Month: April 2021

Video was released Thursday of a Chicago police officer shooting and killing 13-year-old Adam Toledo while his hands were raised last month. 

The Chicago Civilian Office of Police Accountability, which investigates potential cases of police misconduct, released 17 body camera videos, including graphic video from the shooting officer’s camera that shows Toledo being shot and lying motionless with blood on his chest and face. The shooting officer’s body camera video shows him pushing another man out of the way as he pursues Adam through an alley while shouting “stop” before Adam pauses near a fence. Surveillance video shot from across a parking lot appears to show Adam tossing something behind the fence and later video shows a gun in that location. Adam raises his arms, which appear empty in the videos, as officers shout at him to show his hands and drop whatever he is holding. The officer then shoots Adam less than a second after he began to turn toward the officers with his hands raised.

Chicago Mayor Lori Lightfoot described the videos as “incredibly difficult to watch, particularly at the end” during a news conference on Thursday. Amid plans for protests on Thursday evening, Lightfoot called for people to “proceed with deep empathy and calm and most importantly, peace” and said people should “reserve judgement” and “wait until we hear all the facts.”

Video of fatal Chicago police shooting of 13-year-old Adam Toledo released

Via www.nbcnews.com

Mayor Lori Lightfoot described the body camera video as “excruciating” and warned parents to…

04/15/2021 5:59 PM

 

Editorial credit: Scott Cornell / Shutterstock.com

Police said a suspected gunman was shot and killed after he allegedly opened fire on officers Thursday at San Antonio International Airport. The incident caused officials to put the airport into a temporary lockdown and halt incoming and outgoing flights.

San Antonio police Chief William McManus said police responded to the airport terminal after receiving reports of a vehicle driving the wrong direction. After confronting the vehicle, the driver allegedly exited his vehicle and opened fire at the officer, he added. The shooter “had a lot of ammunition and was shooting indiscriminately. We’re lucky today not to have a lot of people injured or killed during this event,” McManus said in a news conference.

Police said two people were transported to the hospital with injuries. The San Antonio Police Department tweeted that the shooting took place at 9800 Airport Blvd., the address for the airport’s parking garage. The police department said shortly after the shooting, “There is no active threat to the public. As a precaution, the airport has been put on lock down. No other injuries are reported.”

Police shoot man firing wildly at people outside San Antonio airport: Police

Via abcnews.go.com

An officer-involved shooting was reported at the San Antonio International Airport in Texas on…

04/15/2021 6:42 PM

 

Editorial credit: Travel_with_me / Shutterstock.com

The U.S. Coast Guard in Louisiana said that one body was recovered, six people were rescued and 12 people were still missing after a commercial lift vessel carrying 19 people capsized in the Gulf of Mexico.  The National Weather Service said a rare low-pressure system had formed Tuesday off the coast of Louisiana, which generated unusually rough seas in the area.

Sector Coast Guard Commander Captain Will Watson said at a news conference in New Orleans that winds were reported between 130 and 145 kph and seas were between 2 and 3 meters high at the time the Coast Guard believes the ship capsized late Tuesday. A spokesman for the owner of the ship, Seacor Marine transportation company, said the vessel was the 39-meter lift boat Seacor Power. Watson told reporters 19 people were aboard the vessel when it left port Tuesday.  

The Coast Guard said two of its vessels arrived at the scene within 30 minutes and pulled two people from the water. Other vessels at the scene rescued four others. 

1 person dead, others still missing after ship capsizes off Louisiana

Via www.nbcnews.com

The 129-foot commercial vessel left port with 19 people on board. Six have been rescued.

04/14/2021 12:47 PM

 

Editorial credit: Andriy Blokhin / Shutterstock.com

Bernie Madoff, who orchestrated one of the largest Ponzi schemes in history, died in prison Wednesday, federal corrections officials said. He was 82. Madoff, the former chairman of Nasdaq, was 12 years into his 150-year prison sentence when he died at the Federal Medical Center in Butner, N.C. Prisons officials did not specify a cause of death.

Madoff’s name because synonymous with Ponzi schemes after prosecutors charged him with swindling Hollywood figures like filmmaker Steven Spielberg and actor Kevin Bacon.  A Ponzi scheme is an illegal practice that takes money from new investors to pay profits to earlier investors. The practice can continue for indefinite periods of time.

Madoff pleaded guilty to 11 federal criminal counts in 2009. The Justice Department worked for years to recovered tens of millions of dollars that Madoff stole from victims. The Securities Investor Protection Corporation also gave victims $600 million in insurance payouts.

Bernie Madoff, who ran the world’s largest Ponzi scheme, is dead

Via abcnews.go.com

Bernie Madoff, a once-celebrated figure on Wall Street, has died.

04/14/2021 3:53 PM