USEC IM USA Edition

Blaine Romes, Blake Romes’ Suspected Killer Charged In Deaths Of Ohio Brothers

ollado — Sat, 18 May 2013 09:43:13 +0000

By JOHN SEEWER AP

TOLEDO, Ohio — A 17-year-old who told authorities last week where they could find the bodies of two teenage brothers has been charged in their deaths, and prosecutors want to try him as an adult.

The aggravated murder charges announced Friday against Michael Fay came just over a week after he and the teens were named in an Amber Alert issued after the slain brothers’ mother discovered a gun and blood inside a trailer home where the three boys lived with their mothers. The mother frantically called 911 on May 9, telling authorities to “please hurry.”

The brothers, 14-year-old Blaine Romes and 17-year-old Blake Romes, were found dead several hours later.

Fay told officers that the Romes brothers were dead and pointed authorities to their bodies after he was found with a stolen car at a gas station in Columbus, about 120 miles southeast of the trailer park in Ottawa, the Putnam County Sheriff’s Office said.

He pleaded not guilty to a grand theft auto charge a week ago, but was not immediately charged in the deaths. The aggravated murder charges were filed Thursday in juvenile court, but a judge has been asked to send the case to adult court, said county Prosecutor Gary Lammers.

Fay’s attorney and his mother have declined to comment.

Authorities have released few details about what happened, saying they are limited because those involved are juveniles. Investigators have not said how the boys died. Documents from the sheriff’s office indicate one of the bodies was found at the trailer while the other was found at a different location, but didn’t say where. Autopsies were completed a week ago, but the county coroner has refused to release the results.

Hundreds of classmates attended a funeral Wednesday for the brothers in Ottawa, a village of 4,500 people south of Toledo.

The younger brother, Blaine, was supposed to join his classmates on an eighth-grade class trip to Washington the morning he disappeared. His mother told a 911 dispatcher she left work because he was not answering his phone that morning.

He was on the basketball and track teams at his school.

Blake was a junior at Ottawa-Glandorf High School, where he was involved in track and choir.

Source: huffingtonpost.com

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Inmate In Wisconsin Jail Knocks Out Guard With 1 Punch

ollado — Sat, 18 May 2013 09:41:50 +0000

Huffington Post | By Ron Dicker

It was swift and brutal. An inmate at a Wisconsin jail knocked out a guard with one punch, newly released video shows.

Caught by surveillance cameras, the March 27 fight apparently erupts as three corrections officers gather lunch trays and another enters the room. The alleged puncher, identified by the Marathon County Sheriff’s Department as Fredrick Morris, can be seen in the footage adopting a fighting stance and coldcocking Officer Julie Christensen with a right hand to the face. She falls hard to the floor while Morris tangles with another guard.

Christensen (also spelled Christiansen in court documents) was knocked unconscious by the hit from Morris and was taken to intensive care and remained hospitalized as of Thursday, Wisconsin Public Radio (WPR) reported.

According to WPR, a deputy claimed that during the incident prisoners had shouted, “Hope she dies,” as Christensen lay on the ground.

Morris was charged with several counts of battery, according to a criminal complaint. He was transferred to a facility in Lincoln County, Wisc., the Marathon County Courthouse told The Huffington Post on Friday.

After the attack, safety conditions at the Marathon County jail were evaluated by a civilian panel this week, CBS local affiliate WSAW reported.

“What I saw was a battlefield,” panel chair Paul Jones said of the video footage, per WPR. Another panelist, Mike Beck, said the incident made him distrust the jail’s administration.

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Anastasia Adair, Colorado Woman, Dies After Assault Rifle Accidentally Discharges

ollado — Sat, 18 May 2013 09:40:12 +0000

The Huffington Post | By Andres Jauregui

A Denver-area woman died Tuesday night after an assault rifle she was handling accidentally fired and shot her in the head.

Witnesses told ABC Denver affiliate KMGH that Anastasia Adair, 22, was passing an AK-47-style assault rifle to her husband, Dana “Shane” Adair, when the gun went off. A second shot was fired when Anastasia fell and dropped the rifle, but no one was hit by it, two witnesses and the husband told police.

Shane Adair told police that the gun had a light trigger pull. Federal Heights Police Lt. Gary Toldness said that the fatal bullet’s trajectory appeared consistent with the witness accounts of an accidental shooting. The investigation is continuing.

According to the Denver Post, the incident occurred while the couple and three housemates were drinking beer in their garage. Toldness told the Denver Post that the shooting will be treated as an accident, but authorities will investigate how much alcohol was in the victim’s blood.

“It’s not a good idea to be handling weapons while you’re intoxicated,” Toldness said. “It’s always a bad mix.”

According to the Law Center to Prevent Gun Violence, 606 people were killed by unintentional firearm injuries in the United States in 2010.

Additionally, the advocacy site quotes a 2001 study, “Firearm Availability and Unintentional Firearm Deaths,” that maintains the following:

People of all age groups are significantly more likely to die from unintentional firearm injuries when they live in states with more guns, relative to states with fewer guns. On average, states with the highest gun levels had nine times the rate of unintentional firearms deaths compared to states with the lowest gun levels.

The Adairs had purchased the assault weapon at a gun show in March, according to KMGH.

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Savannah Nash, 16, Dies During Her First Solo Drive; Believed To Be Texting

ollado — Sat, 18 May 2013 09:39:02 +0000

The Huffington Post | By David Moye

Like most 16-year-old girls, Savannah Nash couldn’t wait to get behind the wheel once she got her driver’s license.

Her first solo drive turned out to be her last.

Nash, who turned 16 last week, got permission Thursday afternoon to drive to the grocery store in Harrisonville, Mo., to pick up items for the family dinner.

Her vehicle slammed into a tractor-trailer on the way, and she died at the scene, according to WAFB-TV.

Investigators said the crash occurred when Nash turned left into the path of the truck, which was unable to brake in time, KMBC-TV reported.

A family member of Nash’s died at that same location years earlier, her uncle told the station.

Investigators said they found an unsent text message on Nash’s cell phone, and believe texting and driving was a factor in the the crash, the Democrat-Missourian newspaper reported.

“There was a text message that was on her phone, however it was not sent yet,” Sgt. Bill Lowe of the Missouri State Highway Patrol told Fox4KC.com. “That is a probable contributing circumstance to the crash. That’s all part of the investigation.”

A vigil for Nash was held Friday at Harrisonville High School, where she was a freshman, a repeat honor roll student and Future Farmers of America competitor, KansasCity.com reported.

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Jets running back Mike Goodson arrested on drug and gun charges

ollado — Sat, 18 May 2013 09:36:26 +0000

By Morgan Winsor, CNN

(CNN) — New York Jets running back Mike Goodson was arrested on drug and gun charges in New Jersey early Friday morning, New Jersey State Police said.

According to the NFL, Goodson, from Spring, Texas, signed a three-year, $6.9 million contract with the Jets this offseason.

A tow truck driver called police at 3:15 a.m. Friday when he saw a vehicle stopped in the left lane on the westbound side of Interstate 80 in Denville, police said. Goodson, 25, was the passenger in the GMC Yukon. Police found a loaded handgun, hollow-point ammunition, drug paraphernalia and a small amount of marijuana in the vehicle, said Lt. Stephen Jones, a state police spokesman.

Goodson appeared to be intoxicated, Jones said, and was taken to St. Clare’s Hospital in Boonton Township, where he was evaluated and treated. He was sent to state police custody upon his release, Jones said.

The driver, Garant Evans of Roselle, was arrested at the scene and faces the same charges, in addition to a DWI allegation and motor vehicle tickets. Evans, 31, was a convicted felon before Friday’s arrest, Jones said.

Jones said Goodson and Evans are being held on full-cash bail at the Morris County Jail. Goodson’s bail was set at $50,000, and Evans’ was set at $150,000.

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Break-in that left student from NY’s Hofstra University, intruder killed under investigation

ollado — Sat, 18 May 2013 09:35:12 +0000

Associated Press

UNIONDALE, N.Y. – Police are investigating after a New York college student was killed in an off-campus house during an early morning break-in, casting a pall over the campus and commencement ceremonies.

Police say Hofstra University junior Andrea Rebello was shot and killed early Friday during the home invasion. A masked gunman was also killed. Authorities have described it as a police-involved shooting, but it is unclear who fired the fatal shots or how many rounds were fired.

Rebello was killed during an attempted robbery in the home she shared with her twin sister and several other Hofstra students, who were unharmed.

The university says its weekend commencement ceremonies will continue as scheduled.

The 21-year-old Rebello was a junior and a public relations major at the New York college.

Source: foxnews.com

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Majority of Colorado sheriffs file suit against new gun laws

ollado — Sat, 18 May 2013 09:32:38 +0000

By Matthew DeLuca, Staff Writer, NBC News

Sheriffs in Colorado filed a federal lawsuit Friday ahead of the implementation of new state gun laws that broaden background checks and limit the size of ammunition magazines, saying that the bills would be nearly impossible to enforce.

The laws “severely restrict citizens’ rights to own, use, manufacture, sell, or transfer firearms and firearms accessories,” the sheriffs said in their complaint in the U.S. district court.

“This is a bipartisan effort,” said Larimer County Sheriff Justin Smith. “These are Democratic sheriffs and Republican sheriffs who came together.”

The National Shooting Sports Foundation, magazine-maker Magpul Industries, and the Colorado State Shooting Association were among other groups that filed suit alongside sheriffs against the laws, which are set to take effect June 1.

Scarred by some of the deadliest incidents of gun violence in American history, including last year’s Aurora movie theater shooting and the 1999 shooting at Columbine High School, the state’s gun control bills gained national attention as various states and the federal government debated new gun restrictions.

The sheriffs said in the filing that their ability to enforce the laws, particularly the ban on magazines that hold more than 15 rounds, will be constrained by other concerns.

“The Sheriffs have limited resources and limited public funds to spend on investigations,” they said in the court documents. “They cannot expend those resources to conduct investigations that would be necessary to monitor compliance with the new magazine restrictions. No documentation has ever been required for the retail or private purchase of magazines, making it a practical impossibility for the Sheriffs to determine whether one of the many magazines already in existence was obtained after the effective date.”

The sheriffs also said that Coloradans would find it difficult to comply with expanded background check regulations that would require transfers between individuals to be conducted through a federally licensed firearms dealer. That’s because many licensed firearms dealers in the state “are unwilling to conduct the transfer under such conditions,” they argued.

Colorado Attorney General John Suthers released a statement on Friday saying that his office would pursue court rulings on the gun legislation “as expeditiously as possible.”

“Colorado citizens, and law-abiding gun owners in particular, deserve such clarification,” Suthers said in the statement.

The state has 64 sheriffs, said Chris Olson, executive director of the County Sheriffs of Colorado. The lawsuit is being brought forth “by individual sheriffs” and his organization is not a party to the suit, he said.

At least one lawman has said that deciding which laws are constitutional should stay out of the hands of Colorado’s sheriffs.

Arapahoe County Sheriff Grayson Robinson, whose county includes the Aurora movie theater where 12 people were killed last year, released a statement in January pushing back against sheriffs who said they would not enforce new gun laws.

“Public safety professionals serving in the executive branch do not have the constitutional authority, responsibility, and in most case, the credentials to determine the constitutionality of any issue,” Robinson said in the statement. “Law enforcement officials should leave it to the courts to decide whether a law is constitutional or not.”

Robinson identified himself as a supporter of Second Amendment rights in the statement, and said he would like to see better mental health services and stricter penalties for people who commit gun crimes.

Source: usnews.nbcnews.com

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60 injured, five critically, as trains collide in Connecticut

ollado — Sat, 18 May 2013 09:31:26 +0000

By M. Alex Johnson and Carlo Dellaverson, NBC News

Connecticut Gov. Dan Malloy gives details on the collision of two Metro-North trains, which injured 60 people and shut down rail traffic between New York and Boston.

Sixty people were injured, five of them critically, and rail traffic from New York to Boston was shut down after a Metro-North commuter train derailed and plowed into a second train Friday in Fairfield, Conn., Gov. Dan Malloy said.

An eastbound train derailed at 6:10 p.m. ET and struck a westbound train between the Fairfield and Bridgeport stations, a Metropolitan Transportation Authority official told NBC News.

“We have no reason to think it was anything other than an accident, but that has to be explored,” Malloy said.

“We came to a sudden halt. We were jerked. There was smoke,” Alex Cohen, a Canadian passenger on the westbound train en route to New York, told NBC Connecticut.

“People were screaming; people were really nervous. We were pretty shaken up. They had to smash a window to get us out,” he said.

Malloy said 60 people were transported to area hospitals, most of them with only minor injuries. Five, however, were critically injured, one of them very critically, he said.

The Metro-North train that departs New York City’s Grand Central Station for New Haven, Conn., at 4:41 p.m., with an estimated 300 passengers, derailed near the I-95 overpass in Bridgeport, MTA said in a statement. The train that leaves New Haven’s State Street station for Grand Central at 5:30 p.m., carrying about 400 passengers, struck the derailed train, the statement said.

There was no immediate word on what caused the derailment or how fast either train was going. That will be determined by the National Transportation Safety Board, which will lead the investigation.

Michelle McLoughlin / Reuters

A woman is transported to the hospital after two commuter trains collided Friday, May 17, in Fairfield, Conn. Sixty people were injured, five of them critically, Gov. Dan Malloy said.

Metro-North, which runs between New York City and its northern suburbs in New York and Connecticut, is one of the busiest commuter rail services in the U.S. There are four tracks on that segment of the New Haven Line, MTA’s statement said, but two are out of service for replacement of overhead wires.

There was “extensive damage” to the track and the wire from the collision, MTA said. The train cars will remain in place until the investigation is completed. MTA gave no estimate for the duration of the investigation or subsequent repairs.

Passengers should expect sharply curtailed service through the weekend and beyond, Malloy said. “We have a very old system on our Connecticut section. We’re involved in hundreds of millions of dollars in replacement of that system.

“It will slow the recovery,” he said. “Obviously, we don’t have alternative tracks to go to.”

And the delays could ripple well beyond Metro-North. Amtrak said all service on its Northeast Corridor from New York to Boston was suspended Friday night because of the obstruction.

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2 shot and killed in NJ park

ollado — Fri, 17 May 2013 11:48:25 +0000

MYFOXNY.COM -A man and a woman have been found shot dead inside a municipal park in Montclair, N.J., said police.

The bodies were discovered near a bench in Canterbury Park at around 10 p.m. on Thursday.

A man FOX 5 News spoke with says his daughter and the female victim are cousins.

“She used to go to church religiously. She’s highly educated and just a nice person. This is sad,”said Kurt Holloway.

The female victim was in her 20s and lived in East Orange, according to Holloway.

The victims’ names have not been released pending family notification.

This is a developing story.

Check back for updates.

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Soldier sentenced to life without parole for killing 5 at combat stress clinic in Iraq

ollado — Fri, 17 May 2013 11:47:25 +0000

An Army sergeant was sentenced Thursday to life in prison without parole for the 2009 killings of five fellow service members at a combat stress clinic in Iraq.

A military judge, Army Col. David Conn, found Sgt. John Russell guilty of premeditated murder on Monday and imposed the sentence Thursday morning. The only other possible penalty for Russell would have been life in prison with the possibility of release.

Russell will be transferred within the next several days to Fort Leavenworth in Kansas, Army spokesman Lt. Col. Gary Dangerfield said late Thursday.

The 14-year veteran from Sherman, Texas, had previously pleaded guilty to unpremeditated murder in exchange for prosecutors taking the death penalty off the table. Under the agreement, prosecutors were allowed to try to prove to an Army judge at Joint Base Lewis-McChord in Washington state that the killings were premeditated. A streamlined court-martial ended Saturday.

The shooting was one of the worst instances of soldier-on-soldier violence in the Iraq war and raised questions about the mental stresses of serving repeated tours of duty.

Killed in the 2009 shooting in Baghdad were Navy Cmdr. Charles Springle, of Wilmington, N.C., and four Army personnel: Pfc. Michael Edward Yates Jr., of Federalsburg, Md.; Dr. Matthew Houseal, of Amarillo, Texas; Sgt. Christian E. Bueno-Galdos, of Paterson, N.J.; and Spc. Jacob D. Barton, of Lenox, Mo.

Russell’s lawyers argued that he was deluded by depression and despair at the time. An Army mental health board found that Russell suffered from severe depression with psychotic features and post-combat stress.

Russell had long sought help with sleep troubles and was stammering and crying for help in the days before the shooting. His commanders were so alarmed that they disarmed him and sent him for repeated visits to mental health clinics, said attorney James Culp.

However, prosecutors argued that Russell was trying to paint himself as mentally ill in an attempt to win early retirement — just as he was facing a sexual harassment complaint that could derail his career and his benefits.

The day before the killings, psychiatrist Michael Jones told him that a mental disability retirement would require “some kind of suicidal psychotic crisis,” Maj. Daniel Mazzone said during closing arguments, according to the Los Angeles Times.

But when Russell saw Jones again the next day, the psychiatrist said he had no intention of giving him “a golden ticket” out of the Army.

When Russell returned about an hour later, prosecutors say, he was looking for Jones, but wound up killing two patients, a bystander and two other mental health workers, including Navy Cmdr. Springle, who had also briefly treated Russell in the days before the shootings. Jones escaped injury by jumping out a window.

The Associated Press

Source: worldnews.nbcnews.com

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USEC IM USA Edition

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