Maryland teen planned a mass shooting and suicide at her school
THURMONT, Md. (AP) — An 18-year-old student meticulously planned a mass shooting at her high school in which she intended to die, authorities in Maryland said Monday.
A shotgun, ammunition and bomb-making materials including nails and fireworks were found at Nichole Cevario’s home in Thurmont on Thursday, Frederick County Sheriff Charles Jenkins said at a news conference.
There is no evidence that anyone else was involved, Jenkins said.
One of the teen’s parents notified Catoctin High School officials Thursday of a potential threat of violence and Cevario was removed from the classroom and turned over to investigators, the Frederick County sheriff’s office said in a statement. Cevario was later taken from the school to a hospital for an emergency evaluation and remains hospitalized, officials said.
“This attack was prevented by the parents, who stepped forward,” Jenkins said.
Cevario’s journal “clearly spelled out” detailed plans for an attack she had been working on for some time, including a timeline of the attack with her expectations for each stage, officials said. She had set April 5 as the day of the attack, the sheriff said. She was acquiring the materials and compiling details about school emergency procedures associated with drills conducted by school staff and on the school resource deputy.
Cevario’s diary showed “evidence of mental health issues, emotional issues,” Jenkins said. There was no indication that bullying was an issue, but the diary showed “a lot of frustration in her personal life,” Jenkins said.
Investigators don’t believe anyone was working with Cevario and they think they’ve eliminated any threat to the school and community, officials said. While explosive materials were located during the investigation, they weren’t combined in any form that created an explosive device.
Investigators have obtained an arrest warrant charging Cevario with possession of explosive material with intent to create a destructive device and possession of incendiary material with the intent to create a destructive device. They say the warrants will be served when she is released from the hospital.
A man who answered the phone at Cevario’s home and her attorney, Alan Winik, declined to comment.
via: https://www.yahoo.com/news/sheriffs-office-teen-planned-shooting-attack-school-172122253.html
Driver who mowed down 4-year-old boy gets shot dead after stopping
Police in Ohio are hunting for up to three suspects after a driver who was allegedly speeding down a residential street was fatally shot for striking a 4-year-old boy.
Police said Jamie Urton, 44, was killed after he got out of his vehicle to check on the injured child and an argument erupted between him and onlookers Friday.
“There was some type of confrontation that took place after the accident,” Cincinnati Police Department Lt. Steve Saunders told The Post. “I don’t know exactly what ensued, but as a result of that confrontation, there was gunfire that occurred and the victim was struck several times and was killed.”
No suspects had been identified as of Monday, Saunders said.
The boy’s father, Jamal Killings, told WCPO that his son was released from the hospital with bleeding in his brain on Saturday — one day after the violence on Kenton Street, where police said the boy was hit by a car after crossing into the road.
“My job as a father was to get my son face first off the concrete and take him to see medical attention, and that’s what I did,” Killings told the station.
The car had been speeding at about 45 miles per hour just prior to the crash, he said.
“I initially stopped the car, you know, a lot of kids play on that street — that’s residential, 15-25 [mph],” Killings said. “I initially stopped him. He slowed down a bit and then he kind of like swerved around me, hitting my other son. My son wasn’t hit in the middle of the street. He was hit on the curb.”
Killings apologized to Urton’s relatives, saying he didn’t agree with the apparent vigilante street justice.
“I apologize for your loss,” Killings said. “I don’t condone violence. I don’t teach my kids violence. That should never have happened … an unfortunate situation, unfortunate event, but I hope we can all learn from this.”
Killings said the boy must be monitored closely for the next six weeks and could require surgery due to his injuries.
Witnesses told police that three people were involved in the shooting, WCPO reported.
“I pulled right into it,” witness George Gaines said of the crime scene. “He was parked in the middle of the street.”
Gaines said he saw Urton slumped over into the car’s passenger seat as police responded to the shooting.
“The police pulled out from every place,” he said. “It was crazy.”
A passenger in Urton’s car was also injured by the suspects, but was not shot, WLWT reports. Police said it’s unclear whether the victims were dragged from the car or were attacked after they exited the vehicle.
FATHER ACCUSED IN FATAL STABBING OF 2 DAUGHTERS IN NORTH CAROLINA
In an exclusive interview with family members Saturday, ABC11 was told the father accused of murdering his two young children was an “abuser.”
Sheriff Hubert Peterkin said Genesis and Serenity Freeman – who were just 2-years-old and 4-days-old – were found stabbed multiple times near N.C. Highway 211 and Army Road in the Raeford area. Their bodies were found in a car parked in a wooded area. The children’s aunt, Marvina Smith, told ABC11 Saturday afternoon that the children’s mother attempted suicide when she discovered her kids had been murdered. She is currently recovering in the hospital.
“I want him to suffer,” Smith said. “The way them kids suffered. I want him to suffer.”
On Friday, the Fayetteville Police Department said the children’s father, Tillman Freeman, was in custody and had refused to say where the children were. He was charged then with two counts of child abuse and child neglect. He’s now also charged with two counts of first-degree murder.
“It’s kind of hard to find the words to describe what this feels like,” said Hoke County Sheriff Hubert Peterkin. “I know people read it, I know people see the story and hear about it, but to be out here on the scene and actually see this stuff, to see these children lifeless and brutally stabbed…I don’t care how many years you’ve been in it. How many times you’ve been in it or seen things, this was not a good experience. Everybody’s taking this real hard. Our heart goes out to the family, to the mother.”
Fayetteville police said the children were at the center of a domestic-related incident between Freeman, 30, and his wife, who was at the hospital at the time, and Freeman left with the children.
“From what our investigation’s telling us they had a dispute, where (Freeman) allegedly made accusations about the babies not being his, a child not being his or maybe her involvement with someone, and when he took the kids we understand he left in a rage,” Peterkin told ABC11.
“I feel sad and hurt, but there’s nothing I can do about it,” one of the relatives, whose name is being withheld, said.
Peterkin said Freeman accused his wife of cheating on him. She was in a local hospital when Freeman took them.
Freeman was arrested Friday afternoon after employees at a doctor’s office in Raeford reported a suspicious-looking man standing in front of their building.
During questioning, Freeman indicated the children were in Hoke County, and he may have harmed them, Peterkin said.
The SBI is investigating. Freeman has a court appearance on Monday.
via: http://abc7ny.com/news/father-accused-in-fatal-stabbing-of-2-daughters-in-north-carolina/1818355/
MAN CHARGED AFTER MARIJUANA, GUN FOUND IN STROLLER WITH CHILD INSIDE
A man has been charged after Chicago police said he was pushing a baby stroller stuffed with marijuana and a handgun while a child was inside on Friday.
Police arrested Anthony Kennedy, 32, in the 100-block of North Leclaire in the Austin neighborhood at about 3:18 p.m., police said.
After he was taken into custody, police said they discovered Kennedy was wanted for a domestic battery incident, multiple violations of an order of protection and two incidents of criminal damage to property.
The baby was placed in the care of a relative. Kennedy’s charges include possession of a handgun and marijuana and child endangerment.
Jon and Kate Plus 8’s Jon Gosselin is now an Atlantic City stripper
This is no April Fool’s joke!
Jon Gosselin will bare it all come Saturday, Apr. 1.
The former reality star, 39, and father of eight will put on his first adult dance number at Dusk nightclub’s “Untamed Male Revue” show in Atlantic City, N.J.
“I work at Dusk Nightclub in Atlantic City, N.J.,” Gosselin told Entertainment Tonight. “I’m a member of the Senate DJ group and I also help with promotion. I DJ at the club sometimes, but I find promotion is more rewarding both financially and emotionally. I like taking care of people and making others feel welcome.”
Of his routine, Gosselin bills it as an “integral” part of the evening.
“Being part of something is a blessing,” he added. “Since I joined Senate DJ I’ve felt like I belong to something and I’m not just out there on my own — I feel as if I’m part of a fraternity or brotherhood.”
Stripping happens to be one of many odd jobs Gosselin has taken on since quitting “Jon & Kate Plus 8.”
In July 2016, Page Six reported Gosselin was a working as a cook at T.G.I. Fridays. While he donated his check, it’s unclear what he’ll do with his earnings from stripping.
A request for comment from Gosselin’s rep wasn’t immediately returned.
via: http://pagesix.com/2017/03/26/jon-gosselin-prepping-for-his-strip-club-debut/
Upstate New York Couple Accused of Killing Adopted Special Needs Son, Setting Fire to Home
Foul play was suspected from the first moments the disabled boy’s body was discovered in the ashes of an upstate New York home.
Jeffrey Franklin, a 16-year-old adopted child with special needs, did not perish in an early-morning blaze that appeared to have started in the wood stove that heated the house in the town of Guilford, about an hour and half southeast of Syracuse, investigators said.
“Early on, almost immediately at the scene that night, some red flags went up,” Chenango County Sheriff Ernest Cutting Jr. said Saturday. “We chose to kind of keep it close to the vest.”
Jeffrey’s adopted parents were indicted on second-degree murder and arson charges Friday — weeks after the March 1 fire that authorities allege they started to cover up the killing.
Ernest Franklin II, 35, and wife Heather, 33, are also accused of tampering with physical evidence but could face additional charges, according to Cutting.
Attorneys for Franklin and his wife did not return calls seeking comment.
Authorities have not said how or when Jeffrey was killed in a case that has stunned the rural south central New York town of about 2,900 residents.
‘Totally reliant on his parents’
“It’s shocking,” Cutting said. “Jeffrey was a handicapped person who was totally reliant on his parents. You would hope in your mind that they would be there for the right reasons and try to take care of this boy. Unfortunately, his life ended brutally.”
The couple adopted Jeffrey six or seven years ago, according to Cutting. Franklin had served in the military; his wife stayed home to care for their adopted son.
“Jeffrey was developmentally challenged,” Cutting said. “He was also physically handicapped — pretty much in a wheelchair.”
Heather Franklin is 28 weeks pregnant, the sheriff said.
Investigators were looking into the possibility that Jeffrey may have been physically abused in the past. The Franklins, who were arrested earlier this week, are being held without bail.
Shortly after the fire, a GoFundMe page created to help the Franklins raised more than $11,000, Cutting said. The page has been taken down and a GoFundMe statement said donors will be refunded their money.
‘Feeling lost without JR’
Sunday morning — days before her arrest — Heather Franklin wrote of her late son on Facebook: “I am still feeling lost without JR to take care of.”
The post said the couple was staying with friends, had found a new home and had set up a gift registry to replace items lost in the fire.
“Many people have asked us what kind of things we need,” she wrote. “We have came up with a list of needs, and, or wants.”
Cutting said the probe of the fire — reported at 1:15 a.m. — became a homicide investigation shortly after Jeffrey’s body was found. He would not elaborate. One of the parents was home at the time.
The Franklins were mostly cooperative until they were recently called in for an interview with investigators, Cutting said.
“They would talk to us initially and it got to the point that he asked for an attorney and the questioning stopped,” the sheriff said. “She talked for a while and … it then became obvious that she wasn’t to cooperate either.”
Dangerous “eraser challenge” (erasing your skin off with pencil eraser) goes viral again
It’s spreading via social media: A “dare” where kids use erasers to rub away the skin on their arms, often while reciting the alphabet or other phrases.
Players compare the resulting injuries, and the most injured player is the “winner.”
The so-called “eraser challenge” has been circulating for about a year — but it’s no joke, doctors warn.
“The eraser challenge may cause pain, burns to the skin, scarring, local infections,” said Dr. Michael Cooper, who directs the Burn Center at Staten Island University Hospital, in New York City.
With such injuries, “in severe though rare cases, life-threatening sepsis, gangrene and loss of limb may occur,” he noted.
East Iredell Middle School in Statesville, N.C., recently posted a warning on Facebook about the eraser challenge.
“Kids are rubbing an eraser across their skin while having to do or say something,” the school said in its post. “It’s causing serious burns and we’ve seen several cases of this.”
Cooper concurred.
“The eraser challenge may appear harmless and an innocent show of bravado,” Cooper said. “However, the consequences may be lifelong disfigurement and even death, and like other ‘challenges,’ should be avoided.”
Dr. Robert Glatter is an emergency physician at Lenox Hill Hospital, also in New York City. He stressed that the risk of severe infections from the eraser challenge is a concern.
“Bacteria and dead skin cells can colonize erasers which have been rubbed on skin,” he explained. “Erasers, which can be made of synthetic materials such as vinyl, plastics and synthetic rubber, have crevices that provide a warm and moist environment for bacteria to thrive. People also put erasers in their mouths, making them a set-up for polymicrobial infections that may be challenging to treat.”
What to do? Glatter says parental monitoring and intervention is key.
“Parents need to have a frank discussion with their children about the dangers associated with the eraser challenge,” he said. “If you find unexplained abrasions or wounds on your child’s arms or legs, it’s vital to ask them if they have been engaged in this challenge.”
Cooper noted that the eraser challenge isn’t the only harmful social media trend out there.
“The advent of social media, and the endless search for recognition and attention has made posting videos while performing dangerous and senseless acts both commonplace and widespread,” Glatter said.
“The ‘fire challenge’ causes self-inflicted, life-threatening flame burns from igniting lighter fluid or alcohol poured on the skin,” Cooper explained. “And, recently, a teenager was severely injured when he jumped into a lake he knew contained alligators.”
As for the eraser challenge, Glatter said, “it’s simple: erasers belong on paper —- not on your skin.”
via: http://www.10tv.com/article/dangerous-eraser-challenge-goes-viral-again
St. Louis County jury finds mother guilty of poisoning 9-year-old son for attention
CLAYTON • A jury agreed Thursday with prosecutors that a woman kept her 9-year-old son gravely ill for nearly a year by secretly poisoning him with a cocktail of prescription medications until doctors uncovered her scheme.
A St. Louis County jury found Rachel Kinsella, 36, of Meadville, Mo., about 100 miles northeast of Kansas City, guilty Thursday in St. Louis County Court of charges of first-degree assault and child endangerment. She was accused of keeping her son’s doctors in St. Louis and Kansas City in the dark about medications she was poisoning her son with for much of 2014.
The jury deliberated for 90 minutes. After the verdict was read, relatives and prosecutors hugged in the courtroom, proclaiming, “He’s safe! He’s safe!”
Kinsella brought Patrick to the hospital weekly for treatments, and while he was there she visited pharmacies in the area to stockpile prescription drugs he was already getting at the hospital, authorities said. Kinsella also sought drugs and treatment from a hospital in Kansas City but didn’t inform doctors in St. Louis and didn’t tell Kansas City doctors about her son’s care in St. Louis.
“She manufactured illnesses,” Assistant Prosecutor Sheila Whirley told jurors Thursday. “People don’t want to believe that a mother would do this because mothers are supposed to plant the seeds of love that grow for a lifetime.”
While under his mother’s care, Patrick suffered seizures, hallucinations and problems walking and breathing. Doctors struggled to diagnose his condition and gave him more than a dozen blood treatments and surgeries. Whirley credited doctors at Children’s Hospital with saving Patrick’s life. Patrick, now 11, is living with his paternal grandparents and has no major health problems, prosecutors and relatives say.
Authorities said Kinsella had rented a home in the 7400 block of Grant Village Drive in Marlborough while Patrick was undergoing care here. She told police she “accidentally” gave her son the wrong medication “on occasion,” but doctors told police the types and amount of drugs found in the boy’s system revealed intentional poisoning.
The medications were meant to treat mental health and seizures, but police have said Kinsella tried to attract attention through her child’s illness in what is known as a caregiver-fabricated illness or Munchausen syndrome by proxy.
Her attorneys said the presence of various drugs in Patrick’s system did not prove she was poisoning him.
Patrick was born premature in 2005 and was diagnosed with epilepsy, hydrocephalus and, later, attention-deficit hyperactivity disorder. One of Kinsella’s attorneys, Gregory Smith, said hospitals near Meadville where Kinsella lived were ill-equipped to handle Patrick’s long-term medical problems. Smith argued that the claim that Kinsella was poisoning her son was false because the hospital had prescribed Patrick nearly two dozen different medications at different times. Smith also said toxicology results did not reveal the amount of each drug in his system.
Smith was disappointed in the verdict. “I have no doubt that she loves her son as much as any parent,” he said.
Patrick’s father died in 2012 without a will, which resulted in the court’s appointing a relative to manage a $275,000 inheritance for the boy. By keeping Patrick sick, a prosecutor suggested at trial, Kinsella could receive payments from that inheritance to care for her son. Kinsella also has a teenage daughter from an earlier marriage.
Patrick’s aunt, Carmen Mallery, provided a statement after the verdict saying, “We are pleased that justice has been served.”
Sheriff’s deputies led Kinsella away in handcuffs Thursday. Sentencing is set for May 26. She faces a potential sentence of up to 30 years in prison.
Mother brutally assaulted daughter for reciting Bible verses incorrectly (slam head in wall, bites, strangles)
A Middletown woman was arrested after police said she severely assaulted her daughter and kicked her out of her house because the girl incorrectly recited Bible verses to her last week.
Police filed child endangerment charges against Rhonda Kemp Shoffner, 41, of the first block of Genesis Court, following the incident on March 14.
The victim, who is under the age of 13, told police the assault occurred just after she awoke from a nap in her mother’s home about 3 p.m.
Shoffner, who the victim said had been drunk for three days straight, told her daughter to call multiple family members, police said. When they didn’t answer the calls, police said, Shoffner ordered her daughter to get on her knees in the bathroom.
Her daughter knew that meant Shoffner was going to beat her, police said. The victim was scared and pleaded with her mother, according to police in the charging documents.
Police said the victim told her mother, “please don’t hit me. I don’t want to get on my knees.”
Shoffner became enraged and yelled at the victim, telling her “to get on her (expletive) knees,” police said.
The girl complied, and Shoffner began quoting Bible verses, expecting the victim to repeat the lines verbatim, according to police.
Shoffner asked her daughter, “What did God tell the man to do with his son?”
When the girl said she did not know, her mother said, “God told the man to kill his son.”
Instead, the victim said, “God said to forgive his son,” and Shoffner grabbed her by the hair and slammed her head into the wall, police said.
Each time the girl incorrectly recited a verse or gave her mother a wrong answer, Shoffner slammed her head into the wall, police said. Shoffner slammed her daughter’s head into the bathroom drywall at least five times, according to police.
The victim tried to use her hands to defend herself, but Shoffner’s kicks connected at least two times, police said. The girl repeatedly begged her mother to stop, but after her mother told her to lie on her back, she complied, police said.
That’s when Shoffner said, “I’m gonna kill you (expletive deleted),” police said, and she started to strangle her daughter and cut off her airway.
The girl feared for her life and tried to fight Shoffner off, according to police. Shoffner bit the girl’s left forearm and then dug her teeth into her left shoulder, police said.
The victim continued to fight her mother off until Shoffner said, “just leave and don’t ever come back.”
The girl grabbed a phone, a coat, sneakers and fled down the street. She called her father, who drove her to the police station.
Police filed charges of aggravated assault against a child, strangulation and terroristic threats.
via: http://www.pennlive.com/news/2017/03/mother_brutally_assaulted_daug.html
FL Nursing home worker posted residents sex videos online
A nursing home employee in Florida was caught secretly recording a pair of seniors having sex — and posting the footage to Snapchat, cops said.
Alexis Williams, 20, is accused of filming an 81-year-old woman and a 59-year-old man doing the deed inside a private room at the Bristol Court Assisted Living Facility in St. Petersburg last August, according to Bay News 9.
The Pinellas County woman was arrested Wednesday after being done in by a tipster, who spotted the video and alerted staff.
The couple apparently had no idea they were being filmed by Williams, who denies everything.
“I asked them, ‘Where’s their proof?’ and I won’t say nothing else until they give me proof,” she told Bay News after being released from custody Wednesday.
But investigators insisted that they had more than enough evidence to charge Williams with video voyeurism — including a confession, surveillance video of her in the act and records provided by Snapchat, itself.
“I think it’s deplorable,” said Helen King with the Area Agency on Aging, a private non-profit agency serving seniors and their caregivers in the area.
“I wouldn’t want it to be someone from my own family at that assisted-living when that happened,” she told CBS Miami. “I hate the fact that she’s already out of jail that quick.”
Bristol Court has since fired Williams and the sheriff’s office has also been reportedly probing whether to shut down the facility, as well.
State records obtained by the outlet show that the nursing home has shelled out more than $6,000 in fines improperly trained staff, workers forgetting to give residents medications and lying on their medical charts.
“You just have to be very, very careful because it’s the life of an older person that you’re placing into here,” King explained. “You want to trust that the people that hire them knew what they were doing and did all the things they should be doing.”
via: http://nypost.com/2017/03/23/nursing-home-worker-posted-senior-sex-videos-to-snapchat/