Virginia boy brings gun to school after grabbing wrong backpack
A 5-year-old boy from Virginia brought a gun to school after grabbing an adult’s backpack by mistake, authorities said.
The boy pulled out the weapon from the bag during class at Anne E. Moncure Elementary School in Stafford on Thursday, the Stafford County Sheriff’s Office said in a statement.
School staff immediately confiscated the firearm and called the sheriff’s office.
An investigation revealed the boy had accidentally grabbed an adult’s backpack — which had the gun inside — before he was dropped off at school.
The sheriff’s office said charges against the gun owner are pending.
via: https://nypost.com/2020/12/05/virginia-boy-brings-gun-to-school-after-grabbing-wrong-backpack/
Photo Credit: iStockphoto
Mom admits to murder of daughter, 5, who drank from her bong and was poisoned by meth
A young mom in Rifle, Colorado, whose five-year-old daughter died after consuming bong water that was infused with crystal meth, has pleaded guilty to murder, The U.S. Sun reports.
The 27-year-old mom, Stephanie Alvarado, could get slapped with up to a 48-year prison term for allowing her daughter, Sophia Larson, to drink the meth-poisoned bong water a year ago.
The mom had been indulging in meth via bong hits with two of her cousins the night of December 10, 2019, when they should have been taking care of her young daughter.
Poor little Sophia got up in the middle of the night looking for a drink of water. She fatefully — and fatally — drank the bong water left behind by her drug-addled mother.
She immediately spat the water out and said “yucky”, but before long began experiencing hallucinations.
Did the mom and her cousins call for medical help after her daughter drank the meth-infused bong water?
No, they went the Christian Science route, praying and reading from the Bible.
The meth-using mom reportedly worried that she would lose her shared custody deal with her daughter’s father if she dialed 911 to report the disastrous bong water mishap.
True Crime Daily reports that Sophia perished the following day.
Prosecutors say Alvarado waited hours to take her daughter to the emergency room, even though she saw her 5-year old hallucinating after drinking from a bottle she didn’t know was laced with methamphetamine.
The disgraced mom will be sentenced on January 29 for her grave mistake in allowing her innocent daughter to fatally imbibe the meth-tainted bong water.
The coroner found that little Sophia had “very, very high” levels of meth in her system after the murderous mom’s daughter died from drinking the bond water.
When the cops sweeped the murder scene, they found small plastic bags filed with white power, as well as pipes and bongs strewn all over the apartment.
There was also evidence that the drug-happy relatives, all of whom, according to Fox Denver 31, have been charged with homicide, had been sniffing drugs: a dollar bill caked with drug residue.
Alvarado’s cousins Daniel Alvarado and Bertha Ceballos-Roma were charged with the girl’s death as well.
“I don’t know how to explain the amount that I miss her, you know. It’s not something that I really have the words for,” said Sophia’s grieving father, Alec Larson, 24, in the wake of her daughter’s death from the meth-infused bong water while she was in the care of her high-as-a-kite mother.
The father attended the hearing where his ex-girlfriend copped to slaying their child.
As for Alvarado, she appeared remotely from the Garfield County Jail.
“She killed my daughter. I don’t see it any other way,” Larson said, according to Metro.
via: https://knewz.com/mom-daughter-meth-bong/?utm_source=nypost
Photo Credit: knewz.com
$60,000 reward offered in shooting death of 1-year-old boy in Washington, DC
(CNN) — Authorities offered reward of up to $60,000 after a 1-year-old was shot and killed in Washington, DC, on Wednesday night, according to police.
The boy, Carmelo Duncan, was in a car when he was shot multiple times, police said.
Preliminary information indicates that a man was driving the car, and there may have been another child passenger, according to city Police Chief Peter Newsham. Neither was injured in the shooting.
It appears that the car had been moving when the shooting took place, Newsham said.
Police officers who arrived at the scene about 9:35 p.m. Wednesday were told DC Fire and Emergency Medical Services had rushed the boy to a hospital, where he was pronounced dead after life-saving efforts failed, the police department said in a statement.
The Metropolitan Police Department is offering a reward of up to $25,000 to anyone who provides information leading to the arrest and conviction of those responsible, the police said.
The Washington field office of the US Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives has offered an additional $25,000, and the FBI Washington field office has offered $10,000, bringing the total reward amount to $60,000.
Washington Mayor Muriel Bowser called the shooting a “heinous crime.”
“There are no words for the sense of loss that our city will feel when they hear of this heartbreaking tragedy,” Bowser said in a statement.
“We cannot tolerate senseless gun violence, and we must continue to come together to have the tough conversations about what we must do to eradicate it,” she said.
Anyone with information should call the police at 202-727-9099 or text 50411.
“Our thoughts and prayers are with the angel we lost, his loved ones, and those who know the agony of this terrible loss,” the mayor said.
via: https://www.kmov.com/news/60-000-reward-offered-in-shooting-death-of-1-year-old-boy-in-washington-dc/article_9240e24a-be6b-588f-8159-3f0cc2932a60.html
Photo Credit: Metropolitan Police Department
Male student suspended for wearing nail polish at Texas high school
ABILENE, Texas (KTXS/Meredith) — Remember school dress codes? They’re still a thing, and one student in Texas is taking a suspension to show his school’s rules haven’t kept up with the times.
Clyde High School senior Trevor Wilkinson made a post on snapchat. He was in tears and showing his middle finger during a bathroom break from in school suspension.
“Oh yes, I was bawling my eyes out,” he said.
Wilkinson said he was put in suspension after he showed up to school Monday with his fingernails polished. He said he is being unfairly punished by the Clyde Consolidated Independent School District (CISD) for painting his nails.
“It is a complete double-standard because girls are allowed to have any form of nails they want, and honestly they can express themselves in any way they want,” he said.
For male students, the school district’s handbook says “Makeup and nail polish are prohibited.”
The handbook also says that the student “will be given an opportunity to correct the problem at school, if not corrected the student may be assigned to in-school suspension.”
Wilkinson started an online petition calling for the school to change the policy, garnering thousands of signatures so far. He wrote: “I am a gay male and I’m beyond proud. This is unjust and not okay.”
“You can express yourself in whatever way you please, and that you don’t need to conform to gender norms.”
Clyde CISD declined an on-camera interview, but released a statement to local news outlet KTXS.
“The district appreciates the feedback and input on this issue received from members of the community, and will take this into consideration when it conducts its annual review later this school year,” the statement read.
According to Wilkinson, the principal of Clyde High School told him he had three options. He could enter into virtual learning or he could remove his nail polish and come back to school.
His third option would be to remain in in-school suspension and keep his nails.
“…and that’s exactly what I’m doing,” Wilkinson said.
via: https://www.kmov.com/news/male-student-suspended-for-wearing-nail-polish-at-texas-high-school/article_25759c51-baa8-5c3d-8274-5a18de38694c.html?block_id=990844
Photo Credit: kmov.com
Arizona police officer adopts child abuse survivor he met on duty
An Arizona police officer and his wife adopted a 4-year-old survivor of child abuse that he comforted while he was on duty.
Kingman Police Department Lt. Brian Zach met little Kaila when he and his partner got a call to go check on her home back in March 2018, he told ABC’s “Good Morning America” on Wednesday.
As he and the girl waited for officers from the Department of Child Services to show up, “We colored, we snacked,” Zach recalled.
“She held my hand and she was just this cute little thing.”
Kaila eventually had to be taken to a hospital to be treated for multiple injuries as a result of physical abuse, the report said.
Zach, who is a father to two other children, went home that night and told his wife Cierra about the encounter.
“He shows up, he’s like, ‘I got to hang out with the cutest little girl. She was so awesome,’” Cierra recalled to Arizona outlet KTVK.
Criminal charges were filed against Kaila’s caretakers and, when child protective services couldn’t find any family members willing to take her in, the couple decided to step in.
“She came with a sippy cup, a bag of clothes that didn’t fit her and that was it,” Zach told “GMA.”
The little angel immediately became part of the family and was enrolled in a local charter school, the couple said.
They first went through the foster process with Kaila, and during that time “We lived each week not knowing if she was going to go back to her biological parents, or how long we were going to keep her.
“Our goal was to love and care for this little girl for as long as it happened,” Zach said.
On Aug. 18, more than two years after she came into their lives, the Zachs officially completed the adoption process for Kaila.
The girl is a “character” and loves preschool, animals, dancing and playing.
“She is so comical, she is so witty,” Zach said.
When Kaila first came to live with the family, “she didn’t know how to talk,” the cop recalled.
“And now, she loves to talk,” he said. “She’s happy and she’s flourished.”
The officer told families considering adoption not to be daunted by the process.
“It’s well worth it,” he said.
via: https://nypost.com/2020/12/04/arizona-police-officer-adopts-child-abuse-survivor/
Photo Credit: nypost.com
Gaming-obsessed Australian dad shook his newborn son to death after the innocent baby’s cries disrupted his game
Joseph McDonald, 23, pleaded guilty to child homicide in the heinous 2019 killing of 7-week-old Lucas McDonald in Victoria’s Supreme Court on Friday.
The father confessed to shaking the infant, placing him back in his rocker, then returning to play his PlayStation before falling asleep, 9News Sydney reported.
He faces up to 20 years in jail.
“The noise of Lucas crying because he was in the same lounge room, was interrupting [McDonald’s] game … he couldn’t concentrate on his game,” said Lucas’ grandmother Sharon Mills, according to 9News.
“He couldn’t play his game, so he broke.”
Prosecutors charge that on Oct. 24, 2019, McDonald shook Lucas and used “blunt force trauma” on his son.
“Whether that be by striking Lucas directly to the head or causing Lucas to hit his head on another object … it is difficult to say,” said prosecutor Mark Gibson, according to Australia Broadcasting Corporation.
He then lied to his former partner and the mother of the child, as well as doctors, about what had happened, 9News reported.
When medical scans showed Lucas sustained blunt force trauma and that his injuries could not have been caused by accident, McDonald fled the hospital, the report said.
He ultimately turned himself in to police.
Lucas’ grieving mother said Friday that McDonald does not have a right to call himself a parent.
“He doesn’t have the right to the title of being a dad, as far as I’m concerned, so I think that will be his life sentence,” said Sam Duckmanton, according to 9News.
In court, Duckmanton called her son “perfect” and said she wished she could protect him.
“I was right next door, like if I had just let him do the dishes and I looked after Bubby [Lucas], he’d be alive today. That’s what’s going to eat me and I couldn’t protect him because I trusted Joseph,” the heartbroken mother said, Australia Broadcasting Corporation reported.
“Lucas was innocent and he couldn’t defend himself,” she said.
Duckmanton added, “It’s a coward’s act and you’re his dad, you’re supposed to protect him. To this day I don’t think I’m really ever going to know what was inside of his head at that point.”
The court also heard that in the weeks before he killed his son, McDonald had used his phone to search “anger management Benalla [an Australian city].”
McDonald’s attorney said his client was “deeply remorseful for what he has done,” the local media outlets reported.
“He feels like he should be punished appropriately for what he’s done, whatever that might be,” lawyer Colin Mandy said.
“He has not sought to lay blame at the feet of others, and by his plea, has spared family members the traumatic experience of reliving these events in the witness box,” said Mandy.
Court documents revealed that McDonald had anger issues, often used drugs and was obsessed with gaming.
“His compulsive involvement in gaming was a further trigger for irritability, both when he was confronted about his behavior as well as when he became frustrated with losing a game,” the attorney said.
In court documents, Mandy said the killing was “a spontaneous act of rage,” the Australian Broadcasting Corporation reported.
McDonald is slated to be sentenced at a later date.
via: https://nypost.com/2020/12/04/gaming-obsessed-dad-pleads-guilty-to-fatally-shaking-infant-son/
Photo Credit: Crime Watch Victoria
California dad arrested after his kids were found decapitated
Two children were found decapitated in their home early Friday, and their father has been arrested on suspicion of their grisly murders, authorities said.
Los Angeles County firefighters responded to a home in Lancaster before 8 a.m. on a report of a possible gas leak and found the headless bodies of a 12-year-old boy and a 13-year-old girl, the Los Angeles Times reported.
Police arrested the father, Maurice Taylor Sr., on suspicion of killing his children. He’s being held on a $2 million bond.
Taylor was described as a “mellow” personal trainer who virtually taught his clients from home because of the pandemic.
One of Taylor’s clients told the Times she knew something was wrong when he failed to send a Zoom link for a scheduled session.
“I knew they weren’t out of town,” the client said. “They didn’t have money to travel.”
Lancaster Mayor R. Rex Parris believes the economy, school closures and being stuck at home may have created a stressful environment for the family.
“The social fabric of the country and the world has been shredded, and we are starting to see the aftermath,” Parris told the Times.
“What I’m seeing is more and more people feeling desperate, and that can only have one result.”
via: https://nypost.com/2020/12/05/california-dad-arrested-after-his-kids-were-found-decapitated/
Photo Credit: nypost.com
15-year-old charged with beating Chicago man to death with bat, setting body on fire
A 15-year-old boy is facing a first-degree murder charge for beating an elderly Chicago man with a baseball bat and setting his body on fire, police said.
The teen, who was not identified due to his age, was arrested Wednesday on counts of first-degree murder and concealment of a homicidal death in the gruesome attack that claimed the life of Earl Miller, whose beaten and charred body was found in late September next to a home in the city’s Fernwood section, police said Thursday.
“No one deserves to die like that at all,” Miller’s niece, Braxton Usher, told the Chicago Sun-Times. “I wonder how he was feeling or I wonder what he was thinking. Stuff like that, it eats at you.”
Usher, who wears some of her uncle’s ashes around her neck, said she’s still looking for answers in the slaying, particularly since the 15-year-old and another young male suspect are believed to have killed her uncle.
“Knowing that it was kids, it just doesn’t make sense to me,” Usher told the newspaper.
Miller, previously of Indiana, was living with Usher’s father in the city’s Morgan Park section when he was killed. He was an “old school” man who liked to keep to himself and enjoyed long walks downtown, his niece said.
An autopsy determined Miller — who had severe burns and massive head trauma — died from multiple injuries sustained during the onslaught. Police said a bat with blood on it and lighter fluid were found near his body, which was discovered face-down, the Chicago Tribune reported.
The teen, who appeared for an initial hearing in juvenile court Thursday, was ordered to remain in custody. He’s due back in court on Dec. 21, the Sun-Times reported.
The Cook County Public Defender’s Office did not immediately return a request for comment Thursday, according to the newspaper.
A second suspect, meanwhile, was still being sought Friday, police said.
via: https://nypost.com/2020/12/04/teen-charged-with-beating-man-with-bat-setting-body-on-fire/
Photo Credit: Chicago Police Department
House votes to decriminalize marijuana at federal level
The Democratic-controlled House on Friday approved a bill to decriminalize and tax marijuana at the federal level, reversing what supporters call a failed policy of criminalizing pot use and taking steps to address racial disparities in enforcement of federal drug laws.
Opponents, mostly Republicans, called the bill a hollow political gesture and mocked Democrats for bringing it up at a time when thousands of Americans are dying from the coronavirus pandemic.
“With all the challenges America has right now, (Republicans) think COVID relief should be on the floor, but instead, the Democrats put cats and cannabis” on the House floor, said House Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy, R-Calif. “They’re picking weed over the workers. They’re picking marijuana over (providing) the much-needed money we need to go forward″ to address the pandemic.
McCarthy’s comment about cats referred to a separate bill approved by the House to ban private ownership of big cats such as lions and tigers, a measure boosted by the Netflix series “Tiger King.″ That bill, approved by the House on Thursday, would allow most private zoos to keep their tigers and other species but would prohibit most public contact with the animals.
Democrats said they can work on COVID-19 relief and marijuana reform at the same time and noted that the House passed a major pandemic relief bill in May that has languished in the Senate.
Supporters say the pot bill would help end the decades-long “war on drugs” by removing marijuana, or cannabis, from the list of federally controlled substances while allowing states to set their own rules on pot. The bill also would use money from a new excise tax on marijuana to address the needs of groups and communities harmed by the so-called drug war and provide for the expungement of federal marijuana convictions and arrests.
“For far too long, we have treated marijuana as a criminal justice problem instead of as a matter of personal choice and public health,″ said Rep. Jerry Nadler, D-N.Y., chairman of the House Judiciary Committee and a key sponsor of the bill. “Whatever one’s views are on the use of marijuana for recreational or medicinal use, the policy of arrests, prosecution and incarceration at the federal level has proven unwise and unjust.″
Drug reform advocates called the House vote historic, noting it is the first time comprehensive legislation to decriminalize marijuana has passed the full House or Senate.
“The criminalization of marijuana is a cornerstone of the racist war on drugs. Even after a decade of reform victories, one person was arrested nearly every minute last year for simply possessing marijuana,” said Maritza Perez, director of national affairs at the Drug Policy Alliance, an advocacy group. “Today the House took the most powerful step forward to address that shameful legacy.”
The vote comes at a time when most Americans live in states where marijuana is legal in some form, and lawmakers from both parties agreed that national cannabis policy has lagged woefully behind changes at the state level. That divide has created a host of problems — loans and other banking services, for example, are hard to get for many marijuana companies because pot remains illegal at the federal level.
Four states, including New Jersey and Arizona, passed referenda allowing recreational cannabis this year. Voters made Oregon the first state in the nation to decriminalize possession of small amounts of cocaine, heroin and methamphetamine.
Rep. Barbara Lee, D-Calif., called the House bill an important racial justice measure. The bill “is a major step, mind you, a major step toward ending the unjust war on drugs and racial inequities that are central to these laws,″ said Lee, who is African American.
The bill, which passed 228-164, now goes to the Republican-controlled Senate, where it is unlikely to advance. A related bill that would give pot businesses access to traditional banking services has languished in the Senate after being approved by the House last year.
Five Republicans supported the bill: Reps. Matt Gaetz and Brian Mast of Florida; Tom McClintock of California, Denver Riggleman of Virginia and Don Young of Alaska.
Six Democrats opposed it: Reps. Cheri Bustos and Daniel Lipinski of Illinois; Collin Peterson of Minnesota; Chris Pappas of New Hampshire; Conor Lamb of Pennsylvania; and Henry Cuellar of Texas.
Louisiana Rep. Steve Scalise, the No. 2 House Republican, said GOP lawmakers have been pushing for weeks to bring up a bill that allows small businesses to receive another round of Paycheck Protection Program loans. Many small businesses are struggling or have closed as a result of the pandemic.
Instead of allowing a vote on the GOP bill, House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, D-Calif., is “actually focused more on legalizing pot,” Scalise said. ”It’s just unbelievable how tone deaf (Democrats) are to these small businesses and the jobs, the families that are tied to them.”
Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell also mocked the bill, saying in a floor speech that “the House of Representatives is spending this week on pressing issues like marijuana. You know, serious and important legislation befitting this national crisis.”
The Big Cat Public Safety Act also is unlikely to move forward in the Senate. Sen. Ted Cruz, R-Texas, said in a tweet that Democrats were moving to “Prosecute Tiger King” rather than address issues related to the COVID-19 pandemic.
But Carole Baskin, whose animal rescue organization is featured in the Netflix series, said the legislation would culminate a decades-long effort to end abuse of tiger cubs and other big cats, and protect the public and first responders from injuries and death.
“None of these important goals are partisan in any way, and we hope the Senate will follow suit quickly to make it into law,″ said Baskin, CEO and founder of Florida-based Big Cat Rescue.
via: https://ktla.com/news/nationworld/house-votes-to-decriminalize-marijuana-at-federal-level/
Photo Credit: ktla.com
Texas woman arrested for allegedly dangling child over balcony as punishment
A Texas woman was arrested Wednesday for allegedly holding a child over a three-story balcony and scolding him while he pleaded “please don’t drop me,” authorities said.
The incident occurred at an apartment complex in San Antonio Monday when Desirae Marie Korus, 25, dragged the child out on the balcony and held him over the ledge as she yelled, “Are you going to touch that again?” according to an arrest affidavit obtained by KSAT.
A Drug Enforcement Agency agent, who happened to be in the area for an investigation, witnessed the crying child dangling over the balcony 35 feet above ground, and heard him telling Korus he “won’t do it again,” the affidavit states.
Korus threatened to drop the child — who is either 3 or 4 years old — as punishment, but then allowed him to go back inside the apartment, police said.
The DEA agent immediately called the San Antonio police, but officers didn’t arrest Korus because she refused to let officers in the apartment.
Cops arrested her two days later and charged her with child endangerment.
Korus is being held on $20,000 bond at Bexar County jail.
via: https://nypost.com/2020/12/03/texas-woman-arrested-for-dangling-child-over-balcony-as-punishment/
Photo Credit: Bexar County Jail