino gang," Bratton said. "You may recall that about a year or so ago, the mayor and I were engaged in a major initiative up the street at 204th Street, where there had been the shooting death of a young black woman."Bratton was referring to the killing of 14-year-old Cheryl Green in December 2006. Two members of the 204th Street gang allegedly shot Green as she stood talking with friends.The suspects were later caught and charged with murder, along with a special hate crime allegation. They are still awaiting trial.Both shootings occurred in the narrow strip of land known as Harbor Gateway, which connects the bulk of Los Angeles and the harbor communities.
Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa joined Bratton at an afternoon news conference to discuss the latest shooting. He noted that there had been several apparently unprovoked gang attacks in recent weeks."What's been particularly disturbing is the sensational nature of some of these incidents," Villaraigosa said. "It was people minding their own business. . . . That's what causes even more concern. This wasn't a gang battle."Josefina Salazar, 40, who lives in the neighborhood with her two children, said residents live in constant fear of gang violence."We worry about our security here," she said. "But rent is so high there's no option to go anywhere else."
Salazar, who stood outside a house where several TV trucks were parked, said the mayor and police chief "say they're cleaning the city up, but then things like this happen again."Another resident, who has lived in the neighborhood for three years and did not want to be identified, described the area as "gang infested" and pointed to the graffiti on a nearby driveway. He said his garage door also has been painted with graffiti.
"This place has no laws," he said. The police "never come to protect. They come to collect the dead."
The East Side Torrance and 204th Street gangs are longtime rivals. But they also are known for preying on black residents.
The shooting came a week after Los Angeles City Atty. Rocky Delgadillo obtained a preliminary gang injunction against 26 members of East Side Torrance and 204th Street.The injunction bars the members from associating with one another in public within a designated Harbor Gateway "safety zone." Violators would face up to a year in jail, said Jeff Isaacs, head of the city attorney's criminal prosecutions.
In a declaration supporting Delgadillo's request against East Side Torrance, LAPD Sgt. Dan Robbins said the gang frequently targeted black residents with violence, harassment and racist graffiti."Every black person, but in particular black males, is a potential victim of EST violence and intimidation," wrote Robbins, the LAPD's expert on the two gangs.

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Tithebarn Street venue scene of a horrific late-night shooting

The Preston nightclub which was the scene of a horrific late-night shooting has been shut down.Preston Council's licensing sub-committee decided to revoke the premises licence of Club Arena after hearing that gangs were at the venue and serious breaches of health and safety laws had taken place.Coun David Hammond, chairman of the committee, said at the conclusion of the hearing at 6.30pm on Wednesday: "We have taken this decision after hearing and considering all the evidence.
"The only option for us is to revoke the licence."
The two-day hearing at Preston Town Hall was told how police believed gangs were using the Tithebarn Street venue.Environmental health officers had also described how they had serious concerns for the safety of staff and customers after electric cabling was found exposed and bottles of carbon dioxide were not kept secure.
Club owners Andrew Manville and his fiancée Helen McDonald, who both live in Blackpool, admitted the building was not safe, but insisted it was in an unsafe state when they took over the lease.

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Armed officer is faced with having to shoot a child pointing a gun at them

Police in Merseyside have a plan aimed at key criminals, based on a successful US operation to cut gun crime in Boston. They have drawn up a hitlist of the main suspects and have promised they will get “very special attention”. Detective Chief Superintendent Stephen Moore said: “If you use a gun you will be seeing us sooner rather than later.”
It is only a matter of time before an armed officer is faced with having to shoot a child pointing a gun at them, a senior Home Office official has said.
Children as young as 8 are growing up with guns in their lives and think nothing of storing or transporting firearms for gang leaders, said Jon Murphy, head of the gun crime task force. “It’s a classic no-win situation,” he added. “The volatility of these kids may make them pull the trigger. If they are challenged by an armed officer it is their inability to rationalise what is happening that will put the officer in a difficult position.
“I cannot see a way, with the way that things are going, that this awful scenario is not going to happen. As soon as they point the gun at the officer the officer will have no choice but to shoot. Fifteen years ago a gang feud may have been settled with a fist fight, ten years ago with a knife fight but now it will be guns.”
In the past five years the number of young people prosecuted for firearms offences has risen by 20 per cent. Speaking at the first European Serious Organised Crime Conference, in Liverpool, Mr Murphy told that for many youngsters gangs took the place of a family. Sir Ian Blair, the Metropolitan Police Commissioner, told the conference about a Lithuanian gang that had “steadily been increasing the flow of illegal firearms”. The guns ended up “in the hands of those too young, too bad or too foolish to do other than shoot each other with them”, he added.

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Gun used to shoot Miami-Dade Officer Roberto Gonzalez had been stolen

The gun believed to have been used by an ex-felon to shoot Miami-Dade Officer Roberto Gonzalez had been stolen last year in a burglary in South Miami-Dade, according to an arrest report released Monday.Police found the Heckler & Koch .40-caliber semiautomatic pistol soon after Gonzalez, 31, was wounded in South Miami Heights late Sunday.Detectives arrested Jhonnell Harris, 20, of 11611 SW 180th St., Sunday night and charged him with attempted first-degree murder of a law enforcement officer, possession of a firearm by a convicted felon and theft.He was booked Monday morning into the Turner Guilford Knight Correctional Center.
Tracing the gun's serial number, Miami-Dade homicide detectives found the gun had been reported stolen on July 21, 2007. The bureau declined to release the burglary report because of the ongoing investigation.Gonzalez, a rookie with 10 months on the force, was rushed by helicopter to Jackson Memorial Hospital's Ryder Trauma Center in Miami. He underwent surgery Monday.
''He is recovering now with his family,'' said Miami-Dade Detective Alvaro Zabaleta, a spokesman.Miami-Dade Mayor Carlos Alvarez plans to visit Gonzalez on Tuesday. The mayor's chief of staff, Denis Morales, visited Gonzalez on Sunday night.
''He was in good spirits. He was more concerned with the apprehension of the subject,'' Morales said. 'He told me, `I did my best to stay with [Harris] as long as I could.' ''
The shooting prompted renewed calls by the police union to add officers, increase pay and prosecute criminals with more vigor.
''It really truly is a war zone out there. In my 31 years, I've never seen it this bad,'' said Police Benevolent Association President John Rivera.
The shooting comes less than two months after Miami Detective James Walker was shot and killed in North Miami Beach, a shooting investigators believe was a case of mistaken identity.In September, Officer Jose Somohano -- like Gonzalez, of the Cutler Ridge police district -- was shot and killed by a man wielding an assault rifle in a firefight. Three other officers were wounded.In the arrest report released Monday, investigators said Gonzalez was investigating a burglary at a South Miami Heights warehouse, 10440 SW 186th Ter., about 8:15 p.m. Sunday.
Gonzalez then saw Harris sprint west on Southwest 186th Lane. The rookie gave chase, radioing the man's description over the radio.Harris turned around, wielding the pistol, and fired several rounds. Gonzalez was hit twice, never returning fire, according to the report.A witness saw Harris, who was wearing dark clothes, running from the warehouse district.Fellow Miami-Dade officers from the Cutler Ridge district collared Harris in a U-Gas parking lot.Officers found the H&K handgun in a trash bin and several casings on the roadway nearby.Harris has been in trouble with the law before.
In 2005, he was convicted of carrying a concealed weapon. In December 2005, Harris was arrested on charges of burglary of an unoccupied dwelling, grand theft and criminal mischief. He received probation, which was later revoked.
The next year, he was convicted of third-degree grand theft and marijuana possession.
Last year, he was arrested in an armed robbery case, but the charge was later dropped when detectives realized the actual culprit was his younger brother

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Meloney Jackson borrowed a gun from a neighbor under arrest for the shooting death of her husband

Meloney Jackson of Florida is under arrest for the shooting death of her husband, Kevin Jackson. Mrs. Jackson borrowed a gun from a neighbor allegedly to shoot Mr. Jackson.How do you borrow a gun from a neighbor at 5am. I realize it’s Florida and all but how the hell would you even approach that with a neighbor. I wonder what reason she gave to the neighbor to borrow the gun. “I’m gonna go shoot me some rats?”
Mrs. Jackson denies the shooting but a gun dealer claims she was in his shop trying to buy a gun for self defense from her husband.Not surprisingly the Jacksons were in the middle of a divorce.

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Three men are under arrest after leading Suffolk police on a three-minute chase in North Amityville this morning, authorities said.

At 11:22 a.m., plainclothes officers from the First Precinct noticed a 2008 Nissan Altima drive through Glenmalure Street in North Amityville a number of times before parking illegally -- with the driver's side to the curb -- in front of a home. The officers called a marked car to the scene, and as the responding vehicle turned into the street, the Altima took off.First Squad Det. Sgt. Gerard Pelkofsky said that the vehicles were not traveling at a high rate of speed, and that the pursuit ended about three minutes later when the Altima crashed into a telephone pole on Dererka Street. The pole collapsed, severely damaging the Altima.The driver, later identified as Kesley Nosy, 18, of North Amityville, fled from the scene. Two passengers, Robert Billinger, 17, also of North Amityville, and Jereme Miller, 34, of Brentwood, were arrested. A loaded nine millimeter handgun was recovered from the car, police said. Nosy was apprehended ten to 15 minutes later in a nearby garage.
All three men were charged with criminal possession of a weapon. In addition, Nosy was charged with unlawfully fleeing a police officer in a motor vehicle, criminal trespass, and for an outstanding warrant issued in Suffolk County for possession of marijuana, Pelkofsky said. Billinger suffered a slight abrasion to the forehead, but declined medical attention. None of the officers were injured in the pursuit.
Pelkofsky said investigators don't know why the men were originally on Glenmalure Street. The handgun will be examined at the crime laboratory and the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms, and Explosives. The bullets will be compared to see if they match any unsolved shootings. Nosy, Billinger and Miller will be arraigned tomorrow in First District Court in Central Islip.

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Challenging the seizure of guns, ammunition, firearms accessories, and survival literature

The United States Court of Appeals for the 4th Circuit decided a case on Tuesday in favor of police on all elements of a civil rights claim involving the preventive detention of a suicidal man with a large cache of arms and ammunition. The facts drive the case and I repeat them at length from the opinion, up until the proceedural issues of the police department not returning the guns and ammunition because the individual from whom they were seized is willing to fill out a state, but not a local form are addressed:
At 1:02 P.M. on July 23, 2002, Maryland police received a call from a healthcare hotline operator. The operator said that she had just spoken to Anthony Mora, a local firefighter, who told her he was suicidal, had weapons in his apartment, could understand shooting people at work, and said, "I might as well die at work." By 1:03, multiple units were en route to Mora’s apartment. By 1:04, police had called one of Mora’s co-workers, who confirmed that Mora’s threats should be taken seriously; at some point, police also learned that Mora’s girlfriend had recently ended her relationship with him. Police arrived to find Mora in the parking lot loading suitcases and gym bags into a van, and they approached with guns drawn. By 1:13, Mora was handcuffed and on the ground. No warrant had been sought.At that point, police and Mora began talking, and police began searching — whether with consent or without is disputed. Police first searched Mora’s luggage and van, finding one .32-caliber handgun round in a suitcase. Next, taking Mora’s keys, they entered his apartment, where they found a large gun safe in the kitchen and every interior door (including bathroom and closets) locked. Mora relinquished the combination under pressure, and inside police discovered twelve handguns, eight rifles, one shotgun, and keys to a second safe. Opening the interior doors, the second safe, and a locked file cabinet, police found guns, ammunition, gun accessories, and what police called "survival literature" in every room but the bathroom.At that point, two officers drove Mora to a hospital to see a psychiatrist. See Md. Code Ann., Health-General § 10-622(a) (LexisNexis 2005) (authorizing involuntary emergency psychiatric evaluation if an individual has a mental disorder and presents a threat to his own safety or that of others). The other officers re-entered the apartment to seize Mora’s weapons. All told, they removed forty-one firearms — some apparently automatic, semi-automatic, or assault-style, and some loaded — as well as five-thousand rounds of ammunition, various accessories, and survivalist publications. The Gaithersburg police department took that property into custody. Again, no warrant had been sought.
We do not precisely know what the psychiatrist who saw Mora that day concluded, but Mora was not involuntarily committed, though he voluntarily admitted himself and stayed at the hospital for several days. There were also no criminal charges brought against him based on the day’s events, then or at any other time. After his stay in the hospital, Mora returned home, where he discovered that his firearms and associated property were missing. Over the next few months, he moved to Pennsylvania. Meantime, the Gaithersburg police completed their investigation (which showed that Mora was a licensed gun collector and did not have a disqualifying criminal conviction) and closed the case administratively, storing the seized property in their evidence room. In 2003, through counsel, Mora inquired about getting his property returned, and Gaithersburg police did eventually return the accessories and survival literature — but not the guns and ammunition.
The 4th Circuit notes that most of the law on search and seizure involves post-crime, rather than preventative cases, although the citation to Hamdi for the proposition that preventative detention is valid in the case of enemy combatants isn't terribly apt and is, indeed, chilling as it implies that the President's claim to have a right to detain U.S. citizens on U.S. soil for fear that a person would commit a future crime without major judicial review might have merit (which is why Jose Padilla was transferred to the 4th Circuit to be detained).
Still, this is clearly a case where there was probable cause to believe that Mora was attempting to commit a grievous crime and taking an affirmative step towards that plan. Likewise, there was clearly probable cause to believe that he was a threat to others and himself and hence that he was properly taken for a mental evalution. At 1:13 a.m., there was no violation of the United States Constitution.
The searches that follow are a closer call. The 4th Circuit reasoned that:
The authority to defuse a threat in an emergency necessarily includes the authority to conduct searches aimed at uncovering the threat’s scope. When police arrived at Mora’s apartment and handcuffed him, they did not and could not fully know the dimensions of the threat they faced. They knew only that they faced an emergency of the kind that has traditionally justified warrantless searches, even into a home. See Mincey, 437 U.S. at 392-94 (recognizing that warrantless entry into a home is permitted in exigent circumstances). As the district court emphasized, Mora might have had a bomb — not an unprecedented thing for men in his state of mind. Or as the commanding officer at the scene pointed out in his report, Mora might have taken hostage the girlfriend who, police knew, had recently broken up with him. Or Mora might have had a confederate. Even in the context of an ordinary criminal arrest, handcuffing a suspect outside his car does not eliminate officers’ authority to search the passenger compartment for weapons or evidence.
While I'm not sure that I would be as willing to make the findings of fact upon which the district court's ruling on this point was based, that there was a bona fide fear of a bomb or a kidnapped girlfriend, the facts were muddy enough that the district court's ruling on this point was probably not an abuse of discretion. The concern about a possible kidnap victim or confederate in the apartment with the weapons was meaningful.I definitely part company with the 4th Circuit on the next question it addresses:Mora next challenges the seizure of his guns, ammunition, firearms accessories, and survival literature. First, he questions whether there was any basis under the Fourth Amendment for taking property that was not contraband or evidence of a crime and that presented no immediate danger to the officers. Second, he argues that the Fourth Amendment’s warrant requirement had surely taken hold by the time police took his property, for at that point he was already in a police cruiser en route to the hospital.
With regard to the first subpoint, the 4th Circuit states based upon some rather dubious precedent for a case like this one that: "There are no shortage of precedents approving preventive seizures for the sake of public safety." But, this is the strong of the issues for the police.
The bigger issue is the lack of a warrant. The 4th Circuit reasoned that:
[The police] had no way of knowing whether confederates might possess access to Mora’s considerable store of firearms, or whether Mora himself might return to the apartment more quickly than expected and carry out some desperate plan. Further, it was unclear whether the weapons themselves might become evidence in a forthcoming prosecution, making the need to guard against their disappearance great.

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Joseph T. Mancha,Juan Carlos Gamboa-Pacheco,Jessica LeAnn Cleveland on numerous drug and weapons charges

A 44-year-old Fernley man with possible ties to the Nortenos Hispanic gang in northern California, was arrested by Lyon County Sheriff's Office Narcotic Division on Friday morning on numerous drug and weapons charges.According to LCSO Lieutenant Bob Sherlock, after his office received information from an informant that a large quantity of methamphetamine was being sold, the narcotics division conducted a two-week investigation before a search warrant was served at 1404 Mt. Rose Drive, where Joseph T. Mancha, 44, was taken into custody.Also arrested were Juan Carlos Gamboa-Pacheco, 22, and Jessica LeAnn Cleveland, 26, who were also in the home at the time of the bust.Sherlock said that due to Mancha's past history, which includes being an ex-felon and an extensive history of narcotics arrests, the LCSO SWAT Team served the warrant.Deputies recovered a trafficking amount of methamphetamine, marijuana, 12 handguns, three assault rifles, two shotguns, 20 knives, large quantities of ammunition. and drug paraphernalia.Also recovered was approximately $8,000 in cash."It wasn't a lot of dope, but (we believe) these (money) are proceeds of what he had before," charged Sherlock of the cash that was found.Mancha was booked into the Lyon County Jail on charges of trafficking methamphetamine; being an ex-felon in possession of firearms; sale of methamphetamine; unlawful use of a controlled substance; and maintaining a resident for the purpose of sale and use of a controlled substance.His bail was set at $161,800.The two other occupants of the home, Pacheco and Cleveland, both had outstanding felony warrants.Pacheco was arrested on charges of possession of methamphetamine; possession of marijuana; and two outstanding felony warrants and is being held without bail.
Cleveland was arrested on charges of possession of marijuana; parole violation and possession of narcotics paraphernalia.She is also being held without bail.
Sherlock indicated the weapons were found throughout the house, and that Mancha also had guns on his night stand, which were loaded and ready, when law enforcement officers arrested him in his bedroom.
Sherlock said weapons were even found in a duffle bag in crawl space of the house, and he indicated that often, weapons are traded for drugs, as "gang bangers" who can't buy guns because they have to get them registered "go out and steal them."
None of the guns obtained in the drug bust was reported as stolen, but Sherlock still believes the guns may have been obtained illegally, as many are antiques from World Ware I and II, as well as the 1920s, and even an early black powder hand gun from the early 1800s.
Sherlock charged that Mancha is a "substantial dealer in Fernley," and that Friday's 7:24 a.m. bust, slowed the drug flow in Fernley for a short time.
"It'll slow it down a little bit. There are so many dealers, he's one of them, and we were able to snag him," said the LCSO lieutenant.
Mancha, according to Sherlock, has been in prison four different times and served nearly 11 years in prisons in California.

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Karlo Galentine Officers stopped Galentine and found a 9mm pistol in the waistband of his pants, police said.

Police said they arrested a Weatherford High School student after finding a pistol in his pants Tuesday.Police said they were trying to question Karlo Galentine, 19, after they found marijuana in his locker when he tried to walk away.
Officers stopped Galentine and found a 9mm pistol in the waistband of his pants, police said. Galentine admitted to stealing the weapon, but police said there was no evidence of a plot or threat from him.Police said a student submitted a tip to Crimestoppers, which the school’s principal, David Belding, applauded.“I encourage all parents to talk to their children and stress the importance of doing what is right – as the student did who came forward this morning,” he said in a news release.

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First Coast High School arrests

Two students at First Coast High School were arrested Wednesday morning, accused of bringing a loaded gun on campus.The gun's discovery aroused strong emotions among some parents."My child's not getting no education as of today because they want to go on the TV and they want to lie and say they've got this school under control. This school is nowhere near under control," said parent Alena Spicer.
Another parent, Eureka Washington, told Channel 4 her son went to the resource officer when he saw a gun passed from one student to another during a fight on Tuesday.Duval County School Board spokeswoman Jill Johnson said the school resource officer, acting on a tip, removed 18-year-old Adrian Anderson from in-school suspension without any resistance. The loaded gun was found in Anderson's backpack.
According to authorities, Anderson told police a 15-year-old gave the gun to him because other students were "trying him."Anderson and the 15-year-old, whose name was not released, were both arrested."This is proof that students are doing what they should be doing," Johnson said. "We're telling our students, if they see something on campus, to please let the faculty know. A student did."Washington said that although trouble was averted, that did not happened until she came to the school's principal for answers."I asked him, 'What are y'all doing about the gun?' He was like, 'Shhh. We're trying to keep on -- we don’t want too many people to know about it.' I said, 'What? No. Y'all need to drop what you're doing and actually find out where this gun is at and where this boy is at,'" Washington said.
The school board said First Coast High School Principal Tony Bellamy is doing everything he can to make a safe environment for his students.
"Things that are happening out there and the things that principals is putting in place to ensure the safety of the students at First Coast High School," Johnson said.
However, many parents said they are fed up with the mounting problems.
"A lot of stuff they are doing is just brushing stuff under the rug. They are not dealing with the problem," Washington said.
"They want to sit here and say it's just rumors. It's not rumors … it's on TV everyday," Spicer said.Both parents told Channel 4 that Wednesday was the last day their children would be at First Coast High School.

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Arrested five people believed to be armed

Barrie police arrested five people in a Barrie apartment complex who were believed to be armed. Police received a 911 call Tuesday to the downtown building after getting a report a couple of men were seen carrying a gun into an apartment.
Uniformed officers attended the scene with the tactical response unit and removed five people from the apartment. Three were charged with criminal offences not related to the weapons investigation.
No weapon was found but the incident is still under investigation.

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11th-grader at First Coast High School was arrested firearm was a .25-caliber semi-automatic handgun with a loaded magazine of seven live rounds

11th-grader at First Coast High School was arrested Wednesday morning and accused of carrying a loaded gun on campus.A school resource officer investigating a fight on campus was told there was a student in the in-school suspension room who was carrying a gun, according to the police report. Two officers went to the room about 9 a.m. and conducted a search. After a student tried to walk out of the room, police searched him and found a gun in his left front pocket, the report said.
The firearm was a .25-caliber semi-automatic handgun with a loaded magazine of seven live rounds, according to police. The 11th-grader told the officer that a 15-year-old student gave him the gun Wednesday morning because he was having problems with other students.That student, who is not being named because of his age, also was arrested. His charge and police report were unavailable Wednesday. The 11th-grader, 18-year-old Adrian Rayshawn Anderson, was charged with possession of a firearm on school property and alteration of a firearm serial number, both third-degree felonies.This is the first time this school year a student has been caught with a gun in a First Coast High School classroom though there were firearm arrests outside of football games last fall.

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Homeland Security agents hired to protect the nation’s borders have instead been arrested for accepting bribes

A growing number of Homeland Security agents hired to protect the nation’s borders have instead been arrested for accepting bribes, drug trafficking and human smuggling.From south Florida to Mexican Border States, federal agents working for Homeland Security agencies such as U.S. Customs and Border Protection are themselves committing the crimes they are paid with U.S. tax dollars to stop.
The problem is so rampant that a top Homeland Security official in Washington recently issued an alert to more than 20,000 federal officers nationwide about the “disturbing events” and the increasing number of employee arrests. A south Florida newspaper obtained the hard-hitting memo , authored by the agency’s assistant commissioner of field operations (Thomas Winkowski).An embarrassment to the agency charged with protecting national security, the document lists examples of employees arrested for domestic violence, drunk-driving and drug possession. It goes on to remind the federal officers that it’s their responsibility to uphold laws, not break them, and that they must behave professionally at all times.The memo didn’t mention the more serious offenses recently committed by federal agents across the nation. They include a Customs and Border Protection officer at a Florida airport charged with assisting a drug smuggling ring by tapping into sensitive federal databases and another convicted for accepting $1,000 each from several illegal immigrants entering the country through a separate Florida airport.

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Western African countries are rapidly developing into major drug smuggling routes

More than 7% of all cocaine abusers in the world are in Africa. This is according to the International Narcotics Control Board's 2007 annual report, which was released in Pretoria today. The report also reveals that Western African countries are rapidly developing into major drug smuggling routes, especially when it comes to cocaine from the Latin American countries. The report says South Africa is a point for trafficking from both the East and South America.

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Kyle Wimmer was sentenced in Federal Court for bank fraud and money laundering

Kyle Wimmer of Rock Hill, South Carolina was sentenced in Federal Court for bank fraud and money laundering to 63 months in federal prison and was ordered to pay $4 million in restitution. A quote from the mortgage fraud blog follows: “According to the Indictment and evidence presented in court established that Wimmer devised a real estate investment scheme to defraud his investors and upstate lending institutions. Wimmer recruited investors to purchase distressed houses that he promised would be fixed up and rented. He then inflated investors financial information to make them appear more creditworthy than they really were, in an effort to qualify them for mortgage loans from banks to purchase the investment properties. At the same time, Wimmer grossly inflated the value of the investment properties, so that banks would lend more money than the properties were actually worth. Wimmer then skimmed profits from each deal, failing to repair or rent the properties as he promised. As a result, Wimmer was able to fraudulently obtain over $4 million dollars in illicit profits.” According to the FBI s list of typical fraud schemes, Wimmer used several to perpetrate his fraud. Backward Application: Wimmer fraudulently created fake income designed to meet the lenders loan criteria. Nominee Loan: Wimmer used outside borrowers to conceal his identity and hence his fraud. The FBI states, “Mortgage Fraud is one of the fastest growing white collar crimes in the United States. Mortgage Fraud is defined as a material misstatement, misrepresentation, or omission relied upon by an underwriter or lender to fund, purchase, or insure a loan.” Every choice has a consequence. Having suffered the consequences of bad choices, I can say that Wimmer will find his stay in prison eye opening. Having lost everything, Wimmer will get a chance to reflect daily on this seveal year stint of fraud. Speaking from experience it isn t worth it. When he first walks into federal prison, goes through processing and is escourted to his cell…he ll being a soul searching process of understanding that crime doesn t pay. Mortgage fraud is rampant.

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Turkey ultra-nationalist Ergenekon gang

The investigation into the ultra-nationalist Ergenekon gang is looking at three murders. A photo proving connections between retired general Kücük and the suspect in the State Council murder has been found.It all started last year, when a weapons arsenal was found in Ümraniye, Istanbul. There was a media coverage ban on the event, and on 21 January of this year, arrests began. So far 38 arrests in "deep state" caseIn total, there have been 38 arrests so far, including several retired army officers, ultra-nationalist lawyer Kemal Kerincsiz, two academics and two writers.The roots of the gang are said to go back to the Susurluk case of 1996. A car accident in that city shook Turkey because it revealed connections between the state, the mafia, and nationalist hitmen. Ever since, there is widespread belief in a “deep state”, which is said to rule the country behind the screen of a democratically elected government. Ergenekon: links to State Council attack
The investigation has found links between the Ergenekon gang and the attack on the State Council in 2006, in which one judge was killed. The murder suspect Alparslan Arslan is currently on trial. Now the Istanbul Chief Public Prosecution has been handed a photo in which retired general Veli Kücük, one of the main suspects in the Ergenekon gang is seen with Arslan. The photograph had been published by the Azadiya Welat newspaper. When it was first published, Kücük had denounced it as a photo montage. It has now been added to the investigation file. Murders of Hablemitoglu and GarihThere are also suspected links between the Ergenekon gang and bomb attacks on the Cumhuriyet newspaper in 2006, as well as the murder of academic Dr. Necip Hablemitoglu. One arrested suspect, Durmus Anucin, has told the prosecution that he killed the academic together with an Ibrahim Ciftci; the latter was himself murdered later. The hand grenades used to kill Ciftci in his office are said to be of the same series as the arsenal found in Ümraniye.Now the investigation is also reconsidering the murder of Üzeyir Garih, a prominent businessman stabbed to death in 2001. Although a young man was convicted of the murder, some people have always suspected other connections. According to reports in the media, house searches connected to an arrested Ergenekon suspect have revealed documents, blood samples, DNA tests and an autopsy report related to Garih’s murder.Bianet writer investigated for "breaching ban"Meanwhile, an investigation has been initiated against journalist Serdar Degirmencioglu, who wrote an article on the bianet website concerning the Ergenekon operation. Degirmencioglu had criticised the broadcasting and publishing ban on the operation by giving examples from the media. The prosecution has sent orders to the police for Assistant Professor Degirmencioglu, an independent researcher and children’s rights activist, to be questioned.
In an article entitled “What are these arrests compared to the real dangers?” published on the bianet website on 30 January, Degirmencioglu had said ironcially, “There is a newspaper which really follows the publishing ban: the Yenicag newspaper. What importance do Gladio, Susurluk, Ergenekon, the deep state, attacks have when there is still a danger of foreign powers besieging the country?”
Degirmencioglu was referring to the fact that the Yenicag newspaper had not given the names of the people arrested in the Ergenekon operation, and had preferred to write about Armenians and Article 301. Günlük Evrensel and other media organs also investigated
The same article was printed in the Günlük Evrensel newspaper on 1 February, and the newspaper is also being investigated. Editor-in-chief Ugras Vatandas has given a statement to the prosecution, pointing out that the article did not report on the content of the investigation.The Günlül Evrensel newspaper is facing 6 or 7 investigations because of its coverage of the operation. In two cases, so Vatandas, the newspaper has been ordered to pay 20,000 YTL preliminary fines. Because they have refused, trials have been opened. Dozens of newspapers and TV channels are being investigated for breaching the broadcasting and publishing ban on the Ergenekon operation. (EÖ/AG)

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five beautiful human bodies, ripped apart by bullets. And bigger than that, by stupidity. In the last 21 days.

February was a terrible month for citizens of the U.S. and U.K. who identify as transgendered. In this, our shortest month, five people were murdered because of their non-conformist gender identity.That’s a lie. MORE than five people were murdered, but five particularly outrageous cases received an eensy bit of media attention. I am using outrageous in its purest form. These cases give particular reason to be outraged.
Five might not seem like a lot. Truthfully, it’s not a lot. But think of it this way. These five people, ranging in age from 10-25, were killed because of the circle they do or don’t fill in on the SATs.You go to Whitman. Think of one thing you do that goes against the grain. Try to picture the grain—it might have been a couple years since you’ve seen it. But I promise you there is something. Some little thing about how you live your life, which is problematic to someone in the big wide world. Then imagine you’re sitting in your Core class and someone walks in with a gun. Someone you know. And they look at your face, and they know you, and they shoot you. Now you are dead and some of the people in your Core class are glad about this.Remember, this is because you print double sided and you are REALLY bugging the loggers in central Oregon. Yes. Being transgendered and printing double-sided are comparable. Both are personal choices, and both make less than zero sense as reasons for someone to hurt you. And yet.
Cameron McWilliams, a 10-year-old from the U.K., hanged himself in his sister’s room on Feb. 4 after telling his mom that he wanted to be a girl. I count this in this list because this child (CHILD.) was so terrified of the violence others would want to enact on him, that he preferred instead to turn on himself.
On Feb. 5, a transgender woman was shot in the head in an empty lot in Detroit. Throughout the investigation, she was referred to as an “unidentified and unknown age black male wearing women’s clothing.” Even the bullet in her head makes no difference in stemming the attacks on her body. She has died, and people who have no idea who she is continue to ignore her existence as a transgender woman. So I am acknowledging her, and asking you to do the same.
Acknowledge how even the police, in their quest to avenge the physical violence toward this woman, have committed their own.
Sanesha Stewart, a 25-year-old transgender woman in the Bronx, was murdered on Feb. 9 by Steve McMillan, who had known her for months but stabbed her to death upon realizing she was transgendered. I’m 21 years old. This woman was four years older than me when her life ended. I have, and she had, a lot more years than four worth of stuff to do. This is the part of the analogy where you are sitting in Core class, the last one before you head off to Mexico for Spring Break.
You have a ton to do, even in the next week, but then that person you know walks in holding a gun. You sort of thought you were friends. Things aren’t looking so friendly now. Because you voted Republican as a Whitman student, and she identified as a woman. Both of you went against the current, and there are people that want you dead for it.
On Feb. 12, Lawrence King, an eighth grader from Oxnard, Calif., was shot by his classmate, Brandon McInerny.  King, age 15, was openly gay and was considered to be effeminate, wearing gender-bending clothing, makeup, jewelry and shoes. So many Kings shot and killed for living, and by living, agitating. So little time. I wish nothing but ill upon those who supply bigoted 15-year-olds with guns. I do not, however, wish them dead. I was raised right. I’m not an idiot. Murderers are.
On Feb. 25, 17-year-old Simmie Williams was shot in Fort Lauderdale, Fla., in an area frequented by transsexual prostitutes.  Simmie was wearing female clothing and may have been working as a prostitute.
So there are
As I write this article, Word is underlining in red the word transgendered. It does not exist in the dictionary, which means it does not exist at all, according to the powers that be. Terrorism is alive and well, on the streets of Fort Lauderdale, the classrooms of Oxnard and in my little white MacBook. The question is what the War on Terror to end this violence will look like.

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gunbattle between federal troops and members of a suspected kidnapping ring

gunbattle between federal troops and members of a suspected kidnapping ring sent residents of a well-to-do neighborhood diving for cover late Sunday and early yesterday for about seven hours. Soldiers guarded the eastern Tijuana neighborhood of Villa Floresta yesterday after a shootout left one person dead at the second house from the left.
One person died inside a house, where soldiers found an arsenal that included rifles, shotguns, handguns, ammunition, bullet-resistant vests, ski masks and uniforms with the insignia of various Mexican police agencies. They also found a blue jacket labeled “ICE,” the acronym for U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement.
The shooting started when the suspects, barricaded inside the house, began shooting at soldiers patrolling the area, army Col. Sergio López said in a statement last night. The confrontation was the second extended shootout this year in a residential neighborhood in Tijuana. Soldiers and federal, state and municipal police engaged in a three-hour gunbattle Jan. 17 with men inside a house in the La Mesa district. Federal officials show off the cache of weapons and ammunition found in a Tijuana house after a long gunbattle.
The region has suffered a spike in violence in recent weeks, as municipal, state and federal officials have joined to fight organized crime, and the Mexican military has been taking an increasingly visible role. The latest shootout shattered the calm of the hillside neighborhood in eastern Tijuana known as Villa Floresta. Residents on the street Calle Jicama said the shooting began about 10 p.m. and ended before daybreak. Hours later, their block was so quiet that birds could be heard chirping as residents recalled huddling inside their houses, behind locked gates, waiting for the bullets to stop flying. “They'd be shooting for an hour, then stop for half an hour,” said a 15-year-old high school student who took refuge in the back of his house with his mother and 16-year-old sister. “I was trying to calm down my mother, who was crying.” The shootout caused the cancellation of classes yesterday at a private school about a block away. The street remained under military guard yesterday, but most residents were reluctant to talk and didn't want to give their names. Two men were taken into custody, according to a statement read last night at a military base near downtown Tijuana. López said he could not verify whether the dead man or the detainees were suspects or victims. federal source who spoke on condition of anonymity because he was not authorized to speak, said the dead man and one detainee were members of a kidnapping ring, and the other man was a kidnap victim being held inside the residence.
The incident was across the street from another house where law enforcement agents rescued a kidnap victim Friday. López would not say whether the incidents were linked.

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Raphael Joseph faced Sydney's Central Local Court today charged with the murder of Dimitri De-Baz

man accused of a 2002 gangland killing that sparked a crime wave in Sydney's south-west has appeared in court after being extradited from the United States.Raphael Joseph, 31, faced Sydney's Central Local Court today charged with the murder of Dimitri De-Baz, 28, in a Sefton pub car park in December 2002.Police say Mr De-Baz, of Fairfield, had been drinking at the Playhouse Hotel with a large group of friends when he got into a fight with another group of men.He was gunned down later that night in a shooting in which two others were also seriously injured.The shooting sparked a gang war in the city's south-west with tit for tat shootings and kidnappings that prompted police to set up a dedicated unit.Joseph was arrested in San Diego, in California, in October 2006 and fought his extradition until last monthNSW detectives accompanied him to Sydney yesterday and subsequently charged him with murder.In a brief appearance today, Joseph did not apply for bail, which was formally refused by the magistrate, Allan Moore.He was remanded in custody until April 22, to reappear in the same court via audio-visual link.Joseph sat impassively in the dock today, dressed in a grey DKNY T-shirt, and sporting a neat goatee beard and short hair.

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14 bodies buried in the backyard of a house in Ciudad Juárez

The federal attorney general’s office said agents had uncovered 14 bodies buried in the backyard of a house in Ciudad Juárez, a city that has gained infamy for its gangland slayings and the unsolved murders of hundreds of women. The agents began digging at the house in the neighborhood of La Cuesta, across the border from El Paso, last month, after a drug raid. They first found the dismembered bodies of nine victims, some of whom died more than five years ago. Five more bodies were unearthed in the last week. Prosecutors have yet to determine why the victims were killed, but they noted that agents found 3,700 pounds of marijuana in the initial raid

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Cincinnati person was wounded in a drive-by shooting

Cincinnati police are looking for a dark blue Chevrolet Malibu after a person was wounded in a drive-by shooting here tonight.The shooting happened around 7:45 p.m. in the 3100 block of Goebel Avenue, near Westwood Northern Boulevard.The victim told officers the shooter was a passenger in the car and fired four to five shots with a chrome 9 mm pistol, police said.The shooter was described as a black male, in his 20s, wearing a mask and dark clothing.The car was last seen driving away on Goebel, toward Westwood Northern. The victim had non-life threatening injuries, police said.

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