Mom yells at deputies who arrest son after threat to kill people at school
DAYTONA BEACH, Fla. (AP) — Authorities have posted a video of their arrest of a 15-year-old Florida boy who allegedly posted an online threat to kill at least seven people at a high school.
Volusia County Sheriff’s officials interviewed the boy and his mother outside their home near Daytona Beach last Friday, and posted a video of their discussion to underline the consequences of making school threats.
The boy, whose name is not being used by The Associated Press, told investigators he was joking when he posted the message on Discord using the fake name Dalton Barnhart. In it, he vowed to bring his father’s “M15” to Seabreeze High School in Daytona Beach and “kill seven people at a minimum.”
The FBI alerted Volusia County authorities on Thursday, and deputies arrested the teen the next morning.
“Joke or not, these types of comments are felonies under the law,” the sheriff’s office wrote in its Facebook post.
In the video, the deputy tells the mother the boy had made a written threat to carry out a mass shooting.
“But he’s just a little kid playing a video game,” she protests. “These kids say stuff like that all the time. It’s a joke to them. It’s a game. And it’s so wrong. I hate that game.”
The deputy says law enforcement officers now spend a lot of time checking out similar threats.
“How do we know he’s not going to be like the kid from Parkland, or he’s not going to be like the kid that shot up Sandy Hook? We don’t know that,” he says.
“There is a Florida state statute that you cannot make a written threat to cause a mass shooting,” he adds, explaining that her son would be charged with either a second- or third-degree felony.
“He’s just a little boy,” the mother says, getting emotional. “He didn’t do anything wrong. Yes, he’s 15, but he’s still a little boy. He’s not one of those crazy people out there doing stuff … he shouldn’t be treated as though he’s a terrorist or something because he made a silly statement on a stupid video game.”
The deputy asks if there’s a gun in the home. She says yes.
“Ok, he has hands and feet and he can grab your gun and go do something,” the deputy says.
The mother says her son wouldn’t do such a thing.
“We don’t know that,” the deputy says.
“This is the world we live in, where people think it’s funny to say I’m going to go kill people at school,” the deputy adds, before taking the boy to juvenile detention. “He made the charge, he’s going to face the consequences.”
Photo Credit: pix11.com
Truck driver threatened mass shooting at Memphis church
INDIANAPOLIS — A truck driver has been arrested after saying he would commit a mass shooting at a church in Memphis, Tennessee, authorities say in newly filed court records.
Thomas Matthew McVicker was apprehended in Indianapolis before the plan could be carried out, according to court papers filed Monday. It’s the most recent case in a string of men being arrested around the country for threatening to carry out shootings.
McVicker, 38, made “credible threats to conduct a mass shooting and suicide” planned for Thursday, an FBI special agent said in a sworn affidavit.
The circumstances of his arrest in Indiana weren’t outlined in the affidavit.
Earlier this month, a friend of McVicker in the south Alabama town of Fairhope told a Florida FBI officer that McVicker has been considering “shooting a church up” or killing people on the street.
Later, in a telephone call, the friend said McVicker told her the church shooting would happen when he was in Memphis on Thursday and that he “intended to take his knife and slit the pastor’s throat.”
His mother told the FBI he owned a Ruger P90 handgun and sometimes uses cocaine and methamphetamine. She also said her son is being treated for schizophrenia. McVicker told his Alabama friend “evil entities entered his body and are torturing him,” the affidavit states.
The friend asked McVicker why he wanted to kill innocent people, and he said “they put spiritual snakes and spiders in my bed at night,” the FBI agent wrote. “I’ve only seen them a couple of times but they take form and I can feel them crawling on me and under me,” the affidavit states.
The FBI says it confirmed with McVicker’s employer that he requested leave time Thursday and that he indicated in the request that he would spend the leave time in Memphis, the affidavit states.
The affidavit doesn’t specify a motive, nor does it identify a specific Memphis church. McVicker’s friend did not learn of an exact location from the phone call. However, “McVicker insisted that ‘something’ would happen when he was in Memphis,” the affidavit states.
The Memphis Police Department was notified of the threat, which did not mention a specific church, police spokesman Louis Brownlee said Tuesday. Memphis police work regularly with state and federal authorities on these types of threats “to stay ahead of the curve,” Brownlee said.
Earle Fisher, pastor at Abyssinian Missionary Baptist Church in Memphis, said he would be reaching out to his congregation to tell them about the threat and inform them that the church has security measures in place.
“It’s tragic that we are in a climate that even in your house of worship, in what is supposed to be a sacred and safe space, you have to take up measures that might include making sure that you have armed security in your sanctuary to make sure that your parishioners are safe,” Fisher said.
Court records in Alabama show McVicker received a ticket for driving a truck in an improper lane in Jefferson County, which includes Birmingham, in June 2014. He was working for Swift Transportation of Gary, Indiana, at the time, records show. McVicker failed to pay the fine until 13 months later, after his driver’s license was suspended, records show.
Court records list McVicker’s address as Punta Gorda, Florida, but his Alabama friend told the FBI that McVicker lives in his semi. The records don’t list a lawyer who could be reached for comment on McVicker’s behalf.
via: https://pix11.com/2019/08/20/fbi-truck-driver-threatened-mass-shooting-at-memphis-church/
Photo Credit: Getty Images
NJ troopers arrest man and seize AK-47 during traffic stop
MERCER COUNTY, N.J. — A South Carolina man was arrested for having an AK-47 rifle and ammunition in his vehicle at a New Jersey traffic stop, state troopers said.
Police arrested 33-year-old Johnathan Lorick of Lexington, South Carolina. He was stopped on Saturday for a traffic violation going southbound on the New Jersey Turnpike in Mercer County.
Troopers discovered Lorick was under the influence and arrested him for a DWI. After further investigation, authorities found the fully loaded AK-47.
Loric was charged with unlawful possession of weapons, resisting arrest, aggravated assault, prohibited weapons and devices, obstruction, disorderly conduct and DWI.
The accused is being held in Mercer County Jail pending a bail hearing.
via: https://pix11.com/2019/08/20/nj-troopers-arrest-man-and-seize-ak-47-during-traffic-stop/
Photo Credit: pix11.com
Man arrested for botched castration inside his home
HIGHLANDS COUNTY, FL (WFTS) — Deputies in Highlands County have arrested a man for attempting to perform a castration inside his home.
Deputies were called to 74-year-old Gary Van Ryswyk’s home located on Orday Road in Sebring on Sunday, August 18.
When they arrived, Ryswyk told a deputy he had just performed a castration on a man and encountered major issues. Deputies found a victim on a bed, bleeding heavily, with a towel over his groin.
The victim was flown to a nearby hospital and is said to be stable.
During their investigation, deputies found two body parts in a pink container, presumed to have belonged to the victim.
Ryswyk had set up a room to look like a surgical center and had medical equipment and painkillers inside, according to a release.
A camera was also set up to record the procedure.
Van Ryswyk told deputies he had met the victim on the dark web on a site geared toward people who have a castration fetish.
In addition, Ryswyk told deputies he had tried to perform the procedure on the victim last week, but had to delay.
According to a release, Ryswyk told the victim that he had experience on animals and had even removed one of his own testicles in 2012.
He also said he had done a similar procedure on a man in a local motel a few years ago. It also did not end well, according to the Highlands County Sheriff’s Office.
Ryswyk was arrested Monday and charged with practicing medicine without a license resulting in bodily injury, a second-degree felony.
His bond was set at $250,000.
via: https://pix11.com/2019/08/20/man-arrested-for-botched-castration-inside-his-home/
Photo Credit: Highlands County Sheriff’s Office
Parents sues school officials they say used Sharpie to cover son’s new haircut
The parents of a middle school student are suing a Houston-area school district and school officials in federal court for allegedly coloring in his hair design earlier this year with a black permanent marker.
According to the lawsuit filed Sunday, officials at the Berry Miller Junior High in Pearland, Texas, claimed the design in the then-seventh grader’s haircut violated the Pearland Independent School District’s dress code policy.
The suit alleges, “They laughed as they took many minutes to color 13-year-old J.T’s scalp which took many days of scrubbing to come off.”
Lawsuit says incident came day after haircut
The lawsuit says Juelz Trice got a fade haircut April 16 and the next day when he was in the cafeteria for breakfast he was told by an assistant principal to go to the office.
The civil rights lawsuit names the then-assistant principal Tony Barcelona (since promoted to principal), discipline clerk Helen Day and teacher Jeanette Peterson as defendants as well as the school district.
CNN has reached out to the individuals named in the lawsuit and has not immediately heard back.
The boy, who is African-American, allegedly was given two options by the two administrators.
He could use a black Sharpie to color his scalp, the lawsuit says, or go to in-school suspension. Juelz didn’t want a suspension affecting his track team eligibility so he chose the permanent marker option, the lawsuit says.
The black Sharpie made the design line in Juelz’s hair more prominent, the complaint says.
Day took the marker from Juelz and began to blacken Juelz’s scalp, the court document says. Peterson — who, like the administrators, is identified in the court document as white — came into the office and was asked to use the marker on the boy’s scalp and did so, the lawsuit says.
Attorney says school district has done nothing but change policy
Randall Kallinen, attorney for the student’s parents Dante Trice and Angela Washington, said Tuesday that the school never tried to notify the family before coloring their son’s scalp.
The discipline clerk should have known better how children should be disciplined, he said.
The attorney says other than changing the dress code, the school district has done nothing to attempt to rectify the situation.
The current dress code says hair:
• Must be clean, neat and well groomed
• Distracting colors are not allowed.
• Mustaches, beards, or goatees are not allowed.
• Sideburns must be kept neatly trimmed and must not extend beyond ear level.
• Head coverings such as hats, caps, bandanas, or hair rollers are not allowed. (An exception will be made for religious headwear)
The district said when announcing changes in May that restrictions on hair styles and carvings have been removed
District says it has not seen lawsuit
Pearland ISD said it has not received formal notification of a lawsuit.
“Upon receipt, it will be reviewed by our legal counsel,” Tanya Dawson, a lawyer for the school district, said in a statement.
The lawsuit, filed in the Southern District of Texas, asks for compensatory and punitive damages and for the court to order that school district employees receive racial sensitivity training about certain haircuts.
Juelz began eighth grade at the school last week. Kallinen said he is dismayed Barcelona, Day and Peterson are still at the school.
Photo Credit: pix11.com
Woman breaks into bar, drinks until employees show up in the morning
It’s five o’clock somewhere.
A Kentucky woman was arrested for allegedly breaking into a closed bar and drinking there until employees showed up to open the watering hole in the morning, according to a report.
Donna Martin is accused to busting into the Slainte Public House in Georgetown, Ky., early Monday, Lex 18 reported.
Employees arriving shortly before 8 a.m. found Martin posted up at the bar, the outlet said.
The workers called police, who charged Martin with burglary and public intoxication.
Photo Credit: Georgetown Police Dept.
Florida man wildly swings sword at jogger in fight over trash
He’s Florida’s garbage guard.
An Oakland Park man attacked a jogger with a sword in an attempt to protect a plastic dump cart that had been thrown out in the trash, police said Monday.
The big stink started July 15 when the runner stumbled upon a pile of garbage in front of a house, and decided to grab the black heavy-duty wagon, according to the Broward County Sheriff’s Office.
That’s when the rabble-rouser got upset — because he wanted the cart.
The two “exchanged words” but the jogger took the item anyway. When he got home, he realized the litter-lover had followed him, cops said.
Video shows the junk-diver unsheathing a sword and swinging it at the jogger.
But the runner isn’t thrown off — and ducks the blows while keeping a hold on the cart.
When he tells his attacker the fight is being filmed, the waste-watcher strides off, sword and sheath in hand.
Moments later, a woman who cops think knows the suspect, can be seen coming back and dragging the cart away, while flinging insults at the runner.
Police are asking for help finding the sword-swinger or the woman.
via: https://nypost.com/2019/08/19/florida-man-wildly-swings-sword-at-jogger-in-fight-over-trash/
Photo Credit: nypost.com
Man gets life for drowning 3-year-old boy to make room in house for unborn child
An East Texas man who said he drowned the 3-year-old nephew of his girlfriend, whom he thought was pregnant, was sentenced to life in prison without parole, prosecutors said Monday.
Bobby Woods, 21, was convicted Friday of capital murder in the 2015 death of Mason Cuttler.
Investigators said Woods told police that his girlfriend Billie Jean Cuttler was pregnant and that he killed the boy because he wanted to make room in his home, which housed three families at the time.
A lawyer said Cuttler wasn’t pregnant.
Woods told police he pushed the toddler into a pond near Lufkin, 110 miles northeast of Houston, turned his back and let him drown.
His body was found Aug. 18, 2015, a day after he was reported missing. Cuttler pleaded guilty to conspiracy to commit murder in exchange for a 20-year prison sentence.
Photo Credit: Angelina County Sheriff’s Office
Queens firefighter gives his baby girl a pedicure in adorable viral video
QUEENS — One of New York’s bravest has gone viral after sharing a precious moment with his baby daughter on social media.
Queens FDNY firefighter Jimmy Howell shared the adorable video on Instagram of himself giving his 9-month-old daughter Kensley a pedicure.
The doting dad called the father-daughter moment their “weekly spa talks,” in the Instagram caption, jokingly adding, “I’m charging her next week.”
“Oh man, I can tell you been crawling,” Howell says as his baby girl squeals and smiles back.
Photo Credit: pix11.com
Child with autism left alone by school bus at Bronx Public Library
THE BRONX — Surveillance video obtained by PIX11 shows an 8-year-old autistic child who is non-verbal being dropped off at the wrong bus stop and left alone for nearly an hour.
Jaiden Benjamin was dropped off on July 2, as he was on his way home from a summer program at PS 188 in the Bronx.
The bus matron who was in charge of his care just left him alone and confused at the Mosholu public library in The Bronx. There was no one at the library to pick up Jaiden.
Jaiden had been dropped off there before but since April that had not been Jaiden’s stop.
Surveillance video obtained by PIX11 shows the bus matron dropping off the child. You can see the library’s security guard try to stop her but she just leaves. Jaiden is left playing by himself in the corner of the room with no way to communicate he’s at the wrong stop.
“She went in, dropped him and left. That was it. I couldn’t believe it,” said Fatima El-Amin, Jaiden’s mom. “Anything could’ve happened to him.
“You know it takes five seconds for somebody to walk out with him. He would’ve went. He can’t talk. He can’t say ‘Hey, I’m Jaiden. Who are you?'”
Because her child is autistic and unable to communicate with strangers, Fatima has a GPS monitoring device called “AngelSense” which alerted her that Jaiden was at an unknown location and had been there for too long. She left work and arrived at the library.
“I’m thinking the bus is there. Waiting for me to come. So I get there… no bus”
In all, Jaiden was left alone in the library for nearly an hour.
“51 minutes of it I watched, 51 minutes I see my son in the library”
El-Amin confronted the bus matron who works for Pride Bus Corporation, based out of Brooklyn.
“I asked her and she said it wasn’t her fault”
The bus company, contracted by the city, said they’re investigating the matter.
Ultimately, it was the school that had placed Jaiden in the wrong bus. They told El-Amin they accidentally used an outdated document with the wrong drop off location.
“Students deserve a safe ride to and from school, and this troubling incident was immediately reported and is currently under investigation,” said the city’s Department of Education in a statement. “Drivers and attendants will complete two trial runs of their routes before the first day of school to ensure they are prepared for the school year.”
“If I didn’t have that device, I would’ve been lost,” said El-Amin. “There would’ve been no Jaiden. I would’ve sent out an Amber Alert.”
via: https://pix11.com/2019/08/19/child-with-autism-left-alone-by-school-bus-at-bronx-public-library/
Photo Credit: pix11.com