Florida Trooper Fatally Shot by Stranded Motorist He Tried to Help
A veteran Florida trooper was fatally shot on Interstate 95 after pulling over to assist a disabled vehicle, police said.
A passing off-duty police officer from another jurisdiction witnessed the shooting and killed the suspect, said Col. Gene Spalding, director of the Florida Highway Patrol. The suspect was later identified as Franklin Reed III.
The highway was shut down for several hours Wednesday as investigators processed the scene, which unfolded in the shoulder of the northbound lane, about 6 miles west of Palm City.
Trooper Joseph Bullock, who spent 19 years with the highway patrol, saw what he thought was someone having car trouble about 10:15 a.m. He pulled over to help, and “the suspect who was with the disabled vehicle shot him, resulting in fatal injuries,” Spalding told reporters.
“A Riviera Beach police officer who was passing by engaged the suspect, fatally shooting him,” he said.
The Rivera Beach officer was not injured, he said.
“Our troopers, they worked with (Bullock) closely. They’re distraught. They’re very upset,” Spalding said. “It’s like losing a family member.”
The highway patrol director could not divulge if the Reed was alone but said he did not anticipate hunting for any additional perpetrators. That could change, he said.
Gunshots erupts as fireman tries to help
Aerial footage showed dozens of law enforcement and first responder vehicles parked in the highway and shoulder as investigators worked. A white sheet lay on the ground next to the open door of a trooper’s car. About five or six car lengths in front of the cruiser, a body could be seen in the grass.
Riviera Beach Fire Rescue spokesman DaWayne Watson was driving home when he passed the scene and stopped to help, he told CNN affiliate WPTV.
“I just saw the trooper and he was on the ground,” he told the station. “I saw people in a chaotic state of mind. Everybody was on their cellphones. A lady was holding her head like, ‘Oh, my God. I can’t believe this.’ … I knew there was more to that call than the average broken-down car.”
He turned around and upon approaching the scene Watson saw a policeman on the ground, he said. He grabbed the medical gear from his vehicle, but before he could administer first aid, he heard more gunfire, he told WPTV.
“I just kind of grabbed the hands of a couple of people, and I tried to usher them to safety,” Watson said, explaining he returned to Bullock when the shots stopped.
His instinct was to drag Bullock to safety, but he quickly realized Bullock was dead, he said.
‘A tragic, tragic loss’
Bullock, 42, served in the US Air Force before joining highway patrol. He graduated the Florida Highway Patrol Training Academy in 2001 and worked his entire career out of Troop L in Fort Pierce.
As a trooper, he served as a field training officer, mentoring other lawmen, and his colleagues considered him a leader, Spalding said. He was “just a great guy,” he said.
“Joe was one of those troopers that went out every day, did his job quietly, professionally and with the utmost dedication, and it is a tragic, tragic loss,” the colonel said. “It will take a long time for the Florida Highway Patrol to heal.”
Dozens of police cruisers, motorcycles and other emergency vehicles escorted the ambulance carrying Bullock to a medical examiner’s office in Fort Pierce. Three policemen saluted the ambulance from the sidewalk as it passed.
Bullock is the 49th trooper to die since the Florida highway patrol’s founding in 1939, Spalding said.
“People don’t realize when you approach a car, even a disabled vehicle or a car on a traffic stop, you’re not only worried about what’s inside that car and what danger is waiting for you,” he said. “You’re also concerned about the 80,000-pound tractor trailers that are barreling down the highway behind you. Your attention is divided. You have to be very, very cautious, very careful, and it’s a dangerous job.”
The Florida Department of Law Enforcement will lead the investigation with assistance from the Martin County Sheriff’s Office and State’s Attorney’s Office.
Photo Credit: ktla.com
Teen Fatally Shot in Car Near Brooklyn Home While Rapping on Facebook Live
A teenager was shot and killed while on Facebook Live, near his home in New York on Tuesday and now police are looking for whoever is responsible.
Around 6:45 pm, police responded to a 911 call about a male shot at Elton Street and New Lots Avenue in Brooklyn, according to a statement from the New York Police Department. Once they arrived at the scene, police found 19-year-old, Jeremiah Dickey with a gunshot wound to his head unconscious and unresponsive.
The teen was taken to a local hospital where he was pronounced dead, according to police.
“I just miss my son,” Debra Dickey, Jeremiah’s mother, told CNN. “I shouldn’t have to be sitting here sobbing while they’re still out there running free.”
Dickey said there wasn’t any way to know that something like this could happen to her son, especially while livestreaming on Facebook. She described her son as a loving kid with a good heart who loved doing things for others.
In a statement to CNN, Facebook confirmed that they removed Jeremiah’s video from their platform.
In the now removed Facebook Live video, Jeremiah could be seen rapping along to a song for about 35 seconds from the inside of a car. After Jeremiah takes a quick look around, five continuous gun shots can be heard ringing through the air.
“This is a terrible incident and our thoughts are with the victim and his loved ones,” a Facebook company spokesperson said.
The NYPD told CNN they don’t know anything about the video and could not confirm whether the shooting had been captured on Facebook Live.
Police say no arrests have been made and the investigation is ongoing.
Photo Credit: Debra Dickey
Man sets fire to $1M to keep ex-wife from getting it
A Canadian man loathes his ex-wife so much, he set fire to more than $1 million to keep her from getting her hands on it, he told a judge.
Bruce McConville, 55, a businessman and failed mayoral candidate from Ottawa, said he sold several properties, then burned the cash.
“I find what you have done to be morally reprehensible,” said Superior Court Justice Kevin Phillips, before jailing McConville for 30 days for failing to pay $300,000 in spousal and child support.
He also ordered McConville to pay his ex a $2,000-per-day fine.
via: https://nypost.com/2020/02/05/man-sets-fire-to-1m-to-keep-ex-wife-from-getting-it/
Photo Credit: facebook
FL man tells cops that killing ex’s 95-year-old lover was a ‘life goal’
A Florida man broke into a nursing home and suffocated a 95-year-old resident — the conclusion of a years-long plot that he described to police as achieving his “life goal.”
William Hawkins, 47, was being held without bail Thursday at the St. Lucie County Jail after being charged with first-degree murder in the Jan. 5 slaying of Robert Morell at the Tiffany Hall Nursing & Rehab Center in Port St. Lucie, TCPalm.com reports.
“I’ve accomplished my life goal, OK?” Hawkins told detectives while confessing to the premeditated killing, according to an arrest report obtained by the website. “Whatever happens to me after, that’s fine.”
Hawkins, who was jailed the day after Morell’s death on other theft charges, confessed to the killing to his sister in jail, police said. He told her he had been planning the killing for years and used Morell’s long-term girlfriend — whom he had also been dating for about five months — to get close to his victim.
It’s unclear precisely why Hawkins wanted Morell dead. He told his sister that Morell wrote a book about him, but case documents do no indicate that title or whether the victim had written any books, the newspaper reports.
Hawkins, who has addresses in Vero Beach and Fort Pierce, was already a suspect in Morell’s death because he was on the center’s visitor list and matched the description of a man staffers saw on top of Morell just prior to his death, TCPalm.com reports.
“Police learned a nurse walked past the male patient’s room when she noticed an unknown male suspect sitting on top of the patient’s chest, holding a pillow over his face,” investigators wrote.
The suspect fled, but detectives later learned that Morell’s girlfriend of 15 years had called the nursing home just hours before the resident’s death to warn employees not to let Hawkins into the facility, police said.
Hawkins was arrested the day after Morell’s death on other charges, including the theft of a Cadillac belonging to Morell’s unidentified girlfriend. But investigators continued to eye him in the man’s death as he was in custody, the newspaper reports.
Hawkins’ sister then told police she thought she could get her brother to talk about the slaying if he was involved, leading him to eventually confess as she wore a recording device for investigators, records show.
“Did you put the pillows over his face?” Hawkins’ sister asked.
“Yeah, I did,” he replied, case documents show.
Hawkins initially planned to kill Morell with a “cocktail” he planned to administer via injection. He also described how he felt after taking the man’s life, records show.
“[Let’s] say in your life you wanted to climb Mount Everest, OK? And all your life you trained and trained and trained to climb Mount Everest. OK?” Hawkins said, according to records cited by the newspaper. “And finally you climbed it, in all your life, finally you made it to the top, when you made it to the top, how would you feel?”
Photo Credit: St. Luice County Sheriff’s Office
Paramedic’s daughter dies after he responds to fire at his own home
ALAMANCE COUNTY, N.C. (WGHP) — A paramedic lost his daughter in a fire at his own home near Elon, according to fire officials.
The Altamahaw-Ossipee Fire Department responded to the house fire at about 9:45 a.m. Tuesday, the department said in a news release.
It was the home of paramedic Eddie Thomas, who was one of the responders, Fire Chief Edward Lipscomb Jr. told WGHP.
On the way, emergency teams learned that one person was possibly trapped inside. The first unit on the scene quickly started working to put out the flames and find the person.
Crews found Thomas’s daughter and took her out of the burning home.
Emergency personnel used CPR, and Thomas also worked to save his daughter’s life before she was taken to a hospital, where she later died.
The Alamance County Fire Marshall Office and North Carolina Office of State Fire Marshall are investigating the fire.
The American Red Cross is helping the family.
“The A-O Fire Department is saddened by this tragic event,” the fire department said in a news release. “… Please keep the member of our department and his family in your thoughts and prayers in this difficult (time). A Go Fund Me has been setup for him and family to help with medical expenses, funeral expenses and property loss.”
Photo Credit: fox2now.com
Man wearing ‘I have the Coronavirus’ sign sprays Lysol on Walmart merchandise, causing $10K of damage
JOLIET, Ill. — Police are seeking to identify a young man who was caught on cell phone camera wearing a yellow medical mask and sign that said “I have the Coronavirus” as he sprayed disinfectant on items at a Walmart in Illinois Sunday, causing nearly $10,000 in damage.
“He was telling everyone the same thing, that he was protecting them from the virus,” said Tony Prokes, customer.
Illinois police said two men in their 20s walked into the store in the 1400-block of Route 59 and one of them put on a yellow surgical mask.
That man was also wearing a handmade sign on his back that read “Caution I have the Coronavirus.” Police said he then began spraying a substance later determined to be Lysol on produce, clothing and health and beauty items.
The prank was meant to scare people about the novel coronavirus that has killed hundreds in China and infected thousands before spreading to other countries, including the U.S.
Prokes was shopping at the Walmart Sunday when he saw the suspect walking around the store spraying Lysol. He kept telling people he was trying to disinfect the area.
“He was spraying all the produce with Lysol,” Prokes said.
The young man is now facing felony charges. The suspects left the scene in a white 2003 GMC Yukon registered to Oswego, police said.
The store had to be professionally cleaned and dozens of items were thrown out. Walmart estimated the loss of produce at more than $7,300, with an additional cleanup cost of more than $2,400, police said.
“When you are looking at the damage to property, you are looking at more than $7,000 in damage,” said Sgt. Chris Botzum, Joliet Police Department. “It’s a lot of money.”
Photo Credit: twitter
Baby tests positive for coronavirus just 30 hours after birth
(CBS News) — The coronavirus has infected at least 24,000 people worldwide, and officials in China now say the youngest person with the illness is a newborn baby who was infected just 30 hours after being born.
The state-run news site XinhuaNet says the infant was born on February 2 at a hospital in Wuhan, China — the city where the coronavirus outbreak originated. The baby’s mother also tested positive for the virus before she gave birth, according to Union Hospital, affiliated with Tongji Medical College of Huazhong University of Science and Technology.
The baby weighed just over 7 pounds at birth and is now in stable condition and under medical observation, XinhuaNet reports.
The site said that according to medical experts, it may be a case of mother-to-child transmission. Reuters reports state broadcaster CCTV is now warning that pregnant women with the coronavirus may be able to pass it along to their unborn children.
According to CCTV, the infected newborn has no fever or cough but did experience shortness of breath. X-rays of the baby’s chest showed signs of infection and there were some abnormalities in liver function.
Photo Credit: kmov.com/Alissa Eckert/Dan Higgins/CDC
Domino’s is giving away a pizza-themed engagement ring valued at more than $9,000
(Meredith) – In honor of Valentine’s Day, Domino’s Australia is helping one lucky pizza fan propose with a pizza-themed engagement ring.
The one-of-a-kind, diamond-encrusted ring is shaped like a slice of pepperoni pizza and is valued at more than $9,000.
The ring isn’t going to just anyone – Domino’s is giving it away through a contest.
Anyone interested can fill out a form here and submit a 30-second video explaining how they would incorporate pizza into their proposal.
Photo Credit: kmov.com
Uber suspends hundreds of accounts after coronavirus patient takes rides in Mexico
A Chinese man who tested positive for the coronavirus had used Uber on a recent trip to Mexico, prompting the company to suspend hundreds of other riders’ accounts to contain the spread of the epidemic.
The man flew Jan. 20 from Los Angeles to Mexico City, where he took Uber rides on at least two occasions, BBC reported.
He then began suffering symptoms on the evening of Jan. 21 and the next day took an Uber back to the airport, the report said. The man flew back to the US, where he was diagnosed with the coronavirus.
Further details were not released about the man’s health condition or travels, such as whether he previously visited the Chinese city of Wuhan, the epicenter of the virus.
Uber said it has suspended two drivers whom he came into contact with on the trip, as well as 240 other rider accounts in case one of the drivers potentially spread the virus to them, BBC reported.
The drivers and passengers won’t be able to use the app for two weeks — the known incubation period for the virus, according to a report.
None of them have developed symptoms, but the company said it will continue to monitor the situation.
“We will keep users and drivers informed with respect to any update of their accounts,” Uber said in the statement.
Mexico hasn’t seen any confirmed cases of the coronavirus, but there have been more than 20,000 people infected across the world.
Photo Credit: nypost.com
Drunk Ohio man charged with calling cops 25 times in search of lost hoodie; facing up to 18 months in prison
Dude, where’s my hoodie?
A confused and inebriated Ohio man looking for answers in the wrong place frantically called cops 25 times in search of his lost hooded sweatshirt, police said.
Harves Gardner, 32, is now facing a felony charge of disrupting public services after being arrested early Monday following his alleged torrent of phone calls, according to the Cincinnati Enquirer.
“When people arrived [the] defendant only wanted rides around town to find his hoodie that he lost,” cops wrote of the incident.
Police told Gardner, who was allegedly intoxicated at the time, to simply go back to bed, but he kept calling cops, providing different locations for cops to respond, the newspaper reports.
Gardner, who was being held at the Hamilton County Justice Center, was scheduled to appear in court early Tuesday. It’s unclear if he’s hired an attorney.
In Ohio, disruption of public services is a fourth-degree felony punishable by up to 18 months in prison and a fine of $5,000.
Photo Credit: Hamilton County Sheriff’s Office